President Trump and his White House ought to be taking several victory laps. He tamed enough congressional Republicans and signed his big, beautiful bill into law. He ordered a successful bombing run that damaged or obliterated Iran’s nuclear weapons program. And he finally chose a side in the Russian invasion, ordering the sale of U.S. weapons to NATO allies, who will in turn supply them to Ukraine.
These are some strong wins for the president. But they’ve all been cast aside in the court of public opinion in favor of the conspiracy-theory debate over Jeffrey Epstein, the child predator who died in prison six years ago.
A vocal number of Trump supporters are furious with Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi over the Justice Department’s recent announcement that no more information will be released about the investigation into Epstein’s immoral activities or his death.
Trump’s government, including Bondi and the two top officials at the FBI, says it has no “client list” of elite men who took advantage of the teenage girls Epstein recruited. It also says the evidence indicates Epstein killed himself in his jail cell.
By all reports, the president has been caught off guard over the furor that has arisen from the Justice Department announcement. But he shouldn’t be. He’s used conspiracy theories himself for political advantage, and knows how allegations that catch on can damage an officeholder’s credibility.
The best example is his years-long claim that President Obama was not born in the United States and thus was ineligible to be president. Only in 2016, shortly before his first election victory, did Trump admit the allegation he had spread was false.
By all rights, Trump ought to be talking about his political victories. But this Epstein thing has his hard-core supporters riled up. They are bashing the president online for being out of touch with his base, and they want Bondi’s scalp because her Justice Department said the client file doesn’t exist. But in February she said Epstein’s file was sitting on her desk for review. Which is it? Can’t be both.
It’s impossible to believe the Justice Department made the recent “nothing to see here” announcement without the president’s approval. No doubt he wants the story to go away, but he and others can’t stop digging a deeper hole. He finally told Bondi to make some grand jury documents about the Epstein case public, assuming a court will approve the request
When things finally calm down, there is a lesson here: Don’t put conspiracy theorists in powerful government offices. They will either follow their original instincts, like Robert Kennedy; or they will have to change their minds.
In their prior lives, FBI Director Kash Patel and his No. 2 man, Dan Bongino, made a pretty comfortable living by talking up the Epstein story and questioning the official government line. Now they are the government. So why are they surprised that people who repeatedly have been told one thing react angrily when they’re now told the exact opposite?
— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal
