trump wins again
trump scammed his supporters yet again, and they thanked him for it.
Six months in, trump owns everything—the White House, Congress, the courts, his base—and the only thing that could touch him is locked in files he'll never open.
Attorney General Pam Bondi briefed trump in May that his name appeared in the Epstein files. He denied it. "Their new scam is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax". Then he called his supporters asking about it "weaklings" and said "I don't want their support anymore!"
Watch the pivot. It's insulting in its simplicity.
trump loaded distraction after distraction until one worked. Which one?
Wednesday: Tulsi Gabbard from the White House podium alleges a "yearslong coup and treasonous conspiracy" by the Obama administration. Suddenly everyone's talking about Obama instead of asking why Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell while the files stay sealed.
He thinks his base are fools. Apparently he's right.
Monday: "Release the Epstein files!" Wednesday: "The Deep State is framing trump!" Friday: "Murdoch is the real enemy!" No joy.
The same people who scream "save the children" forgot their hero told New York Magazine in 2002 he'd known Epstein for 15 years and called him a "terrific guy" who "likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side". The same people who demand transparency won't ask why their president keeps those files locked.
Virginia Giuffre was working at Mar-a-Lago when she was recruited by Maxwell to become Epstein's masseuse at age 16. trump now claims Epstein "stole her" from him. His base treats this like vindication instead of admission.
The Failed Distractions
Samantha Power money probe - Asked supporters "How did [former USAID administrator] Samantha Power make all of that money?" Zero traction. Nobody cared about Obama's foreign aid chief. Epstein interest: unchanged.
Washington Commanders name change - Threatened to "scuttle a stadium deal if the Washington Commanders football team doesn't change its name back to the Washington Redskins." ESPN's Stephen A. Smith called it "petty" and "evasive," claiming trump was trying to distract from "the Epstein files." Epstein interest: unchanged.
MLK assassination files dump - Released "thousands of files on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination." Rev. Al Sharpton called it "a desperate attempt to distract people from the firestorm engulfing trump over the Epstein files." Epstein interest: unchanged.
FBI jail footage release - Released "2019 security footage from outside Epstein's jail cell, which was intended to prove that he died by suicide and debunk conspiracy theories." But "what they billed as 'full raw' footage was missing three minutes." The gap "fueled more speculation." Epstein interest: increased.
$20 billion lawsuit against WSJ - Filed suit against the Wall Street Journal over the birthday letter story, asking for "$10 billion in damages" and naming Murdoch personally. Backfired completely. Made the letter story bigger. Epstein interest: increased.
The Nuclear Option That Worked
Obama treason allegations - Gabbard from the White House podium alleged "a yearslong coup and treasonous conspiracy" by Obama's team. The base "was jolted by a new memo from Gabbard accusing Obama administration officials of a 'treasonous conspiracy'" and suddenly they were "primed to expect prosecutions of Obama, Clinton, former FBI director James Comey, former CIA director John Brennan." Epstein interest: collapsed.
As strategist Alex Conant put it: "Nobody turns the page better than Donald Trump. His entire first term was constantly changing narratives. We lost track of all the dramas because he's always adding a new one to distract from the previous ones." But this time was different. "This is different because he's in a real fight with his base. Normally his base helps change the topic by latching on to a new outrage. But now he's in a fight with his base."
Until obama. That old reliable enemy was the only thing big enough to pull them back in line.
Three days ago, Republicans signaled they'd prefer the administration release more Epstein information. Today? The base has moved on completely.
He could declassify everything tomorrow. Instead, he announced he'd directed Bondi to release "all relevant grand jury testimony" - subject to court approval. Subject to court approval. The escape hatch built right in.
When pressed last week on whether Bondi told him he was named in the documents, he said, "No, no". A lie so obvious even his own people couldn't defend it.
But his base doesn't care. They're too busy attacking the Wall Street Journal to notice their hero is playing them like a cheap fiddle.
"Instead of talking about the things we've achieved — we've had tremendous achievement — they're wasting their time with a guy who obviously had some very serious problems who died three, four years ago", trump told reporters. Then he started ranting about immigration.
They bought it.
Give Americans something to hate, and they'll forget everything you want them to forget. Even raped girls on an island. Even themselves.
The truth is still there. In the files he won't release. In the quotes he can't take back. In the photos he can't delete.
But truth only matters if someone's listening. This week proved no one is.
If all else failed he had a backup plan: "could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody..." Yep, that would be a distraction.
Then there's nuclear war.