Hello and happy Saturday. I look forward to writing this missive nearly every week. I’m proud to share the great work my colleagues do, and it gives me a chance to connect with our readers. So I hope you can forgive my lack of enthusiasm today. The big story this week wasn’t a landmark piece of legislation or a development in the Ukraine war. Nope, the topic that hogged the most headlines and airtime was the Trump administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
President Donald Trump said multiple times during his 2024 campaign that he would release documents related to Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. And in February, the Department of Justice did release some files—Trump brought a group of MAGA influencers to the White House, where they posed for photos while holding up binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1.” But the contents were underwhelming. Fast forward to earlier this month. On July 7, the Department of Justice released a memo stating that it had no evidence of an Epstein client list and that the FBI had concluded that Epstein died by suicide in his prison cell.
Many Trump supporters were outraged, and suddenly many on the left were clamoring for the files to be released, suspecting that Trump, who had been friends with Epstein for years, was covering something up. And Trump himself has kept trying to change the subject. Michael Warren notes that Trump snapped at a reporter for asking about Epstein and asked his followers to move on in a Truth Social post. Warren writes:
You can understand the whiplash felt by those who, like believers in the QAnon conspiracy before it, expected Trump to finally unveil what many had convinced themselves existed: proof that many of the country’s most powerful people were secretly pedophiles. But the DOJ memo did more than just pour cold water on this idea—it reinforced the idea that the conspiracy continues and perhaps Trump himself is a conspirator.
Jonah Goldberg wondered whether the kerfuffle would cause a significant schism in MAGA, and, well, he’s not ashamed to indulge in a little schadenfreude. “It’s difficult to muster any sympathy for the Mar-a-Lago Macbeth, as Epstein’s ghost plagues him like a sleazier Banquo,” he writes. “In fact, what is delicious about the whole spectacle is that literally no one—other than Epstein’s underage victims—is worth rooting for. Patel, Bongino, Bondi, and the denizens of MAGA media are all caught in a no-win situation: Support Trump and his ‘cover-up’ of their favorite conspiracy theory or alienate Trump by refusing to drop it.”
Trump did ask Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday to release “pertinent” grand jury testimony. But he also had to deal with fallout from a different drop of Epstein-related material that day. The Wall Street Journal reported that Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite and Epstein associate who’s serving a 20-year sentence for her role in his crimes, had compiled a book of letters from Epstein’s friends for his 50th birthday in 2003. And one of those letters, which included a lewd drawing of a woman, was from Donald Trump.
Trump has denied that the letter came from him and has sued the WSJ. But the way Nick Catoggio sees it, the story might actually end up helping Trump. The president’s supporters might be upset with him for not releasing the files, but nothing gets their ire up more than the media attacking him. Nick writes:
Numerous MAGA influencers who had been wavering on whether to side with Trump or with their conspiracy-crazed audiences on Epstein reacted with Pavlovian predictability to seeing their leader blindsided by the right’s archenemy, the liberal media. (Yes, “the liberal media” includes Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper. Any publication whose news coverage deviates from Trumpist propaganda is considered enemy turf.) Even Elon Musk, who’s been gleefully needling the president over Epstein, fell in line sheepishly. “It really doesn’t sound like something Trump would say tbh,” he tweeted about the letter,
Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend. And don’t miss all the great non-Epstein pieces I’ve highlighted below.
The Real Reason Donald Trump Hates Europe
Reason, Revelation, and Revolution
A Georgian Dream Deferred
Best of the Rest
How the Supreme Court Is Returning Power to the People
J.D. Vance’s Un-American Strawmen
The High Cost of Low Trust
The Wellness Gospel Won’t Save You
Society Needs Philanthropic Privacy
The Emil Bove Vote Will Reveal If Thom Tillis Is Serious
Conspiracy Central
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