Conspiracy theorists control Trump

With Donald Trump panicking over the Jeffrey Epstein case, it’s hard to follow other important stories. But the flood in Texas and the GOP’s efforts to shut down FEMA need to stay on people’s radar. On Monday, I took a deeper (but readable) dive into why MAGA hates FEMA, of all agencies, so much. Unsurprisingly, it’s rooted in white supremacy. It always is, right? 

But in fact, these stories are related. Both are ultimately about how the GOP under Trump is dominated by conspiracy theorists — and about the fact that Trump can’t just use those people to get elected and then ignore them. For one thing, he’s deeply entrenched in conspiracy theories himself. But as we can see with the MAGA base refusing to let go of the Epstein story, they’re no longer merely along for the ride. The freaks are in charge, not Trump — and he’s got to give them what they want. 

Trump can’t just throw Bondi under the bus

Saturday on Truth Social, Trump let loose a screed about Epstein that was so weirdly defensive that it almost felt like a confession. Most of the attention, understandably, focused on how he’s trying to tee up a conspiracy theory that might allow him to deny any incriminating evidence that comes out by claiming it was fabricated by Barack Obama. (I’m so tired of all this.) But also, tellingly, he defended Attorney General Pam Bondi, insisting that she “is doing a FANTASTIC JOB” and the administration is “PERFECT.” 

Both the right and left seem to believe that Bondi’s time in her role heading up the Department of Justice will be short. Trump needs someone to blame for the non-release of the nonexistent “Epstein client list.” Bondi is female, which makes her an appealing candidate for a scapegoat in a sexual abuse scandal, according to the topsy-turvy logic of MAGA. 

With Trump soaked in guilt-sweat, it’s a safe bet that he’s looking for anyone to throw under the bus. So I won’t rule out a Bondi ouster. That said, it would be a foolish decision. As I wrote about today at Salon, Epstein conspiracy theories aren’t run-of-the-mill MAGA nonsense to feed the base. They amount to a coping mechanism for people who can’t deal with their own complicity in supporting Trump, despite his long history of sexual predation. (Read the article for more details!) 

Because of this, the Epstein fixation won’t go away, even if Bondi gets defenestrated. A new attorney general would just have to go through the same rigamarole. It might even get worse for that person, because, after all this, any confirmation hearing before the Senate would be focused heavily on questions about the Epstein files. Or at least it should be, if Democrats on the Judiciary Committee are smart. (Which is not guaranteed, alas.) 

The best chance of weathering this storm is for Trump, Bondi, etc., to shut up and hope the base gets bored of the whole thing. Luckily for us, Trump just can’t do that, and his verbal diarrhea took over. 

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Trump probably has no idea what’s in the Epstein case files

Trump’s freakout over the Epstein case has understandably led many people to believe he knows what’s in the FBI case files, and he is scared of whatever it is coming out. That was my first thought upon reading his Truth Social post, as well. But I think we should take a beat and scale back our expectations. The likelier story is that he doesn’t actually know what evidence the Justice Department does or doesn’t have. 

Let’s get real here: There’s very little chance Trump has had a frank conversation with Bondi or anyone else at the FBI or DOJ about whatever information about him may be in the Epstein case files. Trump is a terminal narcissist who ices out or screams at anyone who gives him unwelcome news. People who want to keep their jobs learn to feed him nothing but flattering lies. If there’s something really bad about him in there, beyond the known public record of his friendship with Epstein, they’d be unwise to tell him. 

The other side of that coin is that there’s no way for Trump to ask about this without, in effect, confessing. Innocent people don’t need to ask whether there’s video of their criminal acts, for example. It’s not like Trump has the intelligence or patience to sift through massive boxes of evidence by himself. 

The safe bet here is that Trump simply doesn’t know what the FBI has on him. There really might be nothing beyond the flight logs and photos that show that he hung out with Epstein on several occasions. Still, he knows what he did (whatever that was). The more he raves about how the whole thing is a fake, the guiltier he looks. Which is reason enough for people to keep on asking about what the DOJ is holding back and when they’ll release it. 

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What we're reading this week

• “Liberalism’s enemies are having second thoughts,” Zack Beauchamp, Vox

• “The Young GOPer Behind ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Is the Dark Future of MAGA,” Greg Sargent, New Republic

• “Trump's Jeffrey Epstein post contradicts what top Fox hosts have argued,” Matt Gertz, Media Matters

• “Texas just gutted free speech on college campuses. Is your state next?” Laura Benitez and Jonathan Friedman, Washington Post

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