Donald Trump's Promise on Epstein Files Challenged by MAGA Supporters

We may have just arrived at a line MAGA seems unwilling to follow Donald Trump over. It used to be that when politicians went back on their word, the people who elected them noticed, cared, reacted and pulled support and so the decision is sometimes reversed. For the President of the United States it is uncharted territory. Routinely, when he breaks a promise, his devout MAGA base has been inclined to forgive and selectively forget. Trump was the law and order presidential candidate who was also a felon. He said the United States wouldn't get involved in foreign wars and then bombed Iran. He said he would end the war in Ukraine in one day and then he announced he'll send Kyiv more Patriot missiles, albeit this time with an invoice.

Trump threatens to sue Rupert Murdoch over Epstein report Photo shows A middle-aged man with grey-white hair wearing a grey T-shirt looks serious in front of a plain background. The threat came shortly before US Attorney-General Pam Bondi said she was ready to ask courts to unseal some grand jury transcripts related to the Epstein case, a move that falls short of what has been demanded by even the president's own supporters. But he also taught his supporters to love conspiracy theories and hate the politicians who star in them. Perhaps without the humility to wonder if he'd one day be centre stage.

The Epstein files are American conspiracy theory lore and the loudest voices in the most right-wing factions of the MAGA movement want them released to the public. Donald Trump used that momentum during his campaign, promising to release all documents compiled during the investigation into Epstein. It would be easy to say MAGA heavyweights would never accept anything less, but so many of them have tied themselves in knots to justify Trump's broken promises in the past. But the past few days have suggested the Epstein files might be different. After attempting to downplay the documents, Donald Trump tried convince his base to forget about them, only to then insult those who wouldn't and eventually perform somewhat of a backflip — ordering his Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all \"pertinent\" grand jury testimony related to the case.

The \"Epstein Files\" binders that were handed out in February turned out to contain information that was mostly already in the public domain. (Reuters: Kevin Lamarque) It remains to be seen whether that will be enough, but the move itself suggests the president may know the answer to a question that's been playing on repeat in the minds of Washington watchers since day one: Is there anything Donald Trump could do that would shake MAGA's love for him? Perhaps the president now believes crossing the line and becoming one of the powerful figures who keep the secret of the Epstein files could well have been it.

That's the thing about dabbling in conspiracies — many are indeed theories, but some are true. Or more potent still, they start with something that is true. In 2008, high-flying financier Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. He was listed as a sex offender, but avoided a possible life sentence, instead serving 13 months in a work-release program. Epstein was later charged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan for nearly identical allegations in 2019, but he took his own life while in federal custody as he awaited trial. Years later, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. During her trial, some names came up. For example, pilots took the witness stand and dropped very well-known names — Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump — who flew on Epstein's private jets.

From the available evidence, theories have grown. And there has long been a theory that Epstein's \"client list\" not only existed but was being buried by the state. From opposition, that was a convenient theory to jump on for Trump. It played into the character he'd created for himself because it allowed him to style himself as the president that would get to the bottom of it . But earlier this month, Donald Trump's Department of Justice, as well as the FBI, released a memo saying their review found there was no \"incriminating client list\" and \"no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions\".

This is not what MAGA expected to hear from their president and try as he might to distract them, they were not showing any signs of forgiving or forgetting. Loading At a conservative conference held just days ago, commentators Megyn Kelly and Charlie Kirk discussed the memo and the actions of the Trump administration. \"One of the main reasons that we voted Trump in was because we wanted real answers on real stories and we didn't want to be BS'ed anymore with a bunch of nonsense from our government that treated us like a bunch of stooges,\" Kelly said. \"I believe Trump is still loyal to that mission and maybe the people who are behind that memo are loyal to that mission, too, but this ain't it.\" She said those in charge knew \"the base has been led ... with a trail of breadcrumbs to believe something else for years\". The pair called for all files, excluding those containing child sexual assault material, to be unsealed and released. \"I think every file should be released to the public the same way as the JFK files. Let the American people decide,\" Kirk said.

Donald Trump tried to tell his base the Epstein list didn't exist — just as he's tried to tell them what to believe in the past. But this story is well and truly in show, not tell, territory. It's not so much about what, or who, is on the list, as it is about the transparency Trump promised and the base demands. Jeffrey Epstein, pictured in 2017, died in his cell in 2019. (AP: New York State Sex Offender Registry) The power of conspiracy Let us remember, that just one month after Donald Trump was elected for the first time, and still weeks before he would be sworn in as president, a man drove himself from North Carolina to Washington DC and stormed a pizza shop with an assault rifle. That man believed the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria on the capital's leafy Connecticut Avenue was actually a front for a child sex ring led by Hillary Clinton. This man was so adamant the former secretary of state was involved in crimes against children, he drove hours to \"self-investigate\" the conspiracy theory. What he found was a line up of wood-fired thin crusts and a terrified employee caught up in what is now known as \"pizzagate\". How experts say Trump set his own trap on the Epstein files Photo shows A downcast President Trump walks from a jungle green helicopter across the White House lawn Donald Trump's derision of some supporters as \"weaklings\" is the latest spray in an ongoing attempt to shift the public conversation past calls for the full release of files linked to the Jeffrey Epstein case. Experts say his approach could fall flat with some of his most fervent supporters. The idea that children are preyed upon by a ring of powerful people and that the government is involved in its cover-up has proven to be incredibly powerful in the past. It has compelled people to bear arms. It is not the sort of thing those with conspiratorial minds easily forget or can be talked out of with a few lines in a Truth Social post. When Donald Trump said the Epstein client list didn't exist, he really just added fuel to a conspiracy theory's fire. It might have been a surprise for the president who largely enjoys being believed by his base. But the political capital you can derive from conspiracy theories about the deep state becomes more of a liability when you are the person in charge and promised you'd be different. Trump has bigger fish to fry as the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal alleges further ties between him and Epstein, but his base has not been moved by his association with the sex offender in the past. Nor has it been swayed by criminal convictions or a civil jury that found Trump did sexually abuse E Jean Caroll in the 1990s. Donald Trump can be a criminal, but the reaction from MAGA over the past week tells us he cannot be seen to be protecting them, theoretical or not.