Wednesday marked a good day for the legacy media and the Democratic establishment. President Donald Trump’s description of the spiraling Jeffrey Epstein controversy as a “hoax” perpetrated by “Radical Left Democrats” is a boon to the swamp on two fronts.
First, it splits Trump’s base, arguably this century’s most powerful and united political force.
The preposterous claim insulted his fervent supporters, whom Trump and his inner circle had egged on for years to lead the Epstein saga. Thanks almost exclusively to key MAGA figures, including Trump’s sons and vice president, millions today believe a shadowy, globalist pedophilia ring involved the deceased financier. In this vision, the MAGA movement itself, led by the president, plays the role of the resistance to these blood-swilling, spirit-cooking forces. People who bought this fable have no choice but to abandon Trump, who now derides them as “PAST supporters” who have “bought into this ‘bullshit,’ hook, line, and sinker.”
But who really cast the line? Upon retaking office, Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi reinforced the perception of a vast malevolent conspiracy surrounding Epstein by releasing “The Epstein Files: Phase One” to a pitiable cadre of MAGA influencers at the White House. Phase One implies a Phase Two.
But the sorry influencers soon realized even Phase One binders lacked the long-sought bombshells.
And after last week’s announcement by the Trump administration that Epstein’s case was effectively closed, the MAGA base is left with one of two realities: either they’d been lied to all along, or Trump is now in league with the forces of darkness. Both possibilities threaten to splinter Trump’s vaunted political coalition. Some say that only “very online” people care about Epstein, and that regular voters don’t notice or care. However, in a 50/50 country, minor disruptions in unity can have massive electoral consequences.
Second, Trump’s decision to lump the Epstein saga into the broad category of legitimate Democratic hoaxes, such as the Steele Dossier and the “bloodbath” incident, hands the legacy media a ready-made self-absolving narrative. Seeing those who blatantly misled audiences have their legacies whitewashed is sickening.
Here’s legacy media stalwart Chuck Todd “pouncing” on Trump’s use of “hoax” today:
“‘Hoax’ in Trumpspeak usually means he’s out of explanations. When he has no plausible explanation for his actions, he simply screams ‘hoax,’” he wrote on X.
TRUMP CALLS REPUBLICANS WHO HAVE FALLEN FOR EPSTEIN ‘HOAX’ ‘STUPID’
This episode could do lasting damage to Trump’s legacy; there’s a reason it’s driving so much of the news right now. Whatever strange truth lies at the bottom of this mess, the swamp is doubtless feeling rejuvenated.