Thanks to Epstein, MAGA is waking up to Trump's endless lies
MAGA is shocked to learn that President Donald Trump lies
It was a twist that few in the Trump-loving universe saw coming. Put simply, he lied about releasing the files. And then, as we recently learned, he lied about whether his name appears in the files.
His flailing attempts at distraction, his finger-pointing at others who were friends with Epstein and his decision to send a top Justice Department official (who happens to have previously been the president's personal defense attorney) to speak with Epstein's imprisoned sex-trafficking partner Ghislaine Maxwell have all made Trump seem desperate.
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And that has given the MAGA faithful a rare moment of clarity.
Let me say this to them: Welcome back to reality. Your hero-president is a liar who lies about everything.
Trump lies incessantly. His supporters might be starting to notice.
He lied about the 2020 election being stolen. He lied about the crowd size at his first inauguration. He lied about the state of the economy under former President Joe Biden. He lied about crime rates. He has recently been lying about former President Barack Obama engaging in a coup or committing treason or whatever his latest evidence-less claim happens to be. He lied about migrants eating dogs. He has lied about U.S. cities being destroyed by immigrant gangs. He lies about his polling numbers, which lately are abysmal.
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He was asked not long ago whether Attorney General Pam Bondi had told him his name appears in the Epstein files. To that he said: "No, no." The Wall Street Journal reported July 23 that Bondi had told Trump his name appears "multiple times."
So that's a banger of a lie?
And based on the MAGA fury over the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files, it's one of the lies that broke through the "Everything Trump Says Is Gospel" barrier that has long protected his supporters from the painful truth of his habitual dishonesty.
How can anything Trump says about the Epstein case be trusted?
So my question to Trump supporters, seeing for the first time that the president plays fast and loose with the truth, is this: As the Epstein story continues to unfold, how can you trust anything Trump tells you?
His deception already indicates he has something to hide, and having something to hide when it comes to Epstein is among the reddest of red flags. You believed Trump would bring down the vile elites who were part of a global conspiracy, but now you've gotten a glimpse at the possibility that the president is, at best, trying to protect powerful people or, at worst, trying to protect himself.
Trump has made himself an inextricable part of the Epstein conspiracy
One day, when the administration starts miraculously releasing the information it refuse to release right now, and if the name "Trump" is miraculously scrubbed from that information, and if we learn that Trump's former defense attorney and current Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has offered leniency or a pardon to Maxwell in exchange for testimony that miraculously exonerates Trump while targeting powerful Democrats, what will you think?
Will you remember Trump lied to you? Will you remember how squirrelly he got as the Epstein story boiled? Will you remember his evasiveness and wild blame-casting?
Or will you retreat to the safety of believing Trump to be a faultless purveyor of truth? Will you stick with the lies you swallowed before, and maybe gulp down a few more to dull the pain of facing the true nature of his character?
MAGA has a choice with Epstein: Embrace the light or retreat to the shadows
People like me have been saying for years that Trump can't be trusted. You've ignored such claims every step of the way, but now he hit a nerve, and it will require Herculean levels of denial to unsee the sidesteps and dissembling.
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If you care about the Epstein case - and whether it involves Democrats or Republicans or celebrities or whoever, we all should - you know as well as I do that Trump and this administration can't be trusted. That private jet has flown. Trump has woven himself into the conspiracy by behaving in a conspiratorial way.
So you have a choice, MAGA: a harsh reality or the comfort of lies.
I have no confidence you'll choose reality. But I at least hope the decision is tougher than usual.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk
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