Analysis | Trump invented some of the most notorious false intrigues in American politics history. But Trump’s mastery in the conspiracy domain did not help attempts to crush the drama that surrounds him with the Epstein case
Trump is hesitant with the Epstein storm around his government
by Stephen CollinsonCNN
Donald Trump rarely loses control of his own story. But Jeffrey Epstein’s saga is beyond its powers to drown it.
It is a new turnaround for the president, to be in disagreement with the noisiest and most conspiracy faction of his Maga movement.
For once, he is becoming the victim of an uncontrolled conspiracy and not the initiator of one. It seems the infiltration that is covering up, not the ultimate outsider and destroyer of the “deep state“.
Some of the most visible personalities of the magician are manifest. Georgia congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene warned Monday to “significant” reverberations in the movement about what some Trump supporters see as a cover-up. “It’s just a red line that goes through for many people,” Greene told Manu Raju of CNN Internacional.
Tensions between Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI director Kash Patel and Patel Assistant Dan Bongino are reviving the memories of chaos and dysfunction that marked Trump’s first term, but which were less obvious in his second most prolific presidency.
If there is anyone who should know that the government cannot issue statements of tranquility and make conspiracy theories disappear, this one is Trump. He invented some of the most notorious fake intrigues in American politics history, from racist fantasy about President Barack Obama’s birthplace to the story that corroded the democracy that he won the 2020 elections – which helped him to return to power in 2024.
But Trump’s mastery in the conspiracy domain did not help attempts to crush Epstein’s drama. The Justice Department issued a memorandum last week to insist that there was no evidence that the convicted disgrace and a convicted criminal investor would maintain a list of customers or have been murdered in prison. But as the president could have told Bondi, tell people that there is nothing only lights the fire of the conspiracy.
This left the president in a worse situation on Monday, when CNN International reported that Trump was increasingly frustrated with a controversy that already lasts almost a week and is overshadowing what the White House sees as a growing list of victories in the country and abroad.
The political consequences
One big question is whether Trump runs the risk of damaging his own political coalition if he cannot calm the fury caused by the Memorandum on Epstein of the Justice Department.
Trump has been, for a decade, the most dynamic right -wing figure in the country. He built a brand by lying down and crushing the rules of Washington. But if it doesn’t even get an end with a media revolt, you may be coming into a difficult time with a long -lived force.
Still, it would not be wise to underestimate your power.
Trump has transformed the Republican party into its populist and nationalist image. Congressmen who challenge him are often excommunicated. In the rallies of Trump’s campaign, the confidence and devotion he inspired among his followers were tangible.
The influencers of the media Maga who criticize him seem to understand that their statute in the movement depends on the reflected glory of their megestrela. Prior to Trump’s recent attacks on Iran, many of them warned that he was in danger of sharing his base by launching wars abroad – but most returned to the line when the bombs began to fall.
“Donald Trump has a very significant influence on the Republican Party and I think anyone who thinks this is the end of Donald Trump’s influence on the Republican Party is wrong,” Kristen Solis Anderson told Republican Stratega and CNN collaborator, Kasie Hunt on The Arena program this Monday. Still, Anderson added that this controversy can be more problematic for Trump than the ideological battles he has imposed on the Republican Party, because it involves the question of the confidence of his supporters and his ordersider status.
But in next year’s interchange elections, where Trump will not be at the polls, any drop in enthusiasm among base republicans can have an impact.
Steve Bannon, a political counselor of Trump’s first term that now presents the “War Room” podcast, argued at the Turning Point conference on Friday that it would not be much erosion in the magician base to have a dramatic effect. According to him, if 10% of the movement were unhappy, the party could lose 40 places in the House of Representatives. This would mean a democratic majority.
What will Trump do next?
It is worth being aware to see if Trump feels that he is being pressured. If so, a president who is an expert in distractions may try to stage new controversies.
