‘This is a much better place': WSJ bombshell unites a frayed MAGA
'We're not done yet, but this is a much better place than we were yesterday,' the person added. 'And it feels right to be bashing the media again — it has extra oomph because [Wall Street Journal owner] Rupert Murdoch is involved.'
A spokesperson for Newscorp did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The report and MAGA world's response marked the latest chapter in the Epstein firestorm, which erupted into a political mess for the White House this month after the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation released a long-awaited memo concluding there was no evidence that Epstein, a financier and convicted sex offender, was murdered in his jail cell or that a 'client list' ever existed — unleashing accusations from far-right influencers that Trump administration officials, chiefly Attorney General Pam Bondi, were aiding a cover-up.
It left Trump in unfamiliar territory, criticizing some of his supporters as 'weaklings' and unable to change the conversation in Washington as he ran up against a fractured MAGA movement that appeared unwilling to let up the pressure. That changed Thursday night when the Journal story dropped and the president announced his intention to sue, allowing him to steer the conversation to a place familiar to him and his allies — the media's treatment, or mistreatment, of him.
It has, so far, created a rally-around-the-flag effect for the president, and allies hope that the loudest critics learned a 'lesson.'
'You're playing with fire when you do the bidding of the left and pick up their strategy. I know they were doing it because they felt like it would pressure more disclosure,' said Matt Schlapp, Trump confidant and chair of the American Conservative Union. 'But President Trump has exercised more political power than any politician I've ever seen at any time in a democracy, and his supporters need to be careful and understand that the left is looking for every opportunity to split apart this coalition.'
White House spokesperson Liz Huston said 'Democrats and Fake News media desperately tried to coordinate a despicable hoax to smear' the president, adding that Trump is the 'proud leader of the MAGA movement' and has 'record-high support among Republicans.'
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