Latest news with #JackPosobiec
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
My travels in Trump's Florida: Maga superstars, gen Z Republicans – and the shame of ‘Alligator Alcatraz'
The mezzanine floor of the Tampa Convention Center buzzes chaotically with rightwing chatter: conspiracy theories, grievance politics and Christian nationalism. Look in any direction and someone in front of you, washed in sharp studio lights, is drawing a crowd and creating content. Ahead of me, Russell Brand sits on a white sofa, broadcasting live on the conservative video-streaming service Rumble – his guest is the 'alt-right' influencer Jack Posobiec. To the left, along an alleyway lined with small broadcast booths, is the longtime Donald Trump adviser and self-proclaimed 'dirty trickster' Roger Stone, who is holding court on a podcast. To the rear, on a large metal scaffold, is Steve Bannon's War Room channel, busy cutting between live footage of a small protest outside the event and adverts for various Trump-aligned products. The panorama serves as a realisation of one of Bannon's notorious PR idioms: flooding the zone with shit. This is the Turning Point Student Action summit, an annual gathering targeted at gen Z conservatives, which draws thousands from across the US. It was a driving force in Trump's success among younger male voters at the last election. In the arena next to the mezzanine, a conveyor belt of Maga superstars walk out to deliver keynote speeches, accompanied by spitting-flame cannon, pounding dubstep, spinning lasers and strobe lights. Brand delivers a bizarre diatribe – part standup comedy, part evangelical sermon – about his newfound conversion to Christianity in a word salad of alliteration and non sequiturs. Unsurprisingly, he makes no mention of the multiple rape and sexual assault charges he faces in the UK (to which he has pleaded not guilty). He is immediately followed by Tom Homan, Trump's loudmouth border tsar, who is met with cries of 'USA, USA!' as he refers to himself in the third person: 'Tom Homan is running one of the biggest deportation operations this country has ever seen!' It is hard to keep up with this melange of fearmongering, severity and self-congratulation. It's the epitome of Trump's America. My colleague Tom Silverstone and I came here as the first stop on a journey across southern Florida. Once the quintessential swing state, it is now solidly Republican – and home to some of the president's vast sources of personal wealth, including his beach club, Mar-a-Lago. It is also one of the hubs of his mass‑deportation programme. It seems no coincidence that the fast pace at Turning Point mirrors the first six months of Trump's second term, which has lurched from scandal to extreme policy to blatant self-dealing at extraordinary speed – from the administration's acceptance of a $400m luxury jet from the state of Qatar to his family's creation of a private members' club in Washington DC, charging $500,000 (£380,000) in annual fees. The apex of these brazen efforts to monetise the presidency is Trump's venture into the world of cryptocurrency. He lauched his $TRUMP memecoin three days before he was sworn into office. These digital currencies have little to no financial use and are prone to rapid market fluctuations. Analysts estimate that the president's family has netted about $315m since the venture launched into this volatile and speculative market and hundreds of thousands of investors have lost out. The whole episode lends itself to the argument that Trump's return to power marks the advent of a second gilded age, last seen in the US after the civil war, when the unprecedented dominance of industry and technology led to rampant corruption and pronounced inequality. In May, some of the largest $TRUMP coin investors were invited to a dinner with the president at his Virginia golf course, then on a VIP tour of the White House, which some observers described as a blatant pay-to-play. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has said that Trump abides by all conflict of interest laws 'that are applicable to the president'. No one at Turning Point seems particularly concerned about any of these apparent grifts, though. Anthony Watson, a contributor, stands in the merchandise area of the convention, where limited-edition gold Trump golf shoes are $500. He flicks away my questions about the Qatari jet with little thought. 'What's wrong about accepting it?' he says, after I point out it might fall under the general definition of a bribe. 'Well, what did they get in exchange? Until you know, it's speculation.' I track down Stone to ask how he thinks the founding fathers, who authored the foreign emoluments clause of the US constitution to block corruption and limit foreign influence, might view Trump's move into memecoin. 'I don't think they could envisage cryptocurrency, period, or the technological age that we're in,' he says, dodging the question. Beyond sheer audacity, these money-making schemes also strike at a clear contradiction within the Maga movement and its America First agenda. While most remain anonymous, some of the largest investors in Trump's memecoin have been revealed as foreign nationals, one with ties to the Chinese Communist party. How does that tally with America First? I address this question to Bannon, who greets me with a smile and professes his love of the Guardian, despite labelling us 'fucking commies from England'. He is willing to acknowledge a degree of unease, particularly when I mention the Chinese Communist party. But he still finds a way of reconciling it, arguing that the VIP event at the White House underscored a drive for 'entrepreneurial capitalism'. 