The 24 Seven: MAGA Foundational
Epstein won't disappear because his story and the promises by Trump fit within a larger narrative which has been with the MAGA movement from the very start
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WASHINGTON _ Aside from immigration, it would be hard to find another throughline in Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, from its start a decade ago to now, than promising to fight child sex-trafficking, both real and fabricated.
In October 2016, within 30 minutes of the shocking “Access Hollywood” tape being released, WikiLeaks began publishing purloined Democratic Party emails — including a discussion of pasta sauce from longtime Democratic consigliere John Podesta.
In the fever swamp of the dark web and extreme sites like 4chan and later 8chan, Podesta’s recipe mutated into a wild and often violent belief that a satanic cabal of Democrats, the super-rich and others were running child sex-trafficking rings.
“Pizzagate” was born. It would prove to be far more impactful than the “Grab ‘em by the p***y” line, and rank up there with “Build the Wall” in terms of enduring rallying cries among Trump’s most fervent supporters.
Into this environment stepped “QAnon”, an alleged whistleblower from deep inside the government who had alleged proof of the alleged satanic cabal (and other stories, like alleged proof John F. Kennedy Jr. was still alive.) And the conspiracy theory kept growing. (“QAnon” adherents, in addition to nationalist militias, formed much of the bedrock of the January 6th insurrection.)
Which probably helps explain why Jeffrey Epstein, who was arrested on federal charges of child sex-trafficking in July 2019, then died in jail while awaiting trial a month later (whether by his own hand or someone else’s), is such a foundational figure in the world of MAGA and Trump’s most ardent loyalists. (Many, many, many more are interested in the Epstein story, clearly, but this piece is about Trump’s core base of supporters.)
An incredibly powerful man, who moved at the highest levels of government and society, had been credibly found (by a grand jury) to have been a child sex trafficker. And then before it could be aired out in court, he died.
So it’s not hard to see why, when someone running for the most powerful position in the world, who now holds the most powerful position in the world, who made promises to reveal what “really” happened to Epstein is now in the midst of a truly stunning (by modern era standards) scandal which is outlasting some pretty big news cycles.
There’s reams more to this story, some might even say an entire trove of files. I’m not going to get into that here. But, I did want to recommend some of what we actually know about the Epstein Saga, documented among other places in this 2020 podcast series from
and Julie Brown, the dogged Miami Herald reporter whose work made Epstein the story that it is now.Make sure to tune into Substack Live Wednesday, July 23, at Noon ET. I’ll be chatting with Palmeri about her years of reporting on Epstein, with a special focus on what the victims endured.
Infinite Trips to the Vault
Not that he needed too, but Trump continued to fuel the Epstein scandal Wednesday, when he said he didn’t need the support of his most ardent supporters anymore. This after House Speaker Mike Johnson said he supports releasing the Epstein files.
But as many Epstein reporters (including Palmeri) have noted, a stunning amount of details on Epstein has already been revealed publicly in court filings. (And there is no evidence that Epstein kept a client list. But there is this truly astounding Mother Jones story in which the reporter dialed every number he could find from Epstein’s expansive “black book” of contacts.
The fundamental scandal, which has riled a sizable expanse of the modern political right — far exceeding the original core group of conspiracy theorists who formed the Qanon faithful years ago — comes from the Trump administration’s own actions. A White House presentation to conspiracy theory fueled social media influencers in February with a White House binder promising to be “Phase 1” of the files, and longtime Trump loyalist Attorney General Bondi promising the complete release of the files. Trump aides like Kash Patel who campaigned on promises to reveal all regarding Epstein, but upon entering the government said there was nothing to see there.
For more, catch my discussion with
on Epstein, Trump and MAGA from Monday’s Substack Live here. Something Lewis notes, which seems to explain the continuing divide on the right, is looking at which MAGA and Republican politicians and celebrities have a political future vs. which ones are term-limited (Trump).Help build the 24sight News community. Sign up, follow, subscribe, share, comment. Support the mission of real journalism, accountability, speaking truth to power.
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