Will the Epstein Files be the Breaking Point of MAGA’s Love for Trump?
Just recently, house republicans in congress voted to withhold the release of more Epstein files. During his campaigning for presidency, when asked if he would be releasing the files, Trump’s response was “Yeah, I would”, though he has now gone back on his word. With the administration reversing course on the files release, people all over the country, including die-hard MAGA supporters and allies, are demanding for more transparency and justice for the victims. Will the Epstein files be MAGA’s breaking point?
What are the ‘Epstein Files’?
Jefferey Epstein, a wealthy New York and Florida-based financier, was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy charges. While awaiting trial for these charges officials reported he died by suicide in his jail cell.
The ‘Epstein Files’ are numerous documents involving Epstein and his alleged accomplices from various federal investigations, the trial of accomplice and girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, and victim lawsuits. The most popular file the public wants confirmation and release of is a rumored list Epstein kept that holds all the names of his clients.
Trumps Involvement
Trump was publicly known to have been friends with Epstein for over a decade. Several news publications have photographs and videos of the two together, some additionally have quotes straight from Trump where he states what a “Terrific guy” he thinks Epstein is.
In a live interview for Fox News, Trump stated it was very probable that he would release the rest of the Epstein files if he became president for a second time. Several of his republican allies and lawmakers also publicly supported the release of the files. Though, just recently Trump and several republican lawmakers vetoed a vote to release said files.
After this vote, Trump and his administration began to receive an enormous amount of backlash from his MAGA base. Even Elon Musk, who was known to have been quite close to Trump during the very beginning of his time in office, took to the internet to post tweets on social media platform X, claiming “Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”. This tweet, which led to a social media back-and-forth between Musk and Trump, has since been deleted and apologized for, but not before creating an even bigger uproar from MAGA supporters and democrats alike.
With the Trump administration weathering criticism and pushback from even his most ardent supporters and republican allies, the President has responded to this situation with a statement to reporters saying Bondi should release “whatever she thinks is credible” about Epstein. In a recent Cabinet meeting, he was also noted to say that it was "unbelievable" people are still talking about “this creep” given other recent news of the devastating flooding in Texas.
He even took to social media to further support Bondi and the concealment of the file, stating, “What’s going on with my ‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals’? They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We're on one team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening.” In his most recent lengthy Truth Social post, Trump shuns his supporters that are calling for more transparency and dismisses the entire situation as a “scam” created by democrats.
With his constant back and forth and refusal to be transparent, there is no doubt Trump has lost more than a handful of supporters from this situation and has made several others question their support. If the Epstein files are never released and the discourse never dies down the real question is, will the files be the breaking point of greater support from MAGA?