'I've just got so much on my plate right now, I just don't even focus on the memecoins,' he says, adding that 'the crypto thing is not at that big a level'. It seems to mark a turn for Bannon who, in 2019, described cryptocurrencies as having a 'big future … in this global populist revolt' and – according to reporting by ABC News – partly took control of an anti-Joe-Biden memecoin in 2021, along with the Republican strategist Boris Epshteyn. He seems uneasy when I ask about this venture, named $FJB (officially Freedom Jobs Business, unofficially shorthand for Fuck Joe Biden), given allegations of missing funds, reported failures to donate promised money to charity and a potential examination by the US justice department (DoJ) in 2023. 'I think I put $500,000 into it,' Bannon recalls. Did he lose it all? 'Yes. I think I lost all of it,' he says. He calls reports of a DoJ probe 'fake news'. We leave Turning Point shortly after Bannon's keynote address, which includes a flurry of praise for the immigration crackdown and receives a large round of applause. 'Mass deportations now. Amnesty never,' he says. We drive about four hours south of Tampa to the centre of the Everglades, where a single‑lane highway is surrounded by cypress trees and mangroves. The administration's immigration enforcement efforts are, in some ways, as brash and open as the Trump family's presidential profit-making. Half a mile out, a large, newly installed bright-blue road sign announces we are approaching 'Alligator Alcatraz', a hastily constructed tent-like detention centre, surrounded by mosquito-infested swampland, about 50 miles outside Miami. In a calculated display of draconian showmanship, Trump toured the facility in July, seeming to revel in its harsh conditions. It has become a symbol of this era of removals. Of the 57,000 people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, more than 70% have no criminal record. Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion This morning, a small congregation of protesters stand by the roadside looking on in dismay. 'This place is shameful,' reads one sign. I explain where we have come from in Tampa and ask how they think the centre they are protesting against is connected to my conversations about Trump's self-enrichment at the convention. 'It's all part of the same thing,' says one older female protester. 'For Trump, it's about power and money. He's doing everything he can to make money while he's president. But he knows he has to be in power to maintain that, and this is all about power,' she says, gesturing towards the detention centre. 'Power and fear.' A few minutes later, a white SUV emerges from a roadway leading to the centre. The car pulls over to a grassy embankment and a family emerges. They had tried to gain access to a relative named Martin Sanchez. They were blocked from entering. Sanchez, they tell me, has lived in the US without paperwork for the past 25 years, since coming from Mexico. He has two young children and no criminal record; he pays his taxes and works as a landscaper in the city of Palm Beach. He was arrested there four days earlier while on his way to work, mowing lawns. 'He calls me a lot,' says his cousin Janet Garcia. 'He hasn't showered. They treat him like a prisoner. He got caught for working and that's it.' She stares back towards the detention centre in the piercing sunlight. 'Without immigrants, this country is gonna go down,' she says. 'We have a felon in the White House, but the people they've got in here don't even have a [traffic] ticket.' There is something stark about the location of Martin's arrest. Palm Beach county, on Florida's eastern coast, is the location of some of the most pronounced and expanding income disparities in the state. Average house prices here exceed the median income by six times. Known as the 'Wall Street of the south', its corporation-tax-friendly climate has drawn many of the world's biggest finance groups and it is home to at least 67 billionaires. The highest profile of these is, of course, Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago club is situated on a tree-lined street by the sea. A year ago, it raised its annual membership fees to $1m. We drive to a food pantry a short distance from Trump's club, where a line of about 20 people are waiting for the doors to open. A laminated sign on the wall warns that immigration officials will need a valid warrant to enter the premises and that the pantry, run by a local non-profit group, continues to serve people regardless of their legal status. The county has a significant population of people from Haiti, many of whom are under threat of deportation after Trump moved to end their temporary immigration protections, despite the security crisis in the country. 'Some of them are afraid to come,' says a volunteer minister. 'It's hard, you can imagine. You have no food, but, because of your immigration status, you stay home.' The programme's director, Ruth Mageria, shows me the large stockpiles of food in the fridges and tells me the pantry has seen a 71% increase in use over the past five years. Things are expected to get worse, as a spending bill passed by the Republican-controlled Congress and signed into law by Trump will cut basic food-assistance benefits for an estimated 22.3 million families across the country, while securing a host of tax cuts for the wealthy. The pantry has started preparing to ration its reserves. With a thunderstorm rolling in over the Atlantic and dark clouds forming like a tidal wave on the horizon, we seek out Mar-a-Lago. We stand on a bridge, on the newly renamed President Donald J Trump Boulevard, and look out over billionaires row. I'm reminded that this community was founded during the US's first gilded age. It is an inauspicious end to this 400-mile journey across the state. The roads have emptied, but a small crew of landscapers, already drenched, are trimming the tall palms outside the club. Oliver Laughland is the Guardian's US southern bureau chief Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why the Epstein case looms large in MAGA world
