Donald Trump could be swallowed up by an Epstein conspiracy he helped create
Donald Trump
has learned that there's really just no arguing with people who believe the world is run by cannibalistic, child-sacrificing paedophiles.
It is ironic that Trump – who himself rose to power and has governed through use of conspiracy theories, including 'birther'
lies about where Barack Obama was born
– is coming face to face with a conspiracy culture he helped cultivate.
Earlier this month, Trump's Department of Justice announced that disgraced financier and sexual predator
Jeffrey Epstein did not keep a client list of co-conspirators
, undermining one of the foundational myths that has supported Trump's presidency. This has enraged the president's Make America Great Again base and might signal a moment of fracture for the movement.
Conspiracy theories about Epstein are based on the belief that he kept a list of hugely powerful people who had engaged in sex with women and underage girls that he trafficked. This group of individuals, so the conspiracy goes, orchestrated his death in custody in August 2019 to conceal their identities. To many in Trump's Magaverse, Epstein was a key to understanding how deeply corrupt and perverse the world's elites truly are. The 'Epstein files', as they exist in the fevered imaginations of Maga diehards, include a list of names of those who must be exposed.
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These narratives share their DNA with
QAnon
, the all-consuming conspiracy theory that first originated online in 2017 and claimed Trump was secretly fighting the 'deep state': a Satanic cabal of (primarily Democrat) paedophiles running the US government. From fringe sites, QAnon metastasised across the web, pulling in millions who likened Trump to a messianic saviour. QAnon signs began to appear at Trump rallies and supporters evolved into a highly radicalised core of his base.
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Epstein files are a new crisis for Donald Trump, as supporters blowtorch their Maga caps
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QAnon was one of the first mega-conspiracies to mature entirely in the internet age. Communities were formed on Reddit, documentaries went viral on YouTube and pro-Trump groups on Facebook became incubators for new threads in the conspiracy web. At the centre of it all was the narrative that the entire US government was hiding the truth from the people and holding the country back.
In July 2019, after Epstein was arrested and charged with sex trafficking. QAnon discussions skyrocketed: research from my colleagues in the
Institute for Strategic Dialogue
documented how, throughout July and August, when Epstein died, he ranked only second to Trump in mentions within QAnon communities on the web.
Trump and Epstein were very close in the past, with the president once calling him a 'terrific guy' in one interview. More recently, Trump has been careful to distance himself from claims about Epstein. Yet, ever the opportunist, at times he has indulged some narratives. In 2019, Trump shared a tweet that claimed Bill and Hillary Clinton were involved in Epstein's death. In 2024, when Trump was asked about Epstein's 'list of clients' during a podcast interview, he said he'd have 'no problem' releasing it.
QAnon faithful pointed to Bill Clinton's journey on Epstein's jet, dubbed the Lolita Express, Epstein's donations sent to Democrat politician Chuck Schumer and lists of celebrities who allegedly visited Epstein's Caribbean island.
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Trump's name on 2003 birthday letter to Epstein, Wall Street Journal reports
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Over time, as QAnon's prophetic day of reckoning never arrived, energy shifted towards calls to reveal all in Epstein's supposed client list. In the words of conservative writer
David French
, 'on the right, the Epstein story became the thinking man's version of the QAnon conspiracy theory'. This was red meat for Trump-aligned media and politicians courting audiences from his supporters. Before Trump picked him as director of the FBI, Kash Patel told one Maga podcaster that members of Congress should 'put on your big-boy pants and let us know who the paedophiles are'. Before that, he claimed Epstein's 'black book' was 'under the direct control of the director of the FBI'. Dan Bongino, a pro-Trump podcaster turned deputy director of the FBI, built a career out of assertions that federal files on the Epstein investigation contained the answer to the 'deep state'.
Pam Bondi, Trump's attorney general
, told Fox News in February that the client list was 'sitting on my desk right now', firing up the wildest hopes of the Maga world.
