President Trump's Epstein files headache isn't going away

Miami Herald

3 days ago

For someone who spoke distinctly about the release of the infamous Epstein flies, President Donald Trump is an interesting one to join the ranks of those who are tired of hearing about it.
As some in his MAGA base reveal annoyance at the lack of promised transparency, this self-identified most transparent of presidents is clearly ready to move on from this controversy, and has leveled some sharp words for those who say their faith in him is shaken. 'My PAST supporters have bought into this BS hoax,' he posted on Truth Social Wednesday, not abbreviating the modifier. 'They haven't learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for eight long years… I don't want their support anymore!'
It will come as a surprise to the Epstein-obsessed portion of the MAGA base that Trump feels they have been duped by liberals. While Democrats have indeed pounced on this perceived rift with clumsy weaponization, it is conservative voices who heated the fuel for the current fire.
Before they secured actual jobs in government, the FBI power duo of Kash Patel and Dan Bongino could be found stoking considerable suspense for some imagined Epstein bombshell, spreading such speculation across numerous media platforms. They were joined by a cadre of true believers extending from social media stars to the occasional elected official.
I want to be gracious to a group containing a lot of people I know and respect, so I'll simply offer that a lot of people knew Epstein conspiracies were catnip for an appreciable number of media consumers and voters. It was easy and resonant to float a story of yet another example of a government cover-up, especially one featuring a profoundly detestable creature with associations stretching across a landscape of politics and fame.
Since public opinion abhors a vacuum, a flood of theories rushed in, containing the tantalizing prospect of involvement by huge names from Bill Clinton to Bill Gates to Britain's Prince Andrew to Trump himself. While none of these have approached a level anywhere near confirmation, those breathlessly clinging to the promise of some secret client list have cultivated confidence that the scandalous truth was within reach.
So imagine the dismay of this decidedly conservative contingent when previously heroic figures sought to extinguish those sensational presumptions. Bongino and Patel set the stage with their deflating conclusion that Epstein did indeed kill himself, dousing years of anticipation that his jailhouse death would surely be pinned on some recognizable sinister force, perhaps from the client list.
Then Attorney General Pam Bondi lit additional fuses this month by seeming to fudge on whether her February claim that 'It's sitting on my desk right now' referred to that list or the Epstein case file in general.
Whichever she may have meant, a limited but loud uprising among the base has spoiled what should be a summer of harmonious celebration of Trump's early second-term achievements, among them a bustling economy, a functioning border with fresh attention to deportations, resolutions in some world trouble spots with progress toward others, and bold moves toward government efficiency.
Seeing those achievements swallowed in multiple news cycles by Epstein frustrations in his own ranks is just the thing to rattle the usually unflappable Trump. He could have crafted a post standing up for his DOJ and FBI team, asking his supporters to join him in finding them credible and valuable, and perhaps throwing in a life lesson about packages that don't always contain what you were hoping for.
But no. The president has chosen to write off what he calls 'past supporters' while insulting many of those who remain on his bandwagon even while growing testy awaiting some Epstein grand reveal. They will not be thrilled to hear that he believes they have been duped by Democrats, when it is not Democrats who have spent years stoking their expectations of explosive revelations.
The crushed promise of such a payoff has sparked speculation that perhaps Trump and his team are protecting Republican names lurking within the files. Here we find at least one narrative that is instantly dismissible. While doubts mount as to who was actually calling the shots during the four years of the Biden administration, one thing it managed with tireless energy was repeated attacks on Trump and his party. Any molecule of Epstein file content damaging to any Republican would have been leaked to CNN and the New York Times by nightfall.
So will Trump succeed in hosing down Epstein-fueled discontent? There is a way to calmly explain to people that once those files came under the authority of his administration, the facts of what they contain did not rise to the eye-popping levels that had been anticipated. In view of simmering mysteries on matters from Biden's autopen to Secret Service failings on the day Trump was shot, skepticism and cynicism are not ill-placed.
But part of the nagging frustration in Trump world stems from the belief that he would bring an end to cover-ups, not launch one of his own. It may not be a large portion of his base that harbors that dark view, but those voices are not going away, and from the White House to the Justice Department to the FBI, it would be a good idea to find a more effective way to engage them.