When Jack Posobiec walked into the Department of Justice in Washington, DC last February, he thought he would finally get some answers about Jeffrey Epstein. But when he and other MAGA supporters were given essentially just rehashed, already-public material - and when the government put a damper on the release of any new information this July - they balked. "We were all told more was coming. That answers were out there and would be provided. Incredible how utterly mismanaged this Epstein mess has been. And it didn't have to be," Posobiec posted on social media on 7 July. Now, Donald Trump is finding it hard to shake loose the conspiracy theories that have animated his base since he first broke through into Republican politics a decade ago. Posobiec, who emerged from the fringes of the internet in 2016 when he spread false rumours about a child abuse ring based in a Washington DC restaurant - a conspiracy theory that became known as Pizzagate - is just one of many MAGA die-hards who believes officials are hiding key truths about Epstein's life and death. The disgraced financier and convicted sex offender died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019 while he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. On a recent podcast hosted by Breitbart News editor Alex Marlow, Posobiec said the MAGA base see this case as shorthand for the thorough rot of the so-called "deep state". "It's not that they care about Epstein personally," he said. "It's that they care that there's this optic that Epstein was somehow involved with a shadowy system that actually has control over our government, control over our institutions, control of our lives, and really is a ruling power over us." Over the years, some have claimed that government officials possess files on Epstein that reveal sordid details, including that a "client list" exists with notable names on it who may have participated in some of Epstein's alleged crimes. Trump has, in the past, played to that crowd. During last year's election campaign, he said he would have "no problem" releasing Epstein case files, and after the election directly answered a question about whether he would "declassify" the files by saying: "Yeah, yeah, I would." Conspiratorial thinking has been a part of President Trump's movement from the outset. His entry into the once-crowded world of Republican Party politics a decade ago came as he amplified the false theory that Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States. Now, however, the world of conspiracy is biting back. Epstein's crimes are real and horrific, and there remains the possibility that further information could emerge about them. But they have also become subsumed by grander narratives – Pizzagate, and later QAnon, the sprawling interactive conspiracy theory that swamped the internet during Trump's first term, pushing the idea that the highest echelons of society were controlled by a child-abusing elite cabal. The conspiracy theory spread through cryptic messages posted by a pseudonymous character called Q. Mike Rothschild, author of several books on Trump-era conspiracies, including The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult and Conspiracy of Everything, said Epstein was mentioned in several such messages dating back to late 2017. "Epstein is seen as one of the major players in a global 'paedo elite' that's been trafficking children for centuries, and that Q and Trump were supposed to put an end to once and for all," he told the BBC. But after the justice department meeting in February, administration officials, including FBI director Kash Patel and his deputy Dan Bongino - who both stoked Epstein rumours for years - started to dampen talk of any major revelations. Then, on 8 July, the Department of Justice and FBI said in a memo that Epstein's cause of death was suicide and there was no evidence he had a "client list". The president seemed eager to move on, calling the Epstein case "sordid, but it's boring" while also blaming Democrats for continuing to make it an issue. Many Trump supporters are happy to follow the president's lead. But a subset of extremely online MAGA supporters are still deeply passionate about the Epstein case. Trump orders officials to release Epstein court documents Prosecutor in Diddy and Epstein cases fired by justice department Trump's Epstein strategy could pit him against loyal supporters Several MAGA voices, including former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, have alleged that Epstein was employed by the Israeli security services. And among more extreme elements of the movement, the conspiracy theories around Epstein sometimes veer into the antisemitic. But Rothschild said most of the people in MAGA world are simply itching for more information – if it indeed exists – about the financier's connections with Bill Clinton and other Democrats and Trump opponents. Epstein cultivated powerful people from both major US political parties. The long history of MAGA's Epstein obsession mean Trump is now finding it difficult to satisfy the conspiratorial elements in his base. The story took another twist late on Thursday as The Wall Street Journal reported Trump had sent Epstein a "bawdy" birthday greeting in 2003. The pair's one-time friendship is well-known, but Trump says he cut ties with Epstein long