Trump Reneges on Epstein Files Promise, Sparks MAGA Civil War
Trump's own supporters are revolting after his administration concluded there are no Epstein files to release.
Last week, Trump's own administration released a memo concluding there was no evidence Jeffrey Epstein kept a "client list" of powerful associates, and that the disgraced financier died by suicide in his prison cell, not murdered as conspiracy theories claimed.
Tucker Carlson, the MAGA movement's intellectual standard-bearer, accused the administration of participating in a cover-up. "The fact that the U.S. government, the one that I voted for, refused to take my question seriously and instead said, 'Case closed. Shut up conspiracy theorist,' was too much for me," he declared at a conservative summit. Laura Loomer and Glenn Beck have explicitly called for Attorney General Pam Bondi to resign. Fox News personality Megyn Kelly called Bondi "either lazy or incompetent."
This sect of MAGA, a political movement built on conspiracy theories, is now cannibalizing itself because those theories aren’t delivering. After decades of politicians using paranoia to gain power, Trump's base is finally learning what happens when the conspiracy king becomes the one doing the covering up.
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How Trump Built His Movement on Conspiracy Theories
For years, Trump built his movement by promising to expose the "deep state", shadowy forces supposedly controlling America from behind the scenes. He suggested Epstein's death was suspicious, retweeting theories about murder and cover-ups. During his 2024 campaign, when asked about releasing the Epstein files, he said "yeah, yeah, I would."
Once in power, though, Trump's tune changed completely. In February, his administration invited right-wing influencers to the White House and handed them binders marked "The Epstein Files: Phase 1", which contained mostly redacted documents already in the public domain. Attorney General Bondi claimed there were "tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children," fueling expectations of explosive revelations.
The Justice Department's recent memo was a complete retreat, stating no further disclosure would be appropriate and that much material was sealed by courts to protect victims. Trump himself tried to shut down questions, telling reporters at a Cabinet meeting it was "unbelievable" and a "desecration" that people were still talking about "this creep."
This fueled understandable outrage. When your entire appeal is promising to expose hidden truths, eventually people expect you to deliver those truths.
America's History of Conspiracy Politics
America has always been fertile ground for conspiracy theories, but Trump is the first president to systematically weaponize paranoia as his primary governing strategy. Understanding how we got here requires looking at the deep roots of American conspiracy culture.
In the 1890s, Populist movements claimed Eastern bankers were secretly controlling the economy. During the Red Scares of the 1920s and 1950s, politicians built careers claiming communist agents had infiltrated every level of government. Senator Joseph McCarthy destroyed lives with unsubstantiated claims about communist conspiracies, until his own supporters finally turned on him when his promises of evidence never materialized.
But Trump took conspiracy politics further than any mainstream politician in American history. He spent years promoting birtherism, claiming Barack Obama wasn't born in America. He suggested Ted Cruz's father was involved in JFK's assassination. He built QAnon followers' belief that he was secretly fighting a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles. The Epstein files became the ultimate test of these promises. To his supporters, they were concrete evidence that would finally prove the deep state conspiracy.
However, these conspiracy-based movements have been and continue to be self-destructive. McCarthy's downfall came when he attacked the Army and went too far for 1950s sensibilities. Similarly, Trump's reckoning is coming because his supporters actually believed him when he promised to expose the truth.
MAGA Supporters Break with Trump
The historical parallel isn't perfect, but there are echoes of how authoritarian movements fracture when reality intrudes on their mythologies. As one MAGA thought leader told NBC News, "People are not going to go along with endless war. And when they see the capitulation on Epstein, it just hurts. The Trump administration made overtures that they were serious about this. But six months in and kind of trying to tie a bow around it, it's just not satisfying."
Conservative commentator Mike Cernovich remarked "Trump's persuasive power over his base, especially during his first term, was almost magical. The reaction on Epstein should thus be startling to him. No one is buying it. No one is dropping it."
24-year-old Natalie Winters, protégé of Steve Bannon, further explained the betrayal: "I just think it's frankly very grifty to have spent your entire career promoting the idea that there is this deep state... And then finally, you have the power to expose it, and either you're not, because there's nothing there, in which case it makes you a liar—and I don't believe that—or you're ineffective, or you're compromised."
This represents a fundamental crisis for a movement built on the false promise of revealed truth. When conspiracy theorists gain actual political power and find no grand conspiracy to expose, they face an impossible choice. They can either admit they were wrong, or turn on their own leaders.
What This Fracture Means for American Politics
As CNN put it, we are now seeing "President Donald Trump versus MAGA", an unprecedented dynamic. For the first time, Trump's movement is not taking cues from its leader, potentially offering "an early blueprint into how MAGA will evolve in a post-Trump era."
If Trump can't control his base on an issue this central to their worldview, what happens when other promised revelations fail to materialize? The infighting has already reached his administration, with FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino reportedly considering resignation amid clashes with Attorney General Bondi over the Epstein handling.
Trump has desperately tried blaming Democrats, claiming Obama and Hillary Clinton "created the Epstein Files," despite the investigation happening during his own first term. He's pleaded with supporters: "What's going on with my 'boys' and, in some cases, 'gals?' They're all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We're on one Team, MAGA, and I don't like what's happening."
But the damage is done. As Tucker Carlson told NBC News, "I like Trump. I campaigned for Trump. But I've got my views." Those views and views of other MAGA supporters are increasingly diverging from Trump's own positions.
We're watching the inevitable conclusion of conspiracy politics, the moment when true believers realize their conspiracy theorist-in-chief might be the biggest cover-up artist of all. The revolution, as they say, is eating its own children. And for the first time since 2015, Donald Trump might not be able to control what he created.
But here's the troubling reality: as Trump's movement turns on itself, mainstream media will either sensationalize this or let it fade from memory entirely.
News organizations that should be documenting these historical parallels, from McCarthy's Red Scare to Trump's conspiracy empire, are instead chasing the next viral story. Academic institutions that study authoritarianism are losing funding, afraid of being labeled "partisan" for examining uncomfortable truths about American politics.
The reality is stark: we need independent journalists tracking these democratic warning signs, platforms that can't be bought out or shut down.
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References
Klein, Betsy. "Epstein fallout poses a loyalty test: Trump — or MAGA?" CNN, July 14, 2025.
Fowler, Stephen. "Trump tells supporters not to 'waste time' on Epstein files. They're not happy." NPR, July 14, 2025.
Smith, Allan. "Tucker Carlson leads MAGA's worried warriors in questioning Trump." NBC News, July 14, 2025.
McCreesh, Shawn. "Will the Conspiracists Cultivated by Trump Turn on Him Over Epstein?" The New York Times, July 14, 2025.
Benen, Steve. "On Jeffrey Epstein, Trump rolls out a new conspiracy theory about the conspiracy theory." MSNBC, July 14, 2025.
Gomez Licon, Adriana, Meg Kinnard, and Ed White. "What to know about the MAGA faithful's anger over Trump and the Epstein case." PBS NewsHour, July 14, 2025.
Gomez Licon, Adriana, Meg Kinnard, and Ed White. "What to know about the MAGA faithful's anger over Trump and the Epstein case." PBS NewsHour, July 14, 2025.
Judd, Donald and Kristen Holmes. "Trump defends Bondi amid MAGA fallout over her handling of Epstein investigation." CNN, July 13, 2025.
Brangham, William and Solveig Rennan. "A look at the split in Trump's base over the Epstein files." PBS NewsHour, July 14, 2025.
To donald, promises are just more words that he says to get what he wants.
We who are older recall Miami Herald’s amazing Julie K Brown’s reporting on this. People perhaps don’t know the history, or they forget…