It appears manufactured, an astroturfed outrage created by certain MAGA factions with an (as yet) unclear agenda.

Up to now the MAGA movement has been under Trump's complete control; he's used MAGA as a club to keep the Republican party in constant fear. I suspect certain people are trying to splinter the MAGA movement and break Trump's stranglehold on the GOP.

This Salon article talks as if there is some deep reasoning going on at the grass roots of MAGA. Nonsense. Complete poppycock. The grass roots MAGA people are thick as bricks. The only way they take this position directly opposed to Trump is with lots of internal agitation - propaganda.

Salon ought to be looking into who is driving the MAGA base, because we are clearly seeing a big shift here. I don't know who is doing it, but I would start with Musk, who has every reason to push Trump off the scene. Putin also could be done with Trump at this point. And people like Theil and Leo were never Trump people in the first place. So somewhere in that gang, I think you will find the source of this Epstein push.

Like so.

on this one. Musical chairs... when the national anthem stops playing, last one standing will be painted as the villain.

that all Democrats are sub-human, are baby eaters, are pedophiles.

Pizza Gate which didn't even have a basement. Epstein and the Clintons.

Killing the Epstein files ruins the lies about Democrats being pedophiles, and makes Congressional Magats/Krasnov, look like the liars. Unwashed Magats are pissed that they may have been lied to.

MAGA influenceers make big $$$ off of the MAGA faithful by dangling the prospect of prominent Dems being exposed by the files.
They extract big donations from their followers by insisting that only big name democratic politicians and Hollywood entertainers will be exposed by publishing the files.
The fact that Agolf $hitler is taking away their promised 'treat', has really angered the MAGAt base and it threatens the income of the influncers. And, last but not least, it feeds the suspicion that their orange god has decieved them, either because Eloon Muskrat is right,and DJT is in the files, or they've been played because the whole thing was a hoax to get their votes and $$$.

In a recent 24-hour period they mentioned Biden over 80 times and Epstein twice.

Thanks for the post...

Speaking from my experience with a former friend (the friendship ended in 2020 because of her fierce belief in QAnon), a significant number of these people believe that "Prominent Democrats" and "the Hollywood Elite" are the ones involved and 45 was supposed to bust this wide open and start arresting the pedos.

I think most of us know what the QAnon crowd believes and it's batsh** crazy! Having said that, the Epstein situation was completely real. These are conflated and I'm surprised it hasn't been brought up.

They really think the Clintons, Gates, and people like Tom Hanks are blood sucking monsters and pedos........believing that babies and small children are/were being drained of their blood for Adrenochrome.

Amanda Marcotte hits a critical nerve here—not just about Trump’s nervous deflection, but about the psychological function conspiracy theories serve within MAGA culture. The Epstein case has become a Rorschach test for ideological projection. Trump supporters, who have long ignored or justified a mountain of sexual abuse allegations against their leader, are suddenly obsessed with "protecting children"—but only when it’s someone else being accused.

What Marcotte gets right is that this isn’t about justice or concern for victims. It’s about narrative control. If the Epstein files can be weaponized against Democrats or the "liberal elite," MAGA wins the moral high ground in their minds—no matter what Trump himself may be guilty of. It’s not about the facts; it’s about who gets to play the hero in a mythologized culture war.

Trump’s fear is obvious. He’s trying to steer the base away from a landmine that might blow up in his direction. But what he doesn’t grasp is that the movement he created has taken on a life of its own. They don’t want facts; they want villains. And if he ends up on the wrong side of that story—even briefly—they’ll either spin harder or start questioning him, both of which he sees as threats.

The tragic irony? Real victims of Epstein’s abuse continue to be used as pawns in a partisan spectacle. Justice isn’t the goal. Narrative dominance is.