ago and filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal's parent company, its owner and two reporters following the report. Meanwhile, Trump seemed more willing to indulge the conspiracy theorists, posting on Truth Social: "Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval." There is no doubt that conspiracy theories clearly have the power to motivate some of the president's base. QAnon supporters were among some of the most visible participants at the January 2021 riot at the US Capitol. In a survey conducted just before last November's election, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) think tank found that nearly a fifth of Americans agree with QAnon-linked statements, including most pointedly: "The government, media, and financial worlds in the US are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping paedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation." Many see the Epstein case as a confirmation of those views, and the QAnon-believing population is heavily pro-Trump, the PRRI found, with 80% backing the president. And with that support has come influence. Posobiec, the Pizzagate and Epstein conspiracy theorist who was at the DOJ meeting in February, reportedly accompanied Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on a recent trip to Europe. He also has been photographed meeting with neo-Nazis, although he denies being a white nationalist himself. He did not respond to the BBC's request for comment. He is adamant that Epstein's case is connected to the wider conspiracy world. "It ties to Covid, it ties to lockdowns, it ties to vaccines," Posobiec said, on the Alex Marlow podcast, which was recorded at a conference last week where multiple speakers brought up Epstein and demanded further revelations. "It ties to so many different buckets of the anger people are feeling." Rich Logis, a former longtime Trump supporter who broke ranks and started an organisation called Leaving MAGA, said that these outlandish theories serve "as ties that bind many within the MAGA community", even amongst those who doubt them. Logis says Trump's dismissal this week of their concerns this left some supporters "feeling confused and stunned". "They expected Trump to keep his promise and reveal those who allegedly aided and abetted Epstein," he said. If the Epstein case presents a political quagmire for Trump, there is also a problem for his supporters, particularly the vocal influencer class, in figuring out where to funnel their rage. Targeting the president could backfire when it comes to their own followers. "Many of the major influencers are furious," Rothschild said, "and while they might not take it out on Trump, they might take it out on the GOP (Republican Party) in general." Trump has so far stood by Pam Bondi, his attorney general. But she, Patel and Bongino may increasingly feel the pressure if MAGA's conspiracy wing continues to demand more files - whether or not they actually exist. Trump administration asks court to release some Epstein docs
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why the Epstein case looms large in MAGA world
When Jack Posobiec walked into the Department of Justice in Washington, DC last February, he thought he would finally get some answers about Jeffrey Epstein. But when he and other MAGA supporters were given essentially just rehashed, already-public material - and when the government put a damper on the release of any new information this July - they balked. "We were all told more was coming. That answers were out there and would be provided. Incredible how utterly mismanaged this Epstein mess has been. And it didn't have to be," Posobiec posted on social media on 7 July. Now, Donald Trump is finding it hard to shake loose the conspiracy theories that have animated his base since he first broke through into Republican politics a decade ago. Posobiec, who emerged from the fringes of the internet in 2016 when he spread false rumours about a child abuse ring based in a Washington DC restaurant - a conspiracy theory that became known as Pizzagate - is just one of many MAGA die-hards who believes officials are hiding key truths about Epstein's life and death. The disgraced financier and convicted sex offender died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019 while he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. On a recent podcast hosted by Breitbart News editor Alex Marlow, Posobiec said the MAGA base see this case as shorthand for the thorough rot of the so-called "deep state". "It's not that they care about Epstein personally," he said. "It's that they care that there's this optic that Epstein was somehow involved with a shadowy system that actually has control over our government, control over our institutions, control of our lives, and really is a ruling power over us." Over the years, some have claimed that government officials possess files on Epstein that reveal sordid details, including that a "client lint" exists with notable names on it who may have participated in some Epstein's alleged crimes. Trump has, in the past, played to that crowd. During last year's election campaign, he said he would have "no problem" releasing Epstein case files, and after the election directly answered a question about whether he would "declassify" the files by saying: "Yeah, yeah, I would." Conspiratorial thinking has been a part of President Trump's movement from the outset. His entry into the once-crowded world of Republican Party politics a decade ago came as he amplified the false theory that Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States. Now, however, the world of conspiracy is biting back. Epstein's crimes are real and horrific, and