Trump doesn't realize why MAGA needs the Epstein files

[marmar]

Trump doesn’t realize why MAGA needs the Epstein files
His base needs a story where they're the heroes, not the villains

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published July 15, 2025 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) On Saturday, Donald Trump tried to wave the MAGA base off the growing clamor to release the full case file of infamous sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, a close friend of Trump’s who evaded trial in 2019 by killing himself in jail. The president’s intervention seemed to reveal that he’s deeply worried there’s embarrassing or incriminating evidence about him in the Justice Department’s files. The furor, he insisted, is being driven by “selfish people” who are trying to hurt him. He said the files must be fabricated “by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration.” Trump’s tirade made it impossible to escape the conclusion that he’s trying to dissuade his voters from believing any damning evidence that may come out.

What was also telling in this defensive screed is how perplexed Trump is over his base’s fixation on this case. He begs them to move on to other conspiracy theories, offering a full menu of alternatives, like JFK’s assassination, Hunter Biden’s laptop and, his personal favorite, the “Rigged and Stolen Election of 2020.” “Let’s keep it that way, and not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about,” he pleaded with his supporters, as if saying that no one cares about Epstein will somehow make it true.

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The president’s confusion over why this matters to his base is understandable. MAGA voters have made it abundantly clear that they do not care about sexual abuse. They didn’t care when a tape of Trump bragging about sexual assault was released in 2016. They didn’t care when he was found liable for sexual assault by a civil jury in 2023. They don’t mind that Trump goes out of his way to associate with men accused of sex crimes, from Epstein to Vince McMahon to Pete Hegseth to Matt Gaetz and numerous others. For Trump, this has to be bewildering. His supporters do not treat sexual violence like it’s a bad thing. So why do they care about Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, or the identities of his alleged co-conspirators?

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The Esptein conspiracy theory is a coping mechanism for people enduring this cognitive dissonance. Yes, a civil jury found that Trump assaulted journalist E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room. But if Trump voters tell each other Bill Clinton is on the mythical “Epstein client list” and is about to be arrested for pedophilia, they can believe Democrats are worse. Yes, Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy keeps promoting anti-vaccine conspiracies that lead to children dying of preventable diseases. But the fantasy that Bill Gates is a child molester allows them to say they’re the ones who are protecting kids. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem undermined efforts to help after a flood wiped out a Texas summer camp, but by clamoring for the “Epstein files,” MAGA can pretend they’re the champions of young girls. ..................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/07/15/trump-doesnt-realize-why-maga-needs-the-epstein-files/