When we look back on the whirlwind that is Donald Trump’s presidency, we may very well pinpoint this weekend as the moment his second term spun out of control. The weekend Trump lost control of the narrative — and parts of his political base. [July 13, 2025. Marc Elias, Democracy Docket]
The reason for this unraveling has to do with the a portion of Trump’s base that is all in on conspiracy theories has been fed really disgusting, horrible lies with the goal of manipulating these people to help Trump win in 2024.
BACKGROUND
Jeffrey Epstein was a wealthy financier who had relationships with other wealthy high profile men. Epstein engaged in sex trafficking of underage girls. After he was indicted for this criminal activity, he went to prison and while awaiting trial he attempted suicide once, and failed, but then tried again and succeeded in killing himself. There was and still is speculation that many high profile men may have feared that he would expose them as high profile pedofiles who had been on his airplane with him or gone to the island or home in Florida where he kept these underage sex trafficked girls.
When Epstein allegedly committed suicide, there were doubts about whether it was actually a suicide. Many believed he might have been either murdered or allowed to commit suicide without any intervention by the guards to keep what he knew from coming out and damaging high profile people who had engaged in sex with Epstein’s underage trafficked girls. Adding to the speculation, there is a one minute lapse in the 24/7 video recording device monitoring the hallway just outside of his cell the night Epstein died. That led to speculation about potential murder. Epstein signed a will after the first attempted suicide and two days before he died in his prison cell adding to speculation he knew he would be dead soon.
For years, many on the MAGA right alleged a massive governmental cover-up aimed at protecting Epstein, the convicted child sex offender and wealthy financier who circulated among the highest echelons of the rich and powerful. Trump and his allies were happy to amplify those whispers to their own political benefit.
These weren’t just allegations coming from anonymous cranks on the internet. JD Vance spoke publicly about an Epstein “client list” being kept secret by the government. Kash Patel did the same. Ditto Dan Bongino. Earlier this year, asked about “releasing the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients,” Bondi told Fox News “it’s sitting on my desk right now to review.”
WAS TRUMP SEXUALLY INVOLVED WITH UNDERAGE OR TRAFFICKED GIRLS?
Trump was a close friend of Epstein for many years and there are bread crumbs that could lead one to suspect there would be evidence of some kind of elicit behavior on Trump’s part in connection with Epstein’s sexual criminality and underage girls.
During Maxwell’s trial, flight logs released as evidence showed that Trump was listed as a passenger on Epstein’s private jets at least seven times: four times in 1993, once in 1994 and 1995, and a previously known time 1997.
At least 18 women have accused Trump of varying inappropriate behavior, including allegations of sexual harassment or sexual assault. During Trump’s first run for the White House, a 2005 video surfaced where he discussed groping women, in which Trump can be heard telling former “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush, “When you’re a star they let you do it.”
A federal lawsuit filed in California in April 2016 against Trump and Jeffrey Epstein by a California woman alleged that the two men sexually assaulted her at a series of parties at Epstein’s Manhattan residence in 1994 when she was 13 years old. The suit was dismissed by a federal judge in May 2016 because it did not raise valid claims under federal law. The woman filed another federal suit in New York in June 2016, but it was withdrawn three months later, apparently without being served on the defendants. A third federal suit was filed in New York in September 2016.[187][188]
The two latter suits included affidavits by an anonymous witness who attested to the accusations in the suits, asserting Epstein employed her to procure underage girls for him, and an anonymous person who declared the plaintiff had told him/her about the assaults at the time they occurred. The plaintiff, who had filed anonymously as Jane Doe, was scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles press conference six days before the 2016 election, but abruptly canceled the event; her lawyer Lisa Bloom asserted that the woman had received threats. The suit was dropped on November 4, 2016. Trump attorney Alan Garten denied the allegations, while Epstein declined to comment.[189][53][190]
A 2002 article in New York magazine quoted Trump talking about Epstein: “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen 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.”[194] In a 2017 recording, Epstein stated that he was “Donald’s closest friend for ten years.”[195][196]
According to a post published by Elon Musk on June 6, 2025, Trump appeared in the files related to Jeffrey Epstein. He stated it was the real reason why the files have not been made public.[197]
HOW TRUMP and MAGA INFLUENCERS USED EPSTEIN and Q’ANON CONSPIRACISTS TO HELP TRUMP WIN IN 2024
For years, the right-wing — fed by Trump and his allies — built up the idea among MAGA influencers, podcasters and the MAGA faithful, that Epstein was, in fact, murdered in prison and it was done to protect his rich and powerful friends who were Democrats. (Remember pizzagate? This is a close conspiracy cousin of pizzagate).
Here is what these Trump supporting conspiracy theorists believe: They think national Democrats, aided by Hollywood and a group of “global elites”, are running a massive ring devoted to the abduction, trafficking, torture, sexual abuse and cannibalization of children, all with the purpose of fulfilling the rituals of their Satanic faith. Donald Trump, according to this fantasy, is the only person willing and able to mount an attack against them. [The Guardian]
MAGA Q’Anon conspiracists and Trump repeated this story over and over to help get Trump elected. The MAGA faithful were told that once in office, Trump would get rid of the deep state that was protecting these bad people like Hillary Clinton and other horrible Democrats who are doing terrible things to children. But the only way these MAGA folks would get the truth would be if they elected Trump. Remarkably, Trump’s MAGA base never thought Trump would himself be implicated in the Epstein files. They seemed to brush off the fact or not know that Trump and others close to him had longstanding relationships with Epstein.