there remains the possibility that further information could emerge about them. But they have also become subsumed by grander narratives – Pizzagate, and later QAnon, the sprawling interactive conspiracy theory that swamped the internet during Trump's first term, pushing the idea that the highest echelons of society were controlled by a child-abusing elite cabal. The conspiracy theory spread through cryptic messages posted by a pseudonymous character called Q. Mike Rothschild, author of several books on Trump-era conspiracies, including The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult and Conspiracy of Everything, said Epstein was mentioned in several such messages dating back to late 2017. "Epstein is seen as one of the major players in a global 'paedo elite' that's been trafficking children for centuries, and that Q and Trump were supposed to put an end to once and for all," he told the BBC. But after the justice department meeting in February, administration officials, including FBI director Kash Patel and his deputy Dan Bongino - who both stoked Epstein rumours for years - started to dampen talk of any major revelations. Then, on 8 July, the Department of Justice and FBI said in a memo that Epstein's cause of death was suicide and there was no evidence he had a "client list". The president seemed eager to move on, calling the Epstein case "sordid, but it's boring" while also blaming Democrats for continuing to make it an issue. Many Trump supporters are happy to follow the president's lead. But a subset of extremely online MAGA supporters are still deeply passionate about the Epstein case. Trump orders officials to release Epstein court documents Prosecutor in Diddy and Epstein cases fired by justice department Trump's Epstein strategy could pit him against loyal supporters Several MAGA voices, including former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, have alleged that Epstein was employed by the Israeli security services. And among more extreme elements of the movement, the conspiracy theories around Epstein sometimes veer into the antisemitic. But Rothschild said most of the people in MAGA world are simply itching for more information – if it indeed exists – about the financier's connections with Bill Clinton and other Democrats and Trump opponents. Epstein cultivated powerful people from both major US political parties. The long history of MAGA's Epstein obsession mean Trump is now finding it difficult to satisfy the conspiratorial elements in his base. The story took another twist late on Thursday as The Wall Street Journal reported Trump had sent Epstein a "bawdy" birthday greeting in 2003. The pair's one-time friendship is well-known, but Trump says he cut ties with Epstein long ago and filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal's parent company, its owner and two reporters following the report. Meanwhile, Trump seemed more willing to indulge the conspiracy theorists, posting on Truth Social: "Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval." There is no doubt that conspiracy theories clearly have the power to motivate some of the president's base. QAnon supporters were among some of the most visible participants at the January 2021 riot at the US Capitol. In a survey conducted just before last November's election, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) think tank found that nearly a fifth of Americans agree with QAnon-linked statements, including most pointedly: "The government, media, and financial worlds in the US are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping paedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation." Many see the Epstein case as a confirmation of those views, and the QAnon-believing population is heavily pro-Trump, the PRRI found, with 80% backing the president. And with that support has come influence. Posobiec, the Pizzagate and Epstein conspiracy theorist who was at the DOJ meeting in February, reportedly accompanied Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on a recent trip to Europe. He also has been photographed meeting with neo-Nazi's, although he denies being a white nationalist himself. He did not respond to the BBC's request for comment. He is adamant that Epstein's case is connected to the wider conspiracy world. "It ties to Covid, it ties to lockdowns, it ties to vaccines," Posobiec said, on the Alex Marlow podcast, which was recorded at a conference last week where multiple speakers brought up Epstein and demanded further revelations. "It ties to so many different buckets of the anger people are feeling." Rich Logis, a former longtime Trump supporter who broke ranks and started an organisation called Leaving MAGA, said that these outlandish theories serve "as ties that bind many within the MAGA community", even amongst those who doubt them. Logis says Trump's dismissal this week of their concerns this left some supporters "feeling confused and stunned". "They expected Trump to keep his promise and reveal those who allegedly aided and abetted Epstein," he said. If the Epstein case presents a political quagmire for Trump, there is also a problem for his supporters, particularly the vocal influencer class, in figuring out where to funnel their rage. Targeting the president could backfire when it comes to their own followers. "Many of the major influencers are furious," Rothschild said, "and while they might not take it out on Trump, they might take it out on the GOP (Republican Party) in general." Trump has so far stood by Pam Bondi, his attorney general. But she, Patel and Bongino may increasingly feel the pressure if MAGA's conspiracy wing continues to demand more files - whether or not they actually exist.
