The Epstein files could see MAGA turn on Trump

In an email from the journalist Michael Wolff sent to Epstein in 2016, Wolff wrote: “there’s an opportunity to come forward this week and talk about Trump in such a way that could garner you great sympathy and help finish him. Interested?” In 2018, Epstein wrote in an email: “you see, i know how dirty donald is. my guess is that non lawyers ny biz people have no idea.”

This correspondence was never meant for public consumption – such private messages tend to be reliable. The cumulative effect of these messages is damning.

The sleaze, corruption and moral depravity of the Epstein case are the most lurid and tend to get the most attention – but it’s important not to overlook the Russian element contained within these emails. In 2018, Epstein wrote to a senior European official that “churkin was great. he understood trump after our conversations.” Vitaly Churkin was Russia’s ambassador to the UN.

In a follow-up email, Epstein wrote, “I think you might suggest to putin, that lavrov, can get insight on talking to me. vitaly churkin used to but he died.” In apparently confirming Russia’s interest in Trump, these messages re-open a can of worms about Kremlin interference in US politics, a can that Trump has been desperate to keep shut.

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Rats in a Sack

The question is what the US voting public will make of all this. Trump himself has retreated into his usual defensive position of calling the whole thing “a hoax”, but the trouble with that is the amount of time Trump himself spent promoting the Epstein scandal, and the extent to which it has become a core MAGA conspiracy theory. Epstein is baked into Trump’s own foundations – he can’t remove it now. 

A glance at Fox News, the staunchly pro-Trump opinion outlet, shows the problem that the MAGA cheerleaders now face. The new release of Epstein emails is barely visible on the website’s front page. You have to scroll way down, past a story about Phil Mickelson complaining about the current price of gasoline, past the “Deals” section, offering “The year’s best gifts for readers – books, Kindles, gadgets and more” before you eventually come to any mention of Epstein. 

Even then, the headline reads: “Former Prince under fire as Epstein emails expose truth about infamous photo,” along with an image of a scowling Andrew, alongside the now notorious photo of him posing with Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims, as Maxwell smiles in the background.

As for Trump, and his relationship with one of the worst sex offenders in history? On the Fox website, nothing.

That void is now the most significant aspect of the Epstein scandal. It represents the challenge now facing the MAGA base. It turns out that the guy they liked, who was abrasive, rude and often kind of funny, wasn’t who they thought, after all. 

It is true that there is no “smoking gun” among these emails, nothing that says, explicitly, that Trump committed a crime. But a picture is emerging about who Trump really is, one that is as vivid as it is damning. 

The challenge for all those Trump supporters is whether they can endure the wrenching psychological u-turn involved in admitting to themselves that they were wrong about him all along. Because they were wrong about him. 

After an arcane procedural spat in the US congress, more Epstein files will be released next week, against Trump’s wishes. This is only just beginning.