FLASH
Shkruar nga Edward Luce
Cult loyalty is blind until it’s gone. Donald Trump’s populist truth test appears to be near. Whether or not the “Epstein files” exist is secondary. Trump and his top aides stoked a furor over the coverage of materials related to the late convicted sex offender’s circle of friends. Now they say they have nothing to show.
"We will bring pedophiles to justice!" has been replaced with: "Move forward, nothing to see." However, the Maga cult is not obeying orders.
In fact, it looks even worse for Trump. For years he insisted there was a deep state conspiracy that only he could uncover. Many of his top supporters, notably Kash Patel, who now heads the FBI, and the attorney general, Pam Bondi, held up the Epstein files as a defining example of establishment depravity. Now they say they were fake news.
But Trump is bucking their trend. Last weekend he claimed that the Epstein files did exist after all, but were fabricated by Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other known suspects.
Then he pleaded with his base to focus on something else. To be clear, millions of Americans of all stripes are interested in the Epstein case. You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to find something fishy in Trump's special prayer.
The fact that Trump himself has previously admitted to being friends with Epstein for 15 years is creeping into Maga’s consciousness. The president has since claimed he was “not a fan” and “had a falling out with him a long time ago.” Blaming Bond and Patel for this latest alleged cover-up, which some Maga influencers are doing, is a distraction.
Patel and Bond are the blind loyalists in this equation. The claim that the sovereign is being betrayed by his courtiers is as old as history. But scapegoating Bond or Patel will not save him. It can only work if their replacements uncover new evidence.
How will Trump get out of this? The only time he has clashed with his base before was over Covid vaccines. Despite having spearheaded “Operation Warp Speed,” which was arguably his greatest achievement in his first term, he put that boast aside when rallies began booing him in 2021. If he couldn’t beat the mob, he would join them, even if it meant giving up the credit. Patronizing the mob is not an option Trump seems willing to accept with the Epstein files.
When he first ran for president, Trump claimed that his base was so loyal that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in New York and they would still vote for him. That may still be true. But sexual abuse plays a central role in the conspiracy theories of the Maga deep state. Most of their myths are just that, most notably the satanic pedophile circle of Comet Ping Pong pizza parlors.
What sets Epstein’s story apart is that it stems from a legally proven case. I have no idea whether the FBI has evidence from its Epstein files that could damage Trump or other big names. Epstein’s social circle included other billionaires, a former U.S. president, a former governor, a former senator, a former banker, and a member of the British royal family. His world knew no party lines. What they had in common was an affinity for a billionaire donor who threw provocative parties.
Leading figures in the Maga and a growing number of Democratic lawmakers are now calling for an investigation into Epstein’s alleged cover-up. Who knows where this sudden cross-ideological call might lead? Trump could ease the problem by agreeing to appoint a special counsel. Dozens of powerful men could suffer badly from such an investigation. If Trump blocks this request, suspicions that he is hiding something will grow.
At a time when the world of Maga is showing signs of broader discontent, particularly with Trump’s new enthusiasm for arming Ukraine and making an exception in his deportation drive for illegal immigrants working in agriculture, the president is risking Epstein’s departure. It may be a little too late for Trump to learn the Chinese proverb: once you’ve climbed a tiger, it’s hard to get off it./ FT
Lini një Përgjigje