This weekend marked the first time since Jan. 6, 2021, that Trump lost control of the narrative propelling his political movement. His solution after the violent insurrection at the Capitol was to retreat from public view, regroup and rebuild. Eventually, he settled on a reinvention of the Big Lie — portraying those committing violence as peaceful and those attempting to undermine free and fair elections as patriots.

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July 14, 2025

This weekend marked the first time since Jan. 6, 2021, that Trump lost control of the narrative propelling his political movement. His solution after the violent insurrection at the Capitol was to retreat from public view, regroup and rebuild. Eventually, he settled on a reinvention of the Big Lie — portraying those committing violence as peaceful and those attempting to undermine free and fair elections as patriots.

This time, his strategy will be different. He does not have the luxury of stepping back: he is the president, and his administration is subject to regular scrutiny from the press corps. Worse for him, both the MAGA right and, more recently, the pro-democracy left are intensely focused on the Epstein matter.

Trump does not believe in playing defense. We should anticipate a full-scale counterattack from him early this week.

Over the weekend, Trump and his enablers laid a clear foundation for what to expect. It began on Saturday morning, when...

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