Latest news with #deepstate
South China Morning Post
3 hours ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Epstein saga may be the downfall of Donald Trump
We may be witnessing Donald Trump 's downfall. For most of the US president's critics, the Jeffrey Epstein saga that has dominated the domestic news cycle for the past week or so seems like a gift that keeps on giving. Many of Trump's supporters – who had lapped up the right-wing media ecosystem's insistence that America's 'deep state' was hiding evidence of a paedophilia ring orchestrated by the billionaire financier – turned on their leader. They demanded a full accounting of Epstein's alleged ' client list ' and lurid activities. With a farcical nothing-to-see-here defence that was camera-ready for juxtaposition against his earlier comments, Trump turned this anger right back against the 'Make America Great Again' (Maga) furious. 'Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don't even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don't want their support anymore!' Trump wrote on social media, in an unforced error that may trigger his downfall. Trump later authorised the Justice Department to seek the release of grand jury testimony from the prosecution of Epstein. How much the episode will drag Trump's declining approval rating lower is anyone's guess. We may never know how involved he was in Epstein's underworld; the US leader has a reptilian survival instinct that has only grown stronger since his first administration. Without evidence proving that he was engaged in illegal behaviour involving minors, he will not be deterred from his apparent mission to turn every branch of his government into weapons aimed at anyone who has ever crossed him. Some in his party may be happier about the scandal than they are letting on, at least those who understand the extent of the harm that they are doing outside the orbit of criminal billionaires. The scandal is a monumental distraction from what Americans should be railing against, and what threatens the entire Republican Party.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Maureen Dowd: Maga fans turn on Trump as he turns murky over Epstein files
People often become what they scorn. Donald Trump has become the deep state. He is the keeper of the secrets. He is the one stealing away people's liberties. He is the one weaponising government and protecting the ruling class. With Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the department of government efficiency, Trump deputised wolf packs to root around in Americans' personal information. He got Republicans to give Stephen Miller his own army. Trump manipulates government to hurt his perceived enemies. He obscures rather than reveals, pushing aside reporters who ask penetrating questions in favour of Pravda-like partisans who take his side. Trump's supporters thought he would shed light on shady elites protecting their own money and power. Now Maga is reckoning with the fact that Trump is the shady elite, shielding information about Jeffrey Epstein . READ MORE 'So the guy who spent his lifetime saying the deep state hides things from you and represses you is now saying, 'We've got nothing to hide, trust me,'' said Trump biographer Tim O'Brien. 'And the people who follow him don't. They think he's just as bad as the people he criticised before he became president.' It's mythic, being devoured by the forces you unleashed. Trump has trafficked in conspiracy theories since the despicable 'birther' one about Barack Obama . Now that whirlpool of dark innuendo has sucked him down. He can no longer control the Epstein conspiracy madness inflamed by his top officials. Trump always reminded me of Lonesome Rhodes, a charismatic, populist entertainer whose 'candid' patter with plain folks garners him enormous power in Elia Kazan's 1957 movie A Face in the Crowd. At the finale, Andy Griffith's Rhodes – engorged by flattery and riches – has a narcissistic explosion. Not realising the woman he betrayed flipped on his microphone, he calls his loyal fans 'morons', 'miserable slobs' and 'trained seals'. 'I can take chicken fertiliser and sell it to 'em for caviar,' he crows, grinning. Trump's Truth Social posts backing up Pam Bondi's claim that the Epstein files were much ado about nothing showed that same brutal disregard for his devout fans. They had taken him seriously ? What fools! He tried to subdue his Magacolytes – his 'boys' and 'gals' – by ordering them not to 'waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about'. He said that those who are focused on the 'Jeffrey Epstein hoax' are 'selfish people', 'PAST supporters' and 'weaklings' who had been 'conned by the Lunatic Left'. If his fans couldn't focus on how great he was, better than 'perhaps any President in our Country's history', Trump pouted in a post, 'I don't want their support anymore!' One 'gal', a Texan named Rosie, said she was brokenhearted. She replied on Truth Social that she has four daughters and 'can't even begin to comprehend the flipped narrative that 'it was so long ago' 'why are we still talking about this' and 'nobody should care.' These victims were some ones daughters, sisters, nieces, granddaughter. Someone's child. Please reconsider, sir.' He has lost some of his base's trust by refusing to deliver the goods, or to acknowledge that he used people such as Kash Patel and Dan Bongino to whip up the frenzy against the paedophile who gave rides to Trump and Bill Clinton on his plane dubbed by some the Lolita Express. Trump bonded with Epstein years ago, although it's not clear if Trump knew the extent of Epstein's predations. He told New York magazine in 2002 that Epstein 'likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side'. This past week was the first time Trump had such a dramatic rift with his supporters, who are often compared to a cult. Trump, who rose to power with the help of Fox News, threatened Emma Tucker, editor of Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal, trying to stop its story about a bawdy letter and drawing he allegedly contributed to a 50th birthday book that Ghislaine Maxwell compiled for Epstein. 'I'm gonna sue The Wall Street Journal just like I sued everyone else,' he said in a call on Tuesday with the Journal. ( He filed the suit on Friday .) He denied that he ever drew an outline of a naked woman with his name scribbled in a salacious spot, along with writing an insinuating wish to Epstein that 'every day be another wonderful secret'. (What had to be kept secret, Donald?) 'I don't draw pictures,' he wrote on Truth Social, denouncing the 'FAKE letter' in the 'Fake Story'. But Trump's lies – such as the one about his uncle at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Unabomber – are falling apart almost instantaneously. It immediately came out that he was a 'high-profile doodler', as Tyler Pager put it in the New York Times, and that he donated drawings to charity in the early 2000s. On Thursday, Trump posted that he had asked Bondi to produce 'any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval'. But judges usually keep such testimony secret. It was hilarious to see Trump hiding behind the judiciary he has tried to sideline. The president, hoping to redirect the ire of the base back to its favourite chew toy, the mainstream media, posted that the Journal is a 'Disgusting and Filthy Rag'. Natalie Winters, a reporter for Steve Bannon's War Room podcast, told Bannon that the Journal story made her feel 'gaslit' by the administration. 'I thought the DOJ had nothing related to Epstein,' she said. 'Well, this story sort of contradicts that. So why don't we release it? It's maddening.' Twisting conspiracy theories into a Gordian knot of hate, Trump is claiming some Epstein files were 'made up' by Obama, James Comey, 'Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration' and 'Crooked Hillary'. It's tough to blame the deep state when you are the deep state. – This article originally appeared in The New York Times .