Each of these individuals leant on sensationalist narratives about Epstein's connections to elites, painting a picture of mass corruption about to be uncovered. They followed a blueprint designed by Trump on his path to power: embrace fringe theories, gesture vaguely towards cover-ups and make wild promises to reveal hidden truths.
And then, when appointed, each was forced to row in behind the Department of Justice's announcement that Epstein did not keep a client list, and that no more files related to his sex-trafficking investigation would be made public. A predictable backlash followed.
The Epstein files have become a purity test for Maga diehards and, unable to substantiate the claims they campaigned on for years, these political figures have found themselves cast as the villains they once promised to oust.
Trump has tried to direct the anger of the madding crowd towards old foes in a series of posts on Truth Social; he claimed the 'Epstein hoax' was engineered by 'Obama, Crooked Hillary and criminals of the Biden administration'. Then, faced with growing Maga ire, he said the Justice Department should release all 'credible' information from its probe on Epstein.
Whether or not the list exists, the files relating to the Epstein investigation have been used as cynical props by Trump and his acolytes to curry support with his base. The Maga right has used conspiracy theories as a political tool but they created a voter base that now demands ever more revelations, more exposures and more secrets unveiled. Now, when asked to peel back the curtain on one of the most persistent conspiracies he helped spread, the president baulks.
In another recent post on Truth Social, Trump lamented that his administration is being criticised about 'a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein. For years, it's Epstein, over and over again'.
Late on Thursday
Trump said he had directed Pam Bondi to seek the release of the grand jury testimony
relating to Epstein's sex-trafficking case, citing 'the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein'.
As Trump is learning, conspiracy theories are elastic, self-sealing and practically impossible to disprove. This may be one storyline he's finally lost control of.
Ciarán O'Connor is a researcher and journalist who focuses on extremism and technology
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Irish Independent
13 minutes ago
- Irish Independent
‘You should really be looking at Bill Clinton not Jeffrey Epstein,' says Trump as pressure grows for release of files relating to late sex offender
Mr Trump was addressing reporters as he departed the White House for a visit to Scotland, where he owns three golf courses, when he was asked whether he'd consider a pardon for Epstein's convicted sex-trafficker associate, Ghislane Maxwell. Maxwell, who is currently serving a prison sentence in Florida, has been meeting with Todd Blanche, the president's ex-criminal defence attorney who now serves as the deputy attorney general. Mr Blanche has sought to defuse anger among Mr Trump's supporters over the failure to release documents from Epstein's case by interviewing his associate. After Mr Trump replied that he did not know much about Maxwell's talks with Mr Blanche and stated that he's not currently considering a pardon, he was asked if the convicted criminal – who is alleged to have lied under oath on numerous occasions – could be trusted. He told reporters that he trusts Mr Blanche as a 'professional lawyer'. 'You know, you should focus on Clinton. You should focus on the president of Harvard, the former president of Harvard. He should focus on some of the hedge-fund guys — I'll give you a list,' Mr Trump said. He later said that while he is 'allowed' to pardon Maxwell, he hasn't considered doing so. 'I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I haven't thought about,' Mr Trump said. Mr Blanche is expected to continue interviewing Maxwell at a federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, near the federal prison where she is serving her 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. Pressed further on what he hopes Mr Blanche will get from meeting with Maxwell, Mr Trump again attempted to deflect with talk of former presidents and the same former higher education officials. 'People should really focus on how well the country is doing, or they should focus on the fact that Barack Hussein Obama led a coup. Or they should focus on the fact that Larry Summers from Harvard, that Bill Clinton, who you know very well, and lots of other friends, really close friends, of… Jeffrey Epstein should be spoken about and they should speak about them, because they don't talk about them. They talk about me. I have nothing to do with the guy,' he said. ADVERTISEMENT Learn more 'Todd is a great attorney, but you want to be speaking about Larry Summers. You ought to be speaking about some of his friends that are hedge-fund guys. They're all over the place. You ought to be speaking about Bill Clinton, who went to the island 28 times. I never went to the island. I don't