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Trump loses it as supporters body him over Epstein cover up

Donald Trump is facing intense backlash from his audience of reactionary conspiracy theorists over the Epstein scandal, and it couldn’t be more well-deserved.

It’s looking like the most significant break between Trump and his supporters yet, and it’s unclear what he can do to reverse it.

Timeline of a scandal

On July 6 2019 (Trump’s first presidential term), Jeffrey Epstein was arrested and charged with “allegedly running a sex-trafficking enterprise between 2002 and 2005 in which he paid underage girls to have sex with him at his Manhattan home and his estate in Palm Beach”. On July 23, Epstein officially died of suicide in prison while on constant suicide watch, with AP reporting:

The disgraced financier was under psychological observation at the time for a suicide attempt just days earlier that left his neck bruised and scraped. Yet, even after a 31-hour stint on suicide watch, Epstein insisted he wasn’t suicidal, telling a jail psychologist he had a “wonderful life” and “would be crazy” to end it.

As CNN reported, guards failed to perform the necessary checks and falsified records. Also:

Oh, and people have also called Epstein’s first ‘suicide attempt’ into question; particularly as that footage was ‘accidentally’ deleted.

People often suggest that it makes sense for Epstein to have killed himself because his life was effectively over as a result of the arrest. Generally these people are unfamiliar with how the so-called forces of justice previously conspired to protect Epstein from the consequences of his actions. As Intelligencer reported in 2019:

A decade ago, after Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to charges of soliciting a minor, he served 13 months in a private wing of the Palm Beach jail. The sentence, which allowed Epstein to spend 12 hours a day on work release, has come under intense criticism in recent months. It’s been called a “sweetheart deal” and an example of the privileges afforded to the wealthy and well connected.

Now there are also accusations that the lenient sentence enabled Epstein to continue his abuse. In a press conference Tuesday, attorney Brad Edwards, who is representing some of Epstein’s accusers, said at least one woman in Florida alleges abuse at the hands of Epstein while he was on work release. Epstein was also visited during this time by others for “sexual contact,” Edwards said, adding that he doesn’t know if any of the visitors were underage.

Miami attorney Alex Acosta oversaw the plea deal with Epstein; Acosta went on to serve as the labor secretary in Trump’s first term as president.

Fast forwarding to February 2025, attorney general Pam Bondi released the ‘Epstein Files: Phase 1’, and she had a bunch of MAGA influencers pose with the binders:

The move was criticised because the folders contained “almost no new information”. Bondi later said Epstein’s ‘client list’ was “sitting on my desk right now” waiting to be reviewed. The Department of Justice has since then declared:

  • No client list exists.
  • There’s no evidence of Epstein blackmailing anyone.
  • He definitely, positively, 100%, trust me, bro, died of suicide.

In support of this, they released a video from the night when Epstein died. This footage wasn’t from outside Epstein’s cell, and it mysteriously cut out for a minute. Oh, and subsequent analysis suggests the footage could have been altered, and that it’s the product of splicing two separate files together.

YouTuber Coffeezilla provided a detailed breakdown of this “disaster” of a release:

MAGA VS Trump

Epstein is linked to many high-profile politicians and celebrities, and The Canary has reported on his close ties with prince Andrew and lord Peter Mandelson.

Trump’s supporters push many ridiculous conspiracies (e.g. ‘Jewish space lasers‘), with the Epstein case being the most substantiated of all the narratives they follow. The problem with the MAGA movement was they believed the so-called Epstein Files would only implicate their political rivals and not Trump himself. This was despite Trump’s documented friendship with Epstein and his history of paedophilic / incestuous comments and sexual abuse:

After having his justice department declare ‘nothing to see here’ on the long-promised Epstein files, Trump lost it in an interview:

Long-time Trump supporters reacted poorly to the announcement that no one else was implicated in the Epstein case; especially as Trump himself had long suggested otherwise:

Some of the more unhinged figures in the Trump movement are trying to simultaneously cry conspiracy without blaming Trump, with ‘investigative journalist’ and dog food consumer Laura Loomer attempting to shift the blame on to Bondi:

Alex Jones, meanwhile, is suggesting that Trump is using Epstein evidence to blackmail high-powered international paedophiles, and that unlike when Epstein did the same thing it’s good now, maybe?

Trump’s former ‘first buddy‘ Elon Musk, meanwhile, is going after Trump directly:

Conspiracy freaks like the Hodge Twins aren’t buying the Trump line, and it’s easy to see why. There’s an online cottage industry of conspiracy theorists; supporting Trump has benefitted them up until now, but do you really expect the most opportunistic people on the planet to torch their future earning potential to protect the credibility of an 80-year-old (alleged) paedophile who just tanked what little credibility he has left?

Hispanic white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes pulled no punches either:

Trump’s efforts to get everyone to shut up about Epstein are also going down poorly with the die hard MAGA crowd on Truth Social (Trump’s vanity social media site):

YouTuber Philip Defranco shared a screengrab of replies to the Truth Social post:

users on Truth Social criticising Trump

So did several others:

Democrats VS Epstein VS Trump

You’d think that the Democratic Party could seriously capitalise on this situation, but many of them have a problem, and that problem is Bill Clinton:

You might think this next picture is a joke or an AI image prompt, but no – this is genuinely a painting which Epstein owned and displayed:

Some Democrats are speaking out, at least, which may be a sign of a political break between current politicians and the establishment:

This is undoubtedly in part because it’s more apparent than ever that these establishment figures are electorally toxic:

Trump crashing out over Epstein

As you’d expect, people are deriving some degree of pleasure from Trump losing his mind over Epstein. One person provided a creative edit of Trump’s crashout post:

Commentators also highlighted the mental gymnastics a person would have to perform to believe what Trump and his administration are saying:

As the controversy rolls on, Trump is beginning to lash out at others:

Of course, it would be wrong to suggest Trump was just looking out for himself; he’s also protecting the interests of his donors:

Teflon Don

There’s only been one other moment when Trump risked losing the support of his base, and that was when he distanced himself from the farcical insurrection that his supporters enacted on January 6 2021. Trump had a wilderness period after this, but he won back complete loyalty by reversing his position, and this culminated in the pardoning of the would-be insurrectionists when he returned to office earlier this year.

It’s hard to see how Trump can reverse his position on this one; it’s equally hard to see how the Republican Party can retain or expand the social media and podcast support it enjoyed in 2024 now that it’s painted itself as the party of international paedophilia.

Featured image via Times News 

 

By The Canary

This post was originally published on Canary.