New York Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
MAGA's New Target: Trump
People often become what they scorn. Donald Trump has become the deep state. He is the keeper of the secrets. He is the one stealing away people's liberties. He is the one weaponizing government and protecting the ruling class. With ICE and DOGE, Trump deputized wolf packs to root around in Americans' personal information. He got Republicans to give Stephen Miller his own army. Trump manipulates government to hurt his perceived enemies. He obscures rather than reveals, pushing aside reporters who ask penetrating questions in favor of Pravda-like partisans who take his side. Trump's supporters thought he would shed light on shady elites protecting their own money and power. Now MAGA is reckoning with the fact that Trump is the shady elite, shielding information about Jeffrey Epstein. 'So the guy who spent his lifetime saying the deep state hides things from you and represses you is now saying 'We've got nothing to hide, trust me,'' said the Trump biographer Tim O'Brien. 'And the people who follow him don't. They think he's just as bad as the people he criticized before he became president.' It's mythic, being devoured by the forces you unleashed. Trump has trafficked in conspiracy theories since the despicable 'birther' one about Barack Obama. Now that whirlpool of dark innuendo has sucked him down. He can no longer control the Epstein conspiracy madness inflamed by his top officials. Trump always reminded me of Lonesome Rhodes, the charismatic, populist entertainer whose 'candid' patter with plain folks garners him enormous power in Elia Kazan's 1957 movie 'A Face in the Crowd.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Maga and Jeffrey Epstein: the truth about Donald Trump and conspiracy theories
Donald Trump has thrived on conspiracy theories – 'birtherist' lies that Barack Obama was born outside the US; the lunacies of the Q-Anon movement; false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. All centred on the idea that the 'deep state' was lying to, and thus cheating, ordinary people. Mr Trump was their tribune. It's hard not to feel schadenfreude now that he's at the sharp end of a theory that he at times encouraged and allies eagerly pushed: claims that the prison death of the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein might not be suicide after all, and that wealthy and well-connected associates were trying to hush up connections to the financier. Mr Trump's attorney general, Pam Bondi, promised that 'truckloads' of documents would help reveal the truth and claimed that a client list was 'sitting on my desk right now'. Then, abruptly, the department of justice said that the financier's death was not murder, that no more files on the investigation against him would be released, and that there was no list of 'clients'. The administration says that Ms Bondi was referring to general files on the case. In short: many of those who promoted the idea that vast, vile secrets were being concealed now claim that there are no secrets at all – with no clear explanation for their volte-face. The result has been uproar in the Maga movement, with far-right politicians and media figures including Marjorie Taylor Greene, Laura Loomer and Alex Jones among the unsatisfied. Mike Johnson, speaker of the House and a key ally, said that the justice department should 'put it out there'. Mr Trump attempted to dismiss the story as 'boring', before attacking his own supporters as 'weaklings' for '[buying] into this 'bullshit''. Then, hours after a Wall Street Journal report that he sent a 'bawdy' letter to Epstein – which he denies – he told Ms Bondi to seek the release of grand jury testimony on the sex-trafficking case. Epstein's crimes are fact, not a 'hoax', and it's also fact that he had repeated contact with high-profile figures, including Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Mr Trump himself – who once remarked of the financier: 'Terrific guy … It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.' The files need not suggest, let alone confirm, any wrongdoing to embarrass anyone mentioned in them: highlighting the association is enough. At the heart of all Maga conspiracies lies another kernel of truth: that the rich and powerful often get away with exploiting vulnerable people through connections to the state. Yet Trump voters fail to see how that relates to the administration's broader actions. They are unmoved by his reverse Robin Hood budget legislation, which snatches from the poor to give to billionaires – like those in his cabinet. It's less visceral than Epstein's crimes, and its brazenness may, counterintuitively, make it less viral. Many on the right blame imaginary weather modification, rather than the global heating caused by fossil fuel dependence, for Texas's deadly floods. Conspiracy theories give those who feel powerless a sense of power; of knowing something that others can't see. Even so, the truth revealed by the Epstein scandal – that ordinary Americans are deeply angry at the unfairness and abuses created by elites – is worth heeding, and demands a better political and economic response. 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.
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Trump administration seeks release of Epstein grand jury records but not Justice Department files
WASHINGTON — Under intense pressure from President Donald Trump's own supporters, his administration now says it will push a court to unseal secret documents related to Jeffrey Epstein's case in an effort to put to rest for good a political crisis largely of its own making. But even if those records become public, it's far from certain they will appease critics enraged over the administration's unfulfilled promises of full transparency about evidence against the wealthy financier. Meanwhile, the administration remains dogged by questions about its refusal to release other records in its possession after stoking conspiracy theories and pledging to uncover government secrets of the 'deep state.'
