In a social media post on Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump derided his own supporters for refusing to adhere to his demand to move on from the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Epstein, a disgraced financier who was convicted of child sex trafficking, reportedly died by suicide in a jail cell in 2019. For years, Trump has benefited from the conspiracy theory that Epstein kept a “client list” of people involved in his child sex trafficking ring, with many right-wingers claiming that the supposed list included prominent liberals.
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice and the FBI issued a two-page report earlier this month denying the existence of an Epstein client list. But many MAGA supporters have been skeptical of that conclusion, demanding that Trump release more files related to Epstein.
Trump has so far refused to do so, and has lashed out at reporters who have asked questions relating to the Epstein files and his supporters’ reactions.
In a lengthy screed on Truth Social, Trump attacked Democrats for various scandals he’s been investigated for throughout the past decade, dubiously calling those inquiries “hoaxes.” He also described the current anger over his lack of transparency in the Epstein case as “the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax.”
Beyond Democrats, Trump complained in his post that some of his “PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bullshit,’ hook line and sinker”.
“All these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax,” Trump whined.
Trump called the MAGA supporters who still wanted the Epstein files to be released “weaklings.” He then said he was fine with them continuing to question his administration’s new official line because he doesn’t “want their support anymore!”
In comments at the White House later that day, Trump called the MAGA supporters who have demanded more transparency in the case “foolish Republicans” and “stupid people,” complaining that not enough people were talking about him potentially being “the greatest president of all time in the United States.”
Reaction among Trump’s base of supporters online has been mixed — while some are still supportive of him, even if they disagree with his views on releasing more Epstein files to the public, many in the MAGA movement seem to be disillusioned by his latest statements.
“He just called supporters like me stupid who have spent 10 years standing with him through thick and thin, this is what he has to say… well maybe he is right because I feel pretty dumb for standing with him for all those years and I won’t be doing it again,” said Trisha Hope, a Texas resident who served as a Republican National Committee delegate for the president in the party’s convention last year.
Far right commentator Matt Walsh expressed similar sentiments, writing on X:
The idea that conservatives are obligated to change on a dime and adopt this new perspective along with him is just madness. It’s not even possible. I can’t just decide to not care about the issue even if I wanted to. And I don’t want to.
Author and conservative commentator Evan Kilgore also criticized Trump’s commentaries.
“Goodbye, Mr. President. You just lost me,” Kilgore said.
And while not condemning Trump directly, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado), a vehement supporter of the president, suggested that he was in the wrong.
“The American people deserve and can handle the truth. Let’s see the files,” she wrote on X.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll published on Wednesday, only 17 percent of U.S. voters say they approve of how the administration has reacted to the Epstein situation, while 63 percent say they disapprove. And in a new CNN/SSRS poll, only 3 percent of Americans described themselves as “satisfied” with the administration’s level of transparency regarding the Epstein files, with 50 percent saying they are dissatisfied.
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