cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/33008020
NEW YORK (AP) — As his supporters erupt over the Justice Department’s failure to release much-hyped records in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation, President Donald Trump’s strategy has been to downplay the issue.
His problem? That nothing-to-see-here approach doesn’t work for those who have learned from him that they must not give up until the government’s deepest, darkest secrets are exposed.
Last week, the Justice Department and the FBI abruptly walked back the notion that there’s an Epstein client list of elites who participated in the wealthy New York financier’s trafficking of underage girls. Trump quickly defended Attorney General Pam Bondi and chided a reporter for daring to ask about the documents.
The online reaction was swift, with followers calling the Republican president “out of touch” and demanding transparency.
On Saturday, Trump used his Truth Social platform to again attempt to call supporters off the Epstein trail amid reports of infighting between Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino over the issue. He suggested the turmoil was undermining his administration — “all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein.”
That did little to mollify Trump’s supporters, who urged him to release the files or risk losing his base. At least one follower responded to Trump’s post by saying it seemed as though the president was just trying to make the issue go away — but assured him it wouldn’t.
The political crisis is especially challenging for Trump because it’s one of his own making. The president has spent years stoking dark theories and embracing QAnon-tinged propaganda that casts him as the only savior who can demolish the “deep state.”
Now that he’s running the federal government, the community he helped build is coming back to haunt him. It’s demanding answers he either isn’t able to or does not want to provide.
“The faulty assumption Trump and others make is they can peddle conspiracy theories without any blowback,” said Matt Dallek, a political scientist at George Washington University. “The Epstein case is a neat encapsulation that it is hard to put the genie back in the bottle.”
This predates him, and is the foundation of the far-right. Prior to Trump’s entrance, Pizzagate is what rallied the far-right against the ‘Deep State’ Democrats. He built his cult on that foundation, whether he knew it or not. Protecting high-profile pedophiles goes against the core vision of his cult.
If right wing people were equipped to deal with reality, they wouldn’t be right wing people.
PROTECTING Pedophiles goes AGAINST their Vision which is why they Voted for President TWICE Jeffrey Epstein’s Best Friend!
They didn’t believe that connection was true until now. That’s the point. They thought it was all part of the Democratic Deep State conspiracy.
Rubbish. They want to out libs who are pedarists, they care little about prediclictions of their own. The GOP is riddles with them, they literally voted for one as proof of my assertion.
I’m not saying they care about Trump being on the list. I’m saying they care about Trump’s DOJ continuing to protect the pedophiles, and are blaming Trump for it.
Take a look how badly he’s been getting ratio’d on Truth Social for three days.
It just occurred to me, but probably for most celebrities / public figures they don’t care so much about what people are saying “to” them on social media. But this particular guy has laid the foundation for his whole self-worth on what people say to him on there (and in the media). I hope he spends every evening relentlessly scrolling through those negative comments.
That would require Trumpy to read, which I highly doubt that he can.