There’s been a fight this week in Congress over President Donald Trump’s requested package of cuts to government spending that some moderate Republicans opposed. That’s been separate from the high drama surrounding a procedural vote to move forward a bill on cryptocurrency. And just for a little fun, the president keeps floating the idea that he’s about to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
But that’s all secondary news as we barrel to the end of the second week in a row where the big story in Washington is, incredibly, focused on a convicted child sex offender who died by suicide in prison nearly six years ago.
Yes, the Jeffrey Epstein circus continues days after the Department of Justice issued a memo confirming several conclusions reached years ago: that Epstein had, in fact, killed himself; that there is no evidence Epstein had a “client list” that would incriminate the powerful and wealthy as part of his sex trafficking ring; and that there is no evidence suggesting the need for continued federal investigation.
In normal times, this memo would not be remarkable in that it confirmed what was already known about Epstein’s death and that there’s no other evidence requiring additional investigation. But these are not normal times, and this is no standard crime story. Epstein has become, for a large part of the Republican base, the central figure in a larger conspiracy theory (or two) in which high-level government officials, mostly Democrats, are engaged in the most sordid and vile sexual exploitation of minors. In this thinking, Epstein’s death was no accident, but an attempt by elites to protect themselves from exposure, and it would take truth tellers in government to lay bare the full story of corruption, cover-up, and sanctioned perversion.
This is all a crock, but Trump and his political movement took advantage of the conspiracy theorizing and promised, throughout the 2024 campaign, that the Epstein list would be released and bad actors would be brought to justice. Administration officials were publicly promising to expose the full conspiracy mere months ago. So last week’s memo was a kick in the gut to those who had believed them. And it made them angry.
Ever since, Trump has been in damage control, trying to tamp down interest in a story that he and his surrogates helped gin up. It’s a rare example of the leader of the most successful populist movement in American history being out of step with the movement’s most devoted voices. First, Trump criticized the press for asking questions about Epstein. Then, he defended Bondi, his attorney general, against claims that she was simply part of the cover-up. The president has recently taken to blaming the entire fiasco on (who else?) the Democrats, particularly Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and employing the term “hoax,” which up to this point has never failed to rally his people to his side.
Will this work? While many in the MAGA media universe have come to heel, it’s not been so easy to distract others. And Trump’s own inability to stop commenting about how he’s sick of commenting on Epstein has only fueled the conspiracy theorists (and those looking to take political advantage of them) to suggest that their would-be savior, Trump, is also in on it.
With all the aforementioned activity in the nation’s capital, there’s plenty of substance available for us to sink our teeth into. But this week, thanks to the Epstein fiasco, was not really the week to do that. But hope springs eternal.
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