In the US, the relentless engine of conspiracy theories
After months of denouncing, with the backing of officials now holding the highest positions in the federal government, the opacity of a "deep state" supposedly ensuring impunity for the powerful, Trump supporters have grown impatient with their leaders' inability to provide new information regarding Epstein. The financier, who was found dead in his New York prison cell in 2019, had been facing charges of child sexual abuse after initial proceedings dating back to 2006.
No matter how forcefully the US president lashes out at the rebels who helped bring him back to power – even going so far as to insult them – he is failing to bring them back into line. To his great surprise, conspiracy theories have proved immune to admonishment and have turned, with the same irrational fervor, against those who once encouraged them with impunity.
Trump's frustration no doubt explains why he now bristles at reminders of well-established facts. Like many high-profile figures in the US in the mid-1990s, he was close to Epstein, even if he distanced himself before the financier was brought to justice. The Wall Street Journal, which recalled their past ties on July 17, is now facing a defamation lawsuit and has been barred from covering the president's trip to Scotland. The treatment of the conservative business daily confirms, as have other similar cases, that Trump tolerates only one kind of press, that of complicity, while all news media are uniformly branded as the enemy.
Since returning to the Oval Office, Trump has employed the same tactics with the media as he does with other checks on his power, or anything he perceives as such: threats and intimidation. He recently forced the CBS news channel to back down over what were seen as particularly flimsy accusations regarding its coverage of an interview with his Democratic opponent in the presidential campaign, Kamala Harris. He also pressured Congress to fulfill a longstanding Republican demand: the elimination of public broadcasting funding, regardless of the consequences for rural areas across the country that have become news deserts.
"You are the media now," Elon Musk declared, speaking of social media, on the night of Trump's re-election, for which he had deployed the X platform algorithm to his advantage. The Epstein affair demonstrates the consequences of sidelining traditional news channels. The result is obfuscation and confusion to the detriment of public debate and the health of democracy.
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