Is Trump in hot water with the Epstein files? (Photo: Gage Skidmore)
The Maga (Make America Great Again) movement that forms the core of Donald Trump’s political base has been badly shaken. The issue? The alleged “deep state” cover-up of the crimes of the sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison in 2019.
To understand why this is such a big deal, we must start with the nature of the Maga movement. Trump’s political success lies in his articulating some of the very widespread anger directed at the neoliberal corporate elite that has presided over the decline of US imperialism in recent decades.
The contradiction is that Trump himself is very much part of this elite. This makes it inconceivable that his movement could develop a class critique of the capitalist system that has caused so much suffering in the US, as elsewhere. An ideological substitute is provided by different kinds of conspiracy theory, often racist.
So there’s the “Great Replacement Theory”—the idea that a liberal elite is flooding Western Europe and North America with migrants to overwhelm and marginalise the white population. Then there’s QAnon, according to which Trump is waging a secret war with a powerful cabal of Satanist paedophiles often associated with rich Jews.
The conspiracy theories about Epstein are somewhat different. They start, not from fantasy, but from something horribly real. Epstein managed to become extremely wealthy—exactly how is unclear—in the final decades of the 20th century. He used the power his money gave him to abuse sexually large numbers of girls and young women and to traffic them for abuse by other well-placed men.
These connections meant Epstein got off with an extremely light sentence when he was finally prosecuted. The official story that he committed suicide while imprisoned to face more seriously charges is widely disbelieved.
During last year’s presidential campaign, Trump’s allies promised to expose what they said was an establishment coverup of this scandal. According to Dan Bongino, now FBI deputy director, “the Epstein client list is a huge deal” that would “rock the Democrat Party”. J D Vance, now vice president, said, “We need to release the Epstein list.”
But, in office, these promises evaporated. A group of Maga influencers visited the White House in February. Attorney General Pam Bondi handed them binders labelled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1”. But there was nothing new inside. Bondi has been widely attacked by them and by other Maga activists after her department announced recently that the infamous list didn’t exist.
There is a tempting explanation for this turnaround. For years Trump was a crony of Epstein’s when they were both based in Palm Beach, Florida—though they later fell out. After he broke with Trump in June, Tesla boss Elon Musk actually tweeted that Trump was “in the Epstein files”, though he subsequently deleted the post.
Another big right wing beast joined the battle on last Thursday when the Wall Street Journal alleged that Trump had written a salacious letter to Epstein for the latter’s 50th birthday. This journal belongs to Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.
In the past, Murdoch had dismissed Trump as, according to journalist Michael Wolff, “at best a clown prince among the rich and famous”. But, after Trump first won the presidency in 2016, Murdoch’s Fox News became a key engine of the Trumpist movement. Repeating Trump’s claim that his defeat in 2020 was the result of the ballot-rigging left it facing huge libel suits.
Now Murdoch confronts another libel suit, this time for $2 billion, from Trump himself over the Wall Street Journal story. The Financial Times newspaper reports, “The spectacular rupture signals that the 94-year-old Murdoch is weighing whether Trump is losing his grip on the Maga movement over the Epstein saga, according to people close to the media billionaire.”
But the reaction to the story seems to have strengthened Trump. Maga leaders like Stephen Bannon and even Musk rallied to his defence. Still, the affair underlines how a movement built on conspiracy theories can be undermined by them.
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