President Donald Trump is mired in a mess of his own making. The media, and more importantly, his base, are clamoring for answers and information about his relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. And for the first time in the history of his presidency, he can’t stop the bleeding.
He’s always been able to change the subject. Scandals come and go, and nothing has scratched his status as the Teflon president. His media mastery always works. Until now.
So why can’t Trump stop the drumbeat, especially on TV news which is covering the story 25 hours a day, day after day? Think of the Russia hoax and the Mueller investigation, the Stormy Daniels conviction, and the “Access Hollywood” tape. Those scandals were nowhere near as all consuming as this one is.
The story launched into the stratosphere when the Department of Justice said that it would not be releasing any of the Epstein files despite an earlier buildup. Trump repeatedly promised during the campaign to release the files. It became a rallying cry with his MAGA base, who believed there was a list of pedophile clients along with various conspiracy theories.
No attempt at diverting attention has worked. Calling it a “hoax” didn’t tamp down the media’s furor. Neither did blaming it on the Democrats. He’s tried to shift the conversations by declaring Barack Obama as guilty of “treason,” attacking Oprah, Beyonce and Kamala, even insisting that Washington’s football team should restore its old name of the Redskins .
Every day, every channel, there are mounting questions about the man who died six years ago. When Trump was boarding the plane on Friday to head to Scotland, he couldn’t escape the story. The deputy attorney general, a former Trump lawyer. had just spent two days questioning Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s accomplice, who is serving 20 years for sex trafficking and helping groom underage women for him. A reporter asked if he would pardon Maxwell, and Trump said he “hasn’t thought about” it.
When he landed in Scotland, he was asked again: “A lot of people are asking me about pardons. Obviously, this is no time to be talking about pardons.” He didn’t say no.
The next day, during the European Union press conference on tariffs Sunday, a reporter hit him with another Epstein question: “Mr. President, was part of the rush to get this deal done to knock the Jeffrey Epstein story [out of the headlines]?”
He avoided Epstein questions, while golfing at his Turnberry resort, by cranking up the music including “Memory” from “Cats.”
Trump dismissed calls for transparency and attacked the media.
“I’m not focused on conspiracy theories that you are. I mean, I watch you people — it’s so sad. You ought to talk about the success of our country instead of this nonsense you talk about over and over again,” he said.
“You’re making a very big thing out of something that is not a big thing….What we should be talking about is that we have the greatest six months in the history of a presidency.”
His scattershot, sometimes contradictory answers fuel the story and give TV, in particular, an endless supply of red meat.
In mid-July, he said Attorney General Pam Bondi gave him “a very quick briefing” in the spring about the Epstein matter. This time, when asked by a reporter if Bondi told Trump that his name appeared in the records, he said, “No, no.” The press had a new lead.
On Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Bondi told Trump during a White House meeting in May that his name appeared multiple times in the Epstein files. Of course, this may or may not be meaningless–others like Bill Clinton are undoubtedly in there as well–which is why a federal judge has rejected Trump’s request to release the grand jury transcripts.
Trump said earlier that he’d received a “very quick briefing” from Bondi about the files. Which made it odd when, on Sunday, Trump told reporters, “No, I was never briefed, no.” The White House has not walked back the contradiction. Was he lying then or now?
Two weeks ago, the Journal reported that he allegedly sent Epstein a card 20 years ago wishing him a happy birthday with a crude drawing of a naked woman. He sued the paper for $10 billion, and included its parent company and Rupert Murdoch, his on-again, off-again confidant, who he had called to squash the story. Trump insisted that he doesn’t draw pictures of people, but copped to sometimes sketching buildings.
His messaging dissonance is triggering a backlash from supporters.
Joe Rogan has turned on Trump. FBI Director Kash Patel came on his podcast and promised to disclose the full video from Epstein’s jail cell where he died. But when the DOJ released it, there were minutes of footage mysteriously missing, which the government blamed on a nightly reset of one minute per hour.
The top-rated podcaster came out swinging. “Do they think we’re babies?” “The Epstein stuff is so crazy, because when Kash Patel was on here and he was like, ‘There’s nothing,’ and I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’,” Rogan said. “Yeah, I didn’t even know what to say.’”
“People were like, ‘Why didn’t you push back more?’ My thought was like, ‘I’m just gonna put this out there and let the Internet do its work,’” Rogan said. “The guy’s saying there’s no tapes, there’s no video. That doesn’t make any sense. Everyone knows it doesn’t make any sense.”
Mike Johnson, the House speaker, broke with the president. He pushed back on the idea of Trump pardoning Maxwell after Trump refused to rule it out. On Meet the Press he said,
“Not my decision, but I have great pause about that, as any reasonable person would.” He’s right, it would be a terrible idea both legally and politically.
Even Laura Loomer, a staunch Trump supporter and prominent figure in the MAGA movement, has criticized him. “Obviously, this is not a complete hoax given the fact that Ghislaine Maxwell is currently serving 20 years in prison in Florida for her crimes and activities with Jeffrey Epstein…”
But in yesterday’s Washington Post poll, 24% of Republicans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the files, with 38% approving and 30% having no opinion. That compares with 9 out of ten Democrats and more than six out of ten Independents who disapprove. For nearly a quarter of Republicans to break with Trump on this volatile issue is remarkable given his usual grip on the party.
And, of course, liberals are having a field day. Comedian Jon Stewart skewered the president for his past statements and actions about women. “Trump bragged about busting into the dressing rooms in Miss Universe contests, and was accused of busting in the dressing room at Miss Teen USA pageants. And told a couple of 14-year-olds he’d be dating them in two years.”
This is a fight between Trump and his people of a magnitude we haven’t seen before. With inadvertent help from him, they are trying to hold him accountable. And the controversy will continue to haunt Trump until the inescapable narrative plays out, and the public is satisfied that the administration has been truthful about his connection with Epstein.
When you come down to it, this kind of inside-the-Beltway Kabuki theatre may well turn more of the base away from their leader for a long time to come.
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Perhaps you should consider President Trump is actually in total control of this story.
Remember when the cry went out to release his tax returns, went to the Supreme Court, and when he did release them, it was a nothing burger. Same strategy.
5 Level Chess. Think Optics for a specific outcome.