EARTH TWO COLLIDES WITH REALITY BASED EARTH ONE
When Trump took office, his Attorney General, Pam Bondi and FBI Directors, Dan Bongino and Kash Patel all promised to release the Epstein records and “client lists” that would expose those who had exploited the underage victims. But they did not do that. Instead, they have given inconsistent excuses for failing to do what they had promised to do. First, it was that there was suddenly NO list after all- and everyone should just go home now and forget about the Epstein list that they had talked so much about and that Pam Bondi had said on Fox News was “ON HER DESK” ready for her review.
That caused MAGA world to explode.
This is where you have to get into the cuckoo mindset of MAGA conspiracy theorists and understand that they really truly believed the garbage they had been fed by Trump and were repeating to their followers over and over again that the Epstein list would finally expose all the bad Democrats and they would be arrested and punished for their horrible acts at long last.
When Bondi, and Bongino failed to deliver on the Epstein list, suddenly, they as well as Trump himself began to look like they were part of the deep state instead of the avengers of truth and justice. (Yes, I know, this is upside down world, y’all.)
TRUMP GETS INTO IT AND TRIES TO END THE CRAZY BUT IT DOESN’T WORK
The first indication that this was breaking through to a broader audience came when Trump deflected a question by reporters about Epstein aimed at Pam Bondi:
“Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for years. Are people still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable. Do you want to waste the time?”
By the end of the week, reports emerged that the number two official at the FBI, Dan Bongino, might resign over the matter and that he and Pam Bondi had had a shouting match at DOJ. Bongino was said to have stormed off, leaving the building, vowing to quit unless she was kicked out.
Then came Saturday.
TRUMP INVENTS A NEW CONSPIRACY TO KEEP THE MAGAS FROM TURNING ON HIM
At 5:21 p.m yesterday, Trump posted a very long screed on Truth Social about Epstein that was different from prior outbursts of his. His post was deeply unhinged, but not in the way we are accustomed to him being unhinged. Usually, Trump is leading the parade of misfits, conspiracists and true believers. He seemed to be trying to halt the inquiry — telling everyone to pack up and go home.
Trump is now claiming that there are no Epstein files and there never were. He made up a new alternate reality: The files, he says, are forgeries “written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration.” Of course this raises tons of questions about how, exactly, these fake files were created and why Pam Bondi and Kash Patel didn’t know they were fake before now.
Trump then told the FBI to investigate “Voter Fraud, Political Corruption, ActBlue, [and] The Rigged and Stolen Election of 2020.” Trump is doing this to divert attention away from Epstein and reunify the MAGA conspiracists.
What is the most likely scenario about what happened here on Earth One?
- There are Epstein files (duh), and Trump is implicated or so close to implication it looks very bad for him.
- He is worried they will eventually get released and wants to discredit them in advance.
- He will go after his political opponents to unite his MAGA base.
As Marc Elias writes, “An hour after Trump’s social media post, Steve Bannon took to the stage at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit to “deconstruct” Trump’s plan: The president will soon have Pam Bondi appoint a special prosecutor to investigate and charge his political opponents. According to Bannon, that investigation will cover, among other things, the activities of Democrats in the 2016 and 2020 elections. He hinted that it may even be used to prosecute those who held the Jan. 6 insurrectionists accountable.”
Like other strongmen, when facing internal dissent, Trump moves to manufacture an excuse to crackdown on his opposition.
Trump had been using the issue of immigration to coalesce his base, but he faces a big shift in public opinion when it comes to immigration as I wrote about in my last post. There has been massive backlash against the overt cruelty and tactics used by ICE.
Over on Earth Two, Truth Social, there is a massive meltdown going on with Trump supporters begging him, yelling at him, and attacking him for joining the deep state and failing to fulfill his promise to them. There have been 45,000 responses on Truth Social so far, 90% of them are negative and this one, below, is just one example:
HOW AUTOCRATS FAIL
- Weakening of Power Base: Autocrats rely on a specific base of support – be it the military, elite factions, or a segment of the populace – to maintain control. Alienating this base erodes the foundation of their power and makes them more vulnerable to challenges from rivals or mass mobilization.
- Increased Risk of Coups or Revolts: The weakening of an autocrat’s base increases the probability of internal threats, like coups orchestrated by disaffected elites, or external threats like mass protests and revolts from a disgruntled populace.
- Difficulty in Sustaining Control: Maintaining power in an autocracy requires constant effort to balance repression and co-optation. When the autocrat’s base is fractured, it becomes harder to enforce decrees, control institutions, and prevent the emergence of alternative centers of power.
- Loss of Legitimacy and Public Trust: Alienating their base can undermine an autocrat’s legitimacy and public trust, making it easier for opposition movements to gain traction and challenge the regime’s authority.