Trump has often returned to the question that is in the DNA of the Maga Movement – hard positions on immigration – to gather the group. Therefore, it was not surprising to see the Tom Homan border tsar and internal security secretary Kristi Noem to talk hard on Sunday’s news programs. But these Maga management favorites failed to disguise rumors about Epstein, who intensified throughout the weekend.
These rumors were initiated first because Bondi hinted earlier this year at Fox News that there could be a great revelation in the case. In recent days, Trump has given strong exhibitions to support his general lawyer, including his presence in the FIFA Club World Championship final on Sunday. The lawyer is also valuable to him and has transformed his department into a factual legal company for the president.
Still, if Bondi cannot calm the noise of the political base, there will be more whispers to Trump’s ear about his performance. In the past, the president has already disappointed his choices for his cabinet in similar circumstances.
Trump wrote on social networks during the weekend that Bondi was “great” and should be allowed to do his job.
But loyalty usually only works in a sense in Trump administration. And one way to be on the right side of the story would be the president to distance himself from Bondi.
The CNN team at the White House said, however, that although the president does not want to lose Bongino because of this issue, because that would make his office seem divided, some expect that the FBI’s deputy director will not remain in his long run.
Mayor Mike Johnson told Raju on Monday that he still had faith in Bondi and that he trusted the president would do the right thing about Epstein’s issue. The fact that the Louisiana Republican is prepared to receive such questions shows that the attorney general is under pressure.
The conspiracy-chief
True to his form, Trump sought to get rid of the confusion by creating new conspiracy theories, blaming the Democrats for not having released the files for years. This has worked many times in the past to unite your coalition. But this time it is not working.
The president merely paved the way for Democrats to scrutinize their decisions.
“The American people deserve to know the truth, the whole truth and nothing more than the truth about all this nasty issue of Jeffrey Epstein,” said House leader Hakeem Jeffries, journalists on Monday while trying to widen the widening divisions. “This was a conspiracy theory that Donald Trump, Pam Bondi, and these Maga extremists have fueled in recent years, and now chickens are coming home to get excited.”
The main conservative influencers at the Turning Point conference and the podcasts continued to demand answers about Epstein, where he got his money, whom he was on and who was covering him up.
All of this shows that the controversy over Epstein is unlikely to disappear quickly.
One of the reasons is the fact that it became central to an argument that Trump and his advisers have promoted for years, according to which the United States is under the control of a “Deep State” of information agencies, billionaire funders and obscure political forces that orchestra backstage events.
Trump took advantage of this false mythology to build his own power – presenting himself as a victim of conspiracies of the CIA and the FBI and an armed justice because it was the avatar of the hopes of MAGA followers across the country.
Now it seems that he is on the side of these supposedly rotten institutions – not to overthrow them.
How the Epstein Storm can harm the US
But it is not just the president and his movement.
Given its position and chaos surrounding the Justice Department, there are implications for the country.
The controversy is offering a condemnatory view of modern politics and the contribution of a fragmented media environment to the destruction of the concept of truth.
The refusal of the media personalities of the media of the media to accept that the facts do not support the cover of the alleged list of clients of Epstein and his death in prison reflects an extreme version of a powerful trend – the desire for a growing number of citizens to choose healed truths that support what they want to believe. Trump has done more than any other politician to promote this trend.
The corrosive nature of the government consumed by Trump’s conspiracy also threatens to harm the Justice Department and the FBI. The victorialism that spreads through Administration is in danger of diverting attention from the main missions of DOJ and the FBI – which include the justice administration of justice and the protection of Americans against violent crime and terrorism. It also shows that when the purpose of these agencies is stained by politics – as has happened to Trump – branches can sometimes be out of control.
And no one wizard us is talking about a fundamental question.
Many of those who voted for Trump in their more diverse republican coalition than usual last year were not Hardcore of the Maga. They were Americans frustrated with the cost of living crisis: the price of purchases, incomes, children’s care and education.
How does this political saga around a wild conspiracy about a dead and accused sexual criminal if it is unfolding for them?
It seems unlikely to be the main concern when they arrive at the polls next November to decide the destination of republican majorities in Congress.