BBC News
18-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Why the Epstein case looms large in MAGA world
When Jack Posobiec walked into the Department of Justice in Washington, DC last February, he thought he would finally get some answers about Jeffrey when he and other MAGA supporters were given essentially just rehashed, already-public material - and when the government put a damper on the release of any new information this July - they balked."We were all told more was coming. That answers were out there and would be provided. Incredible how utterly mismanaged this Epstein mess has been. And it didn't have to be," Posobiec posted on social media on 7 Donald Trump is finding it hard to shake loose the conspiracy theories that have animated his base since he first broke through into Republican politics a decade ago. Posobiec, who emerged from the fringes of the internet in 2016 when he spread false rumours about a child abuse ring based in a Washington DC restaurant - a conspiracy theory that became known as Pizzagate - is just one of many MAGA die-hards who believes officials are hiding key truths about Epstein's life and disgraced financier and convicted sex offender died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019 while he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking a recent podcast hosted by Breitbart News editor Alex Marlow, Posobiec said the MAGA base see this case as shorthand for the thorough rot of the so-called "deep state"."It's not that they care about Epstein personally," he said. "It's that they care that there's this optic that Epstein was somehow involved with a shadowy system that actually has control over our government, control over our institutions, control of our lives, and really is a ruling power over us."Over the years, some have claimed that government officials possess files on Epstein that reveal sordid details, including that a "client lint" exists with notable names on it who may have participated in some Epstein's alleged has, in the past, played to that crowd. During last year's election campaign, he said he would have "no problem" releasing Epstein case files, and after the election directly answered a question about whether he would "declassify" the files by saying: "Yeah, yeah, I would."Conspiratorial thinking has been a part of President Trump's movement from the outset. His entry into the once-crowded world of Republican Party politics a decade ago came as he amplified the false theory that Barack Obama wasn't born in the United however, the world of conspiracy is biting back. Epstein's crimes are real and horrific, and there remains the possibility that further information could emerge about they have also become subsumed by grander narratives – Pizzagate, and later QAnon, the sprawling interactive conspiracy theory that swamped the internet during Trump's first term, pushing the idea that the highest echelons of society were controlled by a child-abusing elite cabal. The conspiracy theory spread through cryptic messages posted by a pseudonymous character called Rothschild, author of several books on Trump-era conspiracies, including The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult and Conspiracy of Everything, said Epstein was mentioned in several such messages dating back to late 2017."Epstein is seen as one of the major players in a global 'paedo elite' that's been trafficking children for centuries, and that Q and Trump were supposed to put an end to once and for all," he told the after the justice department meeting in February, administration officials, including FBI director Kash Patel and his deputy Dan Bongino - who both stoked Epstein rumours for years - started to dampen talk of any major on 8 July, the Department of Justice and FBI said in a memo that Epstein's cause of death was suicide and there was no evidence he had a "client list".The president seemed eager to move on, calling the Epstein case "sordid, but it's boring" while also blaming Democrats for continuing to make it an Trump supporters are happy to follow the president's lead. But a subset of extremely online MAGA supporters are still deeply passionate about the Epstein orders officials to release Epstein court documentsProsecutor in Diddy and Epstein cases fired by justice departmentTrump's Epstein strategy could pit him against loyal supporters Several MAGA voices, including former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, have alleged that Epstein was employed by the Israeli security services. And among more extreme elements of the movement, the conspiracy theories around Epstein sometimes veer into the Rothschild said most of the people in MAGA world are simply itching for more information – if it indeed exists – about the financier's connections with Bill Clinton and other Democrats and Trump opponents. Epstein cultivated powerful people from both major US political long history of MAGA's Epstein obsession mean Trump is now finding it difficult to satisfy the conspiratorial elements in his story took another twist late on Thursday as The Wall Street Journal reported Trump had sent Epstein a "bawdy" birthday greeting in 2003. The pair's one-time friendship is well-known, but Trump says he cut ties with Epstein long ago and filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal's parent company, its owner and two reporters following the report. Meanwhile, Trump seemed more willing to indulge the conspiracy theorists, posting on Truth Social: "Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval."There is no doubt that conspiracy theories clearly have the power to motivate some of the president's base. QAnon supporters were among some of the most visible participants at the January 2021 riot at the US a survey conducted just before last November's election, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) think tank found that nearly a fifth of Americans agree with QAnon-linked statements, including most pointedly: "The government, media, and financial worlds in the US are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping paedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation."Many see the Epstein case as a confirmation of those views, and the QAnon-believing population is heavily pro-Trump, the PRRI found, with 80% backing the with that support has come influence. Posobiec, the Pizzagate and Epstein conspiracy theorist who was at the DOJ meeting in February, reportedly accompanied Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on a recent trip to also has been photographed meeting with neo-Nazi's, although he denies being a white nationalist did not respond to the BBC's request for is adamant that Epstein's case is connected to the wider conspiracy world."It ties to Covid, it ties to lockdowns, it ties to vaccines," Posobiec said, on the Alex Marlow podcast, which was recorded at a conference last week where multiple speakers brought up Epstein and demanded further revelations."It ties to so many different buckets of the anger people are feeling."Rich Logis, a former longtime Trump supporter who broke ranks and started an organisation called Leaving MAGA, said that these outlandish theories serve "as ties that bind many within the MAGA community", even amongst those who doubt says Trump's dismissal this week of their concerns this left some supporters "feeling confused and stunned"."They expected Trump to keep his promise and reveal those who allegedly aided and abetted Epstein," he the Epstein case presents a political quagmire for Trump, there is also a problem for his supporters, particularly the vocal influencer class, in figuring out where to funnel their rage. Targeting the president could backfire when it comes to their own followers."Many of the major influencers are furious," Rothschild said, "and while they might not take it out on Trump, they might take it out on the GOP (Republican Party) in general."Trump has so far stood by Pam Bondi, his attorney general. But she, Patel and Bongino may increasingly feel the pressure if MAGA's conspiracy wing continues to demand more files - whether or not they actually exist.