even know what they're talking about.' The case of Epstein, a former maths teacher turned financier who was arrested for alleged sex trafficking by federal authorities in 2019, has been a long-time fixation for many of Mr Trump's Maga supporters who believe they contain damaging information on prominent Democrats and other liberal celebrities. For years, the president's supporters have pushed for the release of what they believe was a list of powerful people to whom Epstein is alleged to have trafficked young girls. They also want the release of other information they believe would reflect negatively on members of the Democratic Party, various Hollywood celebrities, and other purported elites who they believe to be part of a sinister cabal controlling world events. Mr Trump indicated during his 2024 campaign that his administration would release the documents in question if he were victorious in last year's presidential election. The president was once closely associated with and spoke highly of the disgraced financier and his proclivity for surrounding himself with young women. Epstein at one point described himself as Mr Trump's 'best friend', leading to speculation that the president has been trying to prevent the release of the files despite a campaign promise to do so because their content would reflect poorly on him. Meanwhile, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen yesterday said she will meet Mr Trump in Scotland tomorrow to discuss trade relations between the EU and the US. 'Following a good call with @POTUS, we have agreed to meet in Scotland on Sunday to discuss transatlantic trade relations, and how we can keep them strong,' Ms von der Leyen said in a post on X. Mr Trump yesterday said there was a 50-50 chance or perhaps less that the US would reach a trade agreement with the EU, saying Brussels wanted to 'make a deal very badly'. The European Commission on Thursday said a negotiated trade solution was within reach, even as EU members voted to approve counter-tariffs on €93bn of US goods in case the talks collapse.
The Irish Sun
6 hours ago
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Donald Trump slams ‘invasion' of migrants ‘killing' Europe & tells leaders ‘get your act together' as he lands in UK
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Irish Independent
7 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Ghislaine Maxwell finishes Epstein interviews with Justice Department officials
"She answered those questions honestly, truthfully, to the best of her ability," David Oscar Markus told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, where Maxwell met with deputy attorney general Todd Blanche. "She never invoked a privilege. She never refused to answer a question, so we're very proud of her," Mr Markus said. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence and is housed at a low-security federal prison in Tallahassee. She was sentenced three years ago after being convicted of helping Epstein, a wealthy, well-connected financier, sexually abuse underage girls. Officials have said Epstein killed himself in his New York jail cell while awaiting trial in 2019, but his case has generated endless attention and conspiracy theories because of his and Maxwell's links to famous people, such as royals, presidents and billionaires, including US President Donald Trump. In a social media post this week, Mr Blanche said Maxwell would be interviewed because of President Trump's directive to gather and release any credible evidence about others who may have committed crimes. Mr Trump has denied prior knowledge of Epstein's crimes and claimed he cut off their relationship long ago. But he faces ongoing questions about the Epstein case, overshadowing his administration's achievements. On Friday, reporters pressed the Republican president about pardoning Maxwell, but he deflected, emphasising his administration's successes. Mr Markus said Maxwell "was asked maybe about 100 different people". ADVERTISEMENT "The deputy attorney general is seeking the truth," Mr Markus said. "He asked every possible question, and he was doing an amazing job." Mr Markus said he did not ask for anything for Maxwell in return, though he acknowledged that Mr Trump could pardon her. "Listen, the president this morning said he had the power to do so. We hope he exercises that power in the right and just way," Mr Markus said. Earlier this month, the Justice Department said it would not release more files related to the Epstein investigation, despite promises that claimed otherwise from attorney general Pam Bondi. The department also said an Epstein client list does not exist. Maxwell is appealing against her conviction, based on the government's pledge years ago that any potential Epstein co-conspirators would not be charged, Mr Markus said. Epstein struck a deal with federal prosecutors in 2008 that shifted his case to Florida state court, where he pleaded guilty to soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. Epstein in 2019 and Maxwell in 2020 were charged in federal court in New York.
