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Trump is no stranger to scandal. But even in a sea of disgrace (the hush money, the FBI files at Mar-a-Lago, Jan 6) the Epstein scandal towers above all. Because for Trump, it’s existential. For the first time, his supporters care. The only thing that could be worse than the Epstein files is the actual, now obvious truth: Trump has, at the very least, allowed and aided the rape and sex trafficking of children.
So with this looming over Trump for the foreseeable future, how can we expect Trump to adapt? Time to log on.
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It’s a small wonder that Trump is absolutely desperate for a distraction. And here’s the perverse reality: for Trump, any distraction will do. Even if that means a new scandal that, for anyone else, would be political kryptonite. Why? Because anything — LITERALLY anything — is better than the world talking about his connection to Epstein.
Trump no longer has any rational incentive to avoid scandal. Far from it. Scandal is now protective camouflage. There is simply no better way to get people to talk about something besides his child rape coverup than a new scandal. If everyone’s busy losing their minds over the firing of the BLS chief or revoking Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship, then no one is asking why the president is covering up a child sex trafficking ring that he campaigned on exposing.
This isn’t hypothetical. Trump has slipped away from devastating scandal after devastating scandal as only “Tephlon Don” can. But this is different. Poll after poll lays bare how much this hurts him.
Quinnipiac found over a third of Republicans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the Epstein files, sixty-nine percent [ [link removed] ]of Americans, including nearly two-thirds of Republicans, say Trump is hiding Epstein details, and only 17% of the public approves — a staggering breach of his usual “shoot someone on 5th Avenue” immunity. With public faith plummeting, loyalists are starting to peel away. His own MAGA base is ::record scratch:: baffled by transparently absurd claims that Epstein files were somehow written by Obama. This is not your garden-variety base-rallying. It’s the kind of teeth-grinding avoidance that makes even the most faithful second guess the truth.
Every move to shape the narrative backfires on him. Take Trump’s wild legal antics: instead of smothering the Epstein story, he’s made it impossible to bury. Filing a $10 billion defamation suit against The Wall Street Journal only guarantees the story, and its underlying facts, will surface again and again, as truth is a defense against libel and depositions can be subpoenaed. His vague denials (“I don’t even know what they’re talking about… somebody could have written a letter and used my name” or most recently and damningly, “I just don't want people to get hurt” — what people??? Child sex traffickers?) only make him look guiltier, as victims’ lawyers offer to produce damning physical evidence.
In private, Trump’s efforts to pressure DOJ officials and even Ghislaine Maxwell have only further degraded trust with his base. “If the files are a hoax,” opponents and allies alike ask, “why not release them?”
So if the excuses are only making it worse for Trump, what choice does he have BUT to distract? And for a president whose only accomplishments are raising prices, alienating the world, funneling more money to the powerful few, and gutting services that Americans desperately need, there isn’t much positive to point to.
So like a toddler acting out in need of attention, Trump can count on his most evil, corrupt, and irresponsible acts to pull us away from his achilles heel.
Now, the most disturbing part: if Epstein is Trump’s doomsday, the best cover is disaster elsewhere else. Bring on the bad news. Fire the BLS chief. Manufacture tariff chaos. Stoke dangerous racism or threaten Iran. Spend a billion public dollars retrofitting your airplane bribe from a rogue nation and build a fucking ballroom the size of a small town! Each of these, no matter how egregious, drags oxygen from the Epstein file blaze and shifts the focus to something less terrible for Trump.
Trump, notoriously thin skinned, cares deeply about public opinion and could, on occasion, let it move him away from his worst impulses. But now, even the scandal from his worst impulses is a benefit to him. So what is left to appeal to?
If Republicans in Congress don’t force the full public release of the Epstein files, then unbelievably, we are about to enter into a new, even more corrupt and dangerous Trumpian era.
So keep your eyes on the prize, folks. Trump’s relationship to Epstein has the ingredients for his undoing, and he knows it. And the stakes have somehow gotten even higher.
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