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Next, they’ll demand a blond Superman

I took some time away from covering the Jeffrey Epstein/Donald Trump debacle to write about the new “Superman” movie and the right-wing freakout over it. I even saw the movie, which is hard to make time for these days. I loved it. All superhero movies should have cute pets. “Captain Marvel” was a whiff, but hey, the cat was adorbs. But “Superman” is good all around. 

But you don’t have to see the movie to enjoy the article, because the MAGA tantrum wasn’t about the movie at all. It was about director James Gunn saying, entirely correctly, that Superman is an immigrant. Everyone knows that, or at least they should. It just goes to show how far MAGA has descended into “2+2=5” territory, that they would take umbrage with Gunn for uttering canonical truths about a character many decades old. There’s more to the story than that — give it a read! 

The guiltier he looks, the more MAGA comes back to Trump

From the beginning of the MAGA meltdown over the Epstein files, the story has been about the tension between two foundational aspects of the movement. On one hand, fascism is driven by self-justifying dreams of heroism. As I wrote last week, the fantasy that they’re in this to save “the children” from a mythical pedophile cult gives Trump supporters moral absolution for the concentration camps, the efforts to steal the election and their acceptance of Trump’s fraud and other illegal behavior.  

On the other hand, they don’t actually see sexual violence as a bad thing, at least not when men they like, including Trump, commit it. That’s why the civil jury finding that he sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll didn’t matter to the base. Sexual abuse only matters to them in the realm of fantasy, where they can pretend to be heroes without leaving the comfort of the sofa, or having to confront real-world problems. 

So I’m concerned that the more evidence that emerges that Trump was complicit in Epstein’s crimes, the more the MAGA base will support him. They’ll switch from role-playing the heroes to another favorite mode, defending the sexual predator. 

Last week, the Wall Street Journal published a reported 2003 letter from Trump to his “pal” Epstein, in which Trump wrote, “We have certain things in common, Jeffrey” and concluded, “may every day be another wonderful secret.” Sure enough, the MAGA influencers who up till then were calling on Trump to release the Epstein files switched right into “protect the predator” mode. 

To be clear, it is crucial to keep harping on this. Democrats should never speak to a reporter without asking, “Where are the files?” It’s stressing Trump out, which is good. It’s causing questions with the Johnny-come-latelys to MAGA, such as Elon Musk or Joe Rogan fans. Events like this can also plant seeds of doubt in some believers, which later bloom into full rebellion. But don’t be surprised when most MAGA influencers find their way back to Trump.

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MAGA is just mad their favorite TV show fizzled out

The key to understanding the MAGA movement’s frustration with the non-release of the Epstein files is this: They have truly convinced themselves that Trump’s name isn’t in them. Which is wild and illogical, because he seems to have been one of Epstein’s closest friends for a decade. Plus, in what Epstein files have been released, Trump is all over them, what with their history of “wonderful” secrets and all. 

But no, MAGA chooses to believe that Epstein’s “clients” were all liberals they hate, including many women like Beyoncé or Hillary Clinton. In this story, Trump gets into the White House, releases the file, their perceived enemies are all arrested and there’s a big party where same-sex marriage is repealed and Barack Obama’s “real” birth certificate is finally revealed. They’re mad because Trump isn’t doing this for them, and they don’t understand why not. 

This isn’t moral outrage. It’s closer to the rage that “Game of Thrones” fans felt after the disappointing series finale. These folks spent years following MAGA conspiracy theories, like fans who dissect every episode of a TV show. And when it didn’t deliver the exciting ending they expected, they’re furious. They feel entitled to a bigger payoff after all their investment in this entertainment product. 

Of course it’s unbelievably gross that they treat a case where real-life girls and women, in the hundreds, were raped and abused. But as I’ve underscored repeatedly, MAGA does not care about sex abuse or they’d never have backed Trump in the first place. If there’s one big takeaway from this story that I hope readers get, it’s about how fascism depends on its followers living in a fantasy world. They want to play at being heroes, while letting the real world rot and degrade into hell. Fantasy is all the “Epstein files” ever were to them, and the more real the story gets, the more they’ll lose interest.

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What we're reading this week

• “Mike Johnson Would Like You to Know About His Subservience,” Jamelle Bouie, New York Times

• “He Had Dangerous Delusions. ChatGPT Admitted It Made Them Worse,” Julie Jargon, Wall Street Journal 

• “Meet the young Republicans who want to deport Zohran Mamdani,” Russell Payne, Salon

• “The cruel joke of CBS ousting Stephen Colbert,” Melanie McFarland, Salon

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