https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2025/08/29/18879403.php
The spirits he summoned
Trump’s handling of the Epstein files causes discord in the MAGA camp
US President Donald Trump, who was not shy about fueling conspiracy theories about the alleged involvement of political opponents in Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse ring, is now coming under pressure himself in this matter.
By Jan Tölva
[This article posted on 7/31/2025 is translated from the German on the Internet, https://jungle.world/artikel/2025/31/trump-maga-epstein-files-die-geister-die-er-rief.]
The Epstein case continues to haunt US President Donald Trump. Street scene in Aberdeen during Trump’s private stay in Scotland, July 28.
– From the outset, Donald Trump’s political career was based in no small part on spreading conspiracy myths. First, he participated in the racist speculation of so-called birthers, who claimed, among other things, that then-President Barack Obama was not born in the US but in Kenya and therefore should not have been allowed to become president.
Later, he spread all kinds of half-truths and quarter-truths about Hillary Clinton’s email server and Hunter Biden’s laptop. Above all, however, he curried favor with the followers of the anti-Semitic QAnon cult. This cult claims that the Democrats are at the center of a satanic conspiracy by the so-called “deep state” that protects pedophiles. Trump repeatedly plays the role of leader in the fight against this cabal.
Alleged child abuse has been one of the central themes of the global far right for years. Self-proclaimed “pedo hunters” organize themselves online and specifically target homosexuals, drag queen story time events become the target of protests and attacks, and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, AfD politician Thomas de Jesus Fernandes recently claimed in the state parliament that “pedophiles can also give free rein to their sick tendencies” at Pride events.
> To prevent parliament from deciding to release the Epstein files, House Speaker Mike Johnson sent lawmakers into an early summer recess.
However, when it comes to child abuse and sex with minors within their own ranks, the US right wing in particular often becomes very quiet very quickly. This also applies above all to Trump. When allegations of sexual abuse of minors were made against Roy Moore, who was then running for the Senate for the Republicans in Alabama, Trump nevertheless gave him an official election recommendation after initial reluctance.
When Ralph Shortey, who had led Trump’s campaign in Oklahoma two years earlier, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2018 for repeatedly paying a male minor for sexual acts, Trump remained silent. And in 2024, he nominated then-Congressman Matt Gaetz, who had been accused of sex with a minor and was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee in 2021 for, among other things, “human trafficking for sexual exploitation,” for the position of attorney general. However, Gaetz withdrew his candidacy on his own initiative.
So it’s not really surprising that Trump is currently pulling out all the stops to keep the so-called Epstein files under wraps, after all, he had a long-standing friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in custody in 2019. But for years, the Epstein case has been a central part of speculation about pedophilia in government circles, where the investment banker was well connected, especially in right-wing circles. Trump himself had fueled these speculations in order to defame Bill Clinton in particular, who was also friends with Epstein.
Right-wing conspiracy theorists suspect that the sealed documents contain a client list showing who convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein arranged sexual encounters with minors for. They have been demanding their release for years. Even if it is not clear whether such a list actually exists, it is very likely that there are numerous documents that could incriminate people in Epstein’s circle – if not legally, then at least morally.
The question now being discussed across all political camps is why Trump, who willingly released files on the murders of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., wants to keep these particular files under lock and key. It stands to reason that he is acting primarily in his own interests.
After all, there are numerous photos that testify to his decade-long friendship with Epstein, which ended in 2004 over a dispute about a luxury property. Epstein had previously described himself as Trump’s “closest friend,” while Trump called Epstein a “terrific guy.” Journalist Michael Wolff claims that Epstein told him that Trump first had sex with his future wife Melania on board his private jet, known as the “Lolita Express.”
For the more liberal segment of the US population, Trump’s behavior in the Epstein case comes as little surprise. After all, his own – to put it mildly – problematic relationship with women is well documented. At least 27 women have accused him of sexual misconduct over the years. When radio host Howard Stern asked him in an interview in 2006 about an age limit for women he would have sex with, the then 59-year-old stammered that he didn’t have one, but that they shouldn’t be 12-year-olds.
For the right wing, on the other hand, the situation creates a certain cognitive dissonance. Many find it visibly difficult to reconcile their image of Trump, whom they imagine as a courageous warrior against the deep state and child abuse, with the fact that he is keeping files on a ring of sexual exploitation of minors under lock and key. Rarely, probably never in recent years, has the US population been as united as it is now on the issue of the Epstein files: In a mid-July poll, 86 percent of Harris voters and 83 percent of Trump voters said they wanted the government to release the documents.
To prevent Congress—including with the votes of Republicans—from deciding to release the documents, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, sent lawmakers into an early summer recess. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who according to the Wall Street Journal warned Trump in a memo in May that his name was in the Epstein files, and FBI Director Kash Patel – who in 2023 had vehemently called for the documents to be released – are also standing by Trump and have jointly decided to keep the documents under wraps.
But there are cracks in the Maga front. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, two Republican congresswomen who had been among the loudest supporters of the QAnon cult in the past, publicly demanded the release of the files. Jacob Chansley, who became known as the QAnon Shaman due to his costume during the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, wrote on X about fraud and about Trump: “Fuck this stupid piece of shit.” Chansley is one of the criminals Trump pardoned in one of his first acts after his re-election.
Trump is in danger of losing control over the most extreme, but until now also the most loyal, part of his supporters. He is responding aggressively and is now even suing his long-time companion Rupert Murdoch, whose Fox News channel contributed significantly to his meteoric rise. Murdoch also owns the Wall Street Journal, against which Trump is seeking $10 billion in damages. The “trash newspaper,” as Trump now calls it, had written about a birthday letter Trump sent to Epstein in 2003, which makes their friendship appear closer than he would like. The greeting included a drawing of a naked woman and an imaginary dialogue between Trump and Epstein, which hinted at their similarities.
Trump now seems to be getting a taste of his own medicine. He is responding with various attempts at distraction. During his weekend trip to his golf course in Scotland, he posted dozens of bizarre posts on his private propaganda platform Truth Social – including a photo of the chase after O. J. Simpson, in which Simpson’s head was replaced by that of Barack Obama and the heads of his pursuers were replaced by the grinning faces of Trump and his vice president, J. D. Vance.
Trump and his supporters, such as Mark Levin on Fox News, are trying almost desperately to stir up a scandal around Obama. Trump circulated a fake video of Obama’s alleged arrest and accuses him of trying to rig the 2016 election – the election that Trump famously won.
Slowly but surely, even when viewed soberly, one has to ask oneself what the Epstein files say about Trump if he apparently fears that their publication could harm him more than his own behavior over the past two weeks.