On Sunday night, Axios reported that the Trump administration had concluded that Jeffrey Epstein killed himself, there was no “incriminating ‘client list'” linking others to his criminal sexual enterprise, and that there was no “credible evidence … that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals.” Online, the news landed like a bomb. Wild speculation about the Epstein imbroglio took root on the MAGA right years ago, and a legion of shock jock podcasters and social media influencers have tended to the crop religiously. Hence the ongoing freakout featuring a tearful Alex Jones on the verge of puking, the always-irate Laura Loomer, and Jack “Pizzagate” Posobiec calling out someone else for their mismanagement of a conspiracy theory about pedophilic elites.
Tucker Carlson even went so far as to submit that the DOJ’s backpedal — Attorney General Pam Bondi had previously claimed to have Epstein’s client list and “tens of thousands of videos” of Epstein “with children or child porn” in her possession — “is one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” very dangerous,” and the kind of thing that could spark “a revolution.” Loomer shared the same sentiment, even if Carlson made her seem almost measured by comparison. “This is going to suppress the vote in 2026,” she warned. “The American people and MAGA base will not tolerate being lied to.” It’s not surprising that the likes of Carlson, Loomer, Jones, and Posobiec think the sky is falling.
They’re hyper-online media personalities serving an hyper-online audience for whom Epstein has been an obsession. But for most Americans, the Epstein story is just a disturbing subplot that they don’t think about often, and move on quickly from when they do. To the extent that they think about politics, rank-and-file voters — including most proud Trump supporters — think only about the issues that affect their everyday lives.
They want abundant, high-paying jobs for themselves and their loved ones, low prices, little crime, a sensible immigration policy, a competent education system, and their country to succeed in achieving its aims on the world stage, in that order. Almost nothing else matters. At the moment, the economy is continuing to hum along, Trump is delivering on his immigration promises, and the United States’ military just pulled off a daring mission to set back the Iranian nuclear program at his direction.
No one without significant brain rot could conclude that he’s going to pay any kind of meaningful price for this of all things. Normal people who don’t count consuming copious amounts of political infotainment among their hobbies lack the time, energy, or requisite level of derangement to punish the president over his administration’s sudden shift in messaging on the Epstein case. And it says nothing flattering about the priorities or perception of those — on the Right and Left alike — who expect that they will.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