WIRED
17-07-2025
- Politics
- WIRED
Bring On the MAGA Revolt
Jul 17, 2025 6:30 AM Donald Trump's own strategists and advisers aren't sure the president's base will survive Jeffrey Epstein's ghost. Photo-illustration: WIRED Staff; Getty Images It's been a no-good, very bad week for President Donald Trump, all thanks to the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein, a man, in Trump's words, 'who never dies.' Since attorney general Pam Bondi released a memo declaring there was 'no incriminating 'client list'' from the Epstein case files, the fallout has left Republicans apoplectic. Trump, after promising his supporters for years that he would release the list and information about what really happened when Epstein died in a Manhattan detention facility in 2019, is now dealing with something far greater than a failed campaign promise: It's a MAGA revolt. In recent days, members of Trump's core base, from influencers to activists, have turned on the administration. Laura Loomer—a conspiracy theorist with a direct line to the president—called on 'Pam Blondi' to resign. 'Someone needs to be fired for this,' Loomer wrote to her 1.7 million followers. Jack Posobiec, the Pizzagate conspiracy theorist, called for a formal commission. 'I will not rest until we go full Jan. 6 committee on the Jeffrey Epstein files,' he said at the Turning Point USA conference over the weekend, a major meetup for younger members of the base. While Trump and his staff may publicly insist there's nothing to see here and that there is no problem with his core base of supporters, Trump's advisers and Republican strategists believe otherwise. A Trump adviser, who requested anonymity to discuss their thoughts and internal deliberations about this, said there's a legitimate fear in the president's inner circle that the Epstein revolt among the base could create 'a headwind going into the midterms.' 'Nothing that we do is going to satisfy the base,' they tell WIRED. 'Even the best-case scenario, an unsatisfactory answer. So by putting wind in the Epstein sails from the beginning, we have created this problem for ourselves. An own goal, if you will. Which we can't undo.' 'This is not a policy or even a political issue,' Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett tells WIRED, 'but it's something much, much larger … it's a massive, massive problem.' Bartlett, who served in the State Department during the first Trump administration, said his recent group chats about this could be summarized best as being a mix of dread and MAGA telenovela. Cracks in the House GOP have also started to show. 'We should put everything out there and let the people decide it,' said House Speaker Mike Johnson, in perhaps his most notable break with Trump to date, on a podcast. Other vocal members like Anna Paulina Luna of Florida suggested the FBI release more information, while Lauren Boebert of Colorado called on the Department of Justice to appoint a special counsel to investigate. 'This one is being taken seriously, but it's being followed like a soap opera. I'm not sure that there's any definitive calculation as to how this plays politically in the future because it is so asymmetric in nature,' Bartlett tells me, referring to the gulf between the base and Republican staffers over how much they care about the Epstein saga. It could very well be a classic case of the dog who caught the car. While Trump could theoretically wiggle his way out of this one, the lack of a clear strategy for clearing the air on Epstein, combined with the ever-increasing agita among his core supporters, has left the president's advisers stupefied. 'Why they suddenly don't want to reveal anything, I have no idea,' a second Trump adviser tells me. 'I don't know why the administration is doing what it's doing.' Bartlett says 'there's only one answer on this,' which is to release everything. But that clearly isn't happening anytime soon, if ever. (There are a variety of reasons why releasing the materials in full may not be possible, such as personally identifiable information about victims. In the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump said Bondi should release 'whatever's credible she can release. If a document is credible, if a document is there that's credible, she can release. I think it's good. It's just really, it's just a subject—he's dead, he's gone.') Even then, Bartlett and others are skeptical as to what could put the base at ease. 'Donald Trump's outsider campaign, from 2015 on, was based largely on this deep erosion of faith and trust in our government and institutions,' Bartlett explains. 