For all of his high-profile connections to presidents, moguls and royals, Jeffrey Epstein most likely couldn’t have imagined simply how politically vital he would someday grow to be.
The long-deceased convicted intercourse offender and pedophile is on the epicenter of a seemingly seismic blowup inside MAGA, through which splintering factions are actually revolting over the botched launch of the so-called “Epstein information.”
After promising for years that Democrats and different subversive components have been conspiring to suppress the reality about Epstein — particularly that he saved a listing of high-profile purchasers and that he didn’t kill himself in jail — a lot of those self same MAGA voices are actually insisting there’s no “there” there.
U.S. Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi, who as soon as mentioned that the shopper checklist was “sitting on my desk proper now to evaluate,” and that there have been “tens of 1000’s of movies” of Epstein “with kids or little one porn,” is now saying there’s nothing to see right here.
FBI heads Kash Patel and Dan Bongino as soon as stoked the flames of the Epstein conspiracies on podcasts after they have been mere residents. Now that they’re contained in the administration, they too are saying there’s nothing to it.
For his half, Donald Trump is angrily telling his MAGA supporters to maneuver on and overlook about what he’s calling the Epstein “hoax” He’s even mentioned of those that nonetheless consider the “bulls--t,” “I don’t need their help anymore!”
However different MAGA influencers, like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly, and Dave Smith, are protecting the fever dream alive, refusing to drop the conspiracy, and demanding extra solutions from the DOJ.
There’s even a rift contained in the administration, with Patel and Bongino reportedly offended that Bondi hasn’t been fired.
On a near-daily foundation, I’m requested whether or not all this infighting would be the demise of MAGA. Is that this the factor that may lastly weaken Trump and his grip on his base?
I’m sorry to say, however the reply is an unequivocal no.
There are 4 the reason why.
First, we’ll divide MAGA into two teams: voters and influencers.
Amongst MAGA voters, there are (usually) two sorts: points voters and cult voters.
For points voters, the 2024 election advised us they actually solely cared about two issues: the financial system and immigration. They tuned out a lot of the remainder of the marketing campaign noise, whether or not it was pet-eating migrants or trans bogs, they usually disregarded Trump’s private failings, together with his legal convictions.
For this group — and the primary motive why Epstein gained’t destroy Trump’s base — nonsense like this didn’t matter to them then, and it gained’t matter to them now or within the midterms.
The opposite contingent are Trump’s cult voters. They most positively are right here for the conspiracy theories, all of the extracurricular issues that make Trump interesting. For these people, Taylor Swift was a deep-state psy-op, JFK Jr. was getting back from the useless to run with Trump, the federal government is killing folks with chemtrails, and Invoice Gates created COVID-19 in order that he may put monitoring chips inside vaccines.
Whereas they’re bummed Trump and Bondi are actually making an attempt to remove their Epstein conspiracy, they too aren’t going wherever.
Why? As a result of they’re in a cult. When the doomsday prediction from a cult chief doesn’t come true, adherents don’t pack up their Nikes and discover one other cult. They keep, they consider the cult chief’s rationalization, and wait dutifully for his subsequent prediction. Trump’s conspiracy idea cultists don’t want proof to remain.
The opposite half of MAGA are the influencers, folks like Owens, Carlson, Ben Shapiro, Charlie Kirk, Steve Bannon and others.
Inside this group, there are additionally two sorts: true believers and grifters.
For true believers, who are actually saying, “This isn’t what I voted for!” and “I remorse my vote!” let’s fake we consider them, and that for some motive, they believed in Trump’s guarantees. They’re mad now, however the midterms are 15 months away. Epstein will likely be however a reminiscence by then. Furthermore, the place else are they going to go? To the Dems? To institution Republicans? Please.
Lastly, the fourth group: the grifters. These folks have made some huge cash pushing Trump’s baseless conspiracies for years. They’re not ditching that gravy prepare. Their performative outrage now could be purely to maintain their subscribers. However simply as they conditioned them to consider of their conspiracies, they’ll situation them on to the following outrage. Simply you watch.
These 4 teams signify the 4 causes MAGA goes to be simply wonderful when the mud settles. They both don’t care, can’t depart, have nowhere else to go, or are making means an excessive amount of cash to interrupt off.
Sorry to disappoint. But it surely positive is enjoyable to observe them go at it.
S.E. Cupp is the host of “S.E. Cupp Unfiltered” on CNN.
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