Could this finally crack the Trump cult?
The Jeffrey Epstein scandal offers a rare opportunity for the MAGA hordes to rejoin reality
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The first thing to understand about the growing scandal around Donald Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein is that it isn’t new.
I should know: I was a producer at MSNBC’s “All In With Chris Hayes” from 2013 to 2021. I was part of a team that produced multiple segments informing viewers all about Trump’s ties to the disgraced child sex offender.
We highlighted how Trump told New York Magazine in 2002: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
We played video of Trump and Epstein ogling women at Mar-a-Lago in 1992. We showed images of Trump and Epstein partying together in 2000. We disclosed that Trump flew on Epstein’s private plane at least seven times. We shared disturbing reports about Trump and young women, including how teen beauty pageant contestants complained that Trump would enter their changing rooms while they were undressed.
None of it mattered.
Sure, our viewers at MSNBC were justifiably outraged. But the right had done such a good job of discrediting the press that the MAGA masses simply dismissed our reports and others as liberal media lies — if they heard them at all.
It didn’t make a difference that the proof of Trump and Epstein’s association was undeniable. Trump supporters were firmly ensconced in the right-wing echo chamber. And that is a place where facts — at least when articulated by mainstream news outlets — have no power.
Indeed, when it came to Epstein, the MAGA hordes actually went on the offensive. They aggressively targeted Democrats for their alleged ties to Epstein, while ignoring the evidence about Trump. They relentlessly attacked the left for allegedly grooming children, without mentioning that Trump was close friends for 15 years with the most infamous child predator in modern history.
This framing was maddening. But it seemed like it would never change. Until, suddenly, it did. For the past week or so, Trump has been flailing as he has tried and failed to dismiss outrage over his administration’s lack of transparency over Epstein. The apparent coverup has stoked speculation that the so-called Epstein files include revelations that Trump is desperate to keep secret.
Despite the evidence, the scandal might have remained contained had Trumpworld not so badly mishandled the story. For years, the president’s staunchest allies – many of whom would go on to serve in his administration – promised to release the Epstein files when Trump took office. They went so far as to suggest that prominent Democrats had murdered Epstein to keep him quiet, and that the bombshell revelations in the files would result in mass arrests of prominent figures on the left.
But the Trump administration did not make good on those promises. Instead, they released binders labeled “The Epstein Files” — but containing no new revelations — to conservative influencers, then promptly vowed to release no further information. Instead of placating the right-wingers who had spent years obsessing over Epstein, this enraged them. Some even turned on the administration, attacking Trump Attorney General Pam Bondi for failing to release the documents in full. Then came the Wall Street Journal story claiming that Trump penned a birthday greeting to Epstein that included a sketch of a named woman — and a reference to shared secrets.
It is hard for Trump to credibly dismiss all this as FAKE NEWS when it comes from conservative influencers and a Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper — though Trump is certainly trying. But after years of right-wing conspiracy mongering, Americans are not primed to give him the benefit of the doubt: A Reuters/Ipsos poll last week found that 69 percent of Americans, including 62 percent of Republicans, believe the government is hiding information about Epstein’s clients.
Let’s be clear: Anyone who remembers the Access Hollywood tape, to pick just one of Trump’s scandals, knows that it would be foolish to predict this will take Trump down. Indeed, that Wall Street Journal article — devastating as it might seem to rational people — actually seems to have helped Trump win back his MAGA base. There is a reason that this 2016 tweet is once again making the rounds:
Still, this is the rare scandal that has resulted in some real cracks in the Trump cult. And that fact drives home a depressing reality: In this fractured media age, it is the source of damning information — not the damning information itself — that matters most. Facts alone cannot change the minds of the MAGA faithful. The only way to even have a chance to shake their faith is via their most trusted sources of information. If you can somehow turn the propagandists, you might just win the war.
I would like to believe Epsteingate would be the crack in the teflon. But I’m not holding my breath. Those of us who see DJT for the heinous human being that he is are desperately seeking and awaiting the tipping point where his character flaws become suddenly apparent to his acolytes. But I’ve lost all hope that they’ll ever see him for what he is at this point. He has his groupies firmly under his command.
My only hope is that those independents who swung his way in the last election are experiencing quiet nausea about their choice. Maybe they’ll think twice about supporting the candidates he’ll be promoting in the midterms.
We’re doomed to living with trump’s legacy of lies. The dam must break.