'And this is a crescendo moment around it, both around some of the people, the nature of the story, the people that are allegedly involved, and now the government's response or lack thereof. A feeling is so much stronger than a thought.' Photo-illustration: WIRED Staff; Getty Images Already, damage control is underway. The timing of the Epstein debacle couldn't have been worse for the influential Turning Point USA Student Action Summit over the weekend, where attendees were vocally furious about the handling of the case. Conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the leader of Turning Point USA, asked the crowd if they thought the so-called Epstein files were a big deal. Everyone, he noted, raised their hands. He then completely changed his tune after a reported call from President Trump, according to CNN. 'Honestly, I'm done talking about Epstein for the time being,' Kirk said on his podcast days later. 'I'm gonna trust my friends in the administration, I'm gonna trust my friends in the government to do what needs to be done, solve it, ball's in their hands.' The MAGA faithful are furious not just about Epstein but also other broken promises, as WIRED reported earlier this week. But the bungled rollout of the Epstein materials, Trump advisers tell me, goes back to February, when the White House gave conservative influencers binders full of materials that were mostly already public information about the disgraced financier and charged sex trafficker. Even some of the crucial podcast bros who helped push Trump over the top in 2024 are adding the handling of the Epstein case to their growing list of regrets. To voice his discontent, Andrew Schulz, a podcaster and comedian popular with young men, shared a screenshot on Instagram of the explosive WIRED report about likely modifications to the Epstein raw prison tape. The more time passes, the further the freakout oozes past the diehards in the traditional MAGA base. The Epstein toothpaste, the first Trump adviser says, can't be put back in the tube—which is especially ironic, given that Trump stocked the top ranks of federal law enforcement with Epstein truthers. And after Trump's 2024 campaign relied on, and buoyed, the conspiratorial MAGA base on its way to victory, the overeager staff who decided to arm conservative influencers with binders may have been just the latest mistake. Even Trump seems to be at a loss for what to do next. In what could mark a turning point in the president's otherwise ironclad relationship with his base, he appeared to call out MAGA world in a Truth Social post on Wednesday: '[The Democrats'] new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this 'bullshit,' hook, line, and sinker,' the president wrote on his own social media site. 'They haven't learned their lesson, and probably never will.' The White House did not return a request for comment, including on whether the president thinks anyone who doubts him on Epstein is no longer MAGA. There are plenty of variables and unknowns left in Trump's second term. But given the particular fervor and salience of this issue among his most dedicated supporters and much of the conservative ecosystem, this increasingly seems like a moment marking a distinct epoch. Call it Trump 2.0 B.E. and A.E.—before Epstein and the subsequent revolt, and after. The Chatroom Do you know anyone in your life who has been invested in the Epstein saga and may have thoughts? Or, perchance, do you work in the White House and have a tip? Send your thoughts to mail@ WIRED Reads Want more? Subscribe now for unlimited access to WIRED. What Else We're Reading 🔗 The President's Daughter-in-Law Hosts a Weekly Show on Fox News. To Call It 'Propaganda' Is Too Kind: A great deep dive into the mechanics of Lara Trump's Fox News show, which I record every week. (Media Matters) 🔗 How Fox News Massaged a Trump Interview: Fox News removed a key caveat from Trump's answer about declassifying the Epstein files from an interview over the summer, and it has a whole new valence amid the current MAGA revolt. (Semafor) 🔗 How Popular Is Donald Trump? A notable finding here: 39 percent of Americans have no opinion on Trump's handling of cryptocurrency, while 37 percent similarly have no opinion when it comes to the president and AI. (Silver Bulletin) The Download On last week's Uncanny Valley podcast, my politics teammates and senior writers Makena Kelly and Vittoria Elliott share more about their DOGE 2.0 findings with senior politics editor Leah Feiger. Listen here. That's it for today—thanks again for reading. You can find me on Bluesky, via Email, or on Signal at Leak2Lahut.26.
