What the Epstein Mess is Really About
MAGA Republicans' obsession with Jeffrey Epstein reveals deep distrust of elites, fractures within the movement, and how conspiracy politics distract from real harms facing American democracy.
By Jeremi Suri
Why are MAGA Republicans obsessed with Jeffrey Epstein, his predatory sexual behavior, and his death? Why is this issue tearing MAGA Republicans apart? What should the rest of us think?
Let’s start with the basics. The story is simple and disgusting. Jeffrey Epstein was a New York financier who amassed millions through hedge funds and other investments, starting around 1980. He converted his wealth into access to the most powerful and famous people in the United States. Epstein was obsessed with sex, particularly with young women, many of whom were underage for lawful consent. On countless occasions, he paid these women to have sex with him and his friends.
Epstein was indicted for some of his crimes in Florida, but in 2008, he negotiated a deal with criminal authorities to serve only eighteen months in a special wing of the Palm Beach County Stockade, where he was allowed to come and go for work, welcome unlimited guests, and reside in an unlocked cell. He paid for many of these services, as well as donations to the campaigns of local officials. When released in 2009, Epstein resumed his predatory sexual behavior and his connections with the rich and famous.
In 2018, investigative reporters at the Miami Herald broke the story about Epstein’s “perversion of justice.” The public outcry led to a second prosecution, which began with his arrest on July 6, 2019, in New York for sex trafficking. Less than two months later, on August 29, he was found dead in his jail cell, awaiting trial. His death was ruled a suicide, but many questioned why he was not closely monitored by correctional authorities.
MAGA Republicans enter this story because they believed that Epstein was part of a larger Democratic and Jewish-run conspiracy to make big government serve rich elites at the cost of ordinary, innocent Americans. Stories of predatory sexual behavior and pedophilia were circulated to show that famous elites were destroying traditional families and communities. The stories showed that they were evil.
MAGA Republicans used social media to target the Democrats they hated most. Hillary Clinton was singled out, accused ridiculously of running a pedophilia operation from a Washington, DC pizzeria. In December 2016, one believer of these stories showed up at the pizzeria with an assault rifle to stop the alleged crimes, before he was arrested.
Jeffrey Epstein knew the Clintons and many other political leaders. MAGA Republicans believed that uncovering details of Epstein’s wrongdoing would incriminate Democrats. Like the allegations against Hillary Clinton, the focus on Epstein was part of a larger attack on elites – political, financial, intellectual – who had allegedly sold out the real America. MAGA Republicans wanted to expose their lies and prosecute them. They blamed these elites for the economic and other difficulties in their communities. Well-paying jobs were allegedly lost because these elites didn’t care. Families were allegedly breaking up because elites encouraged prurient and licentious behavior. “Woke” ideology was depicted as a hypocritical cover for privileging elites and keeping ordinary people down. Jeffrey Epstein and his circle of friends were manifestations of all these evil behaviors.
When he first ran for president in 2016, Donald Trump had an ear for these right-wing conspiracies. He was the first major candidate to promote them on his popular Twitter account and in angry public speeches. This is why the MAGA base loves Trump: he fully embraces their conspiracies and their hatred of elites. He hates traditional elites, honestly. It is the only honest thing about him.
In his 2024 campaign to return to the White House, Trump promised to release files from government investigations of Epstein that showed how he conspired with elites – his “client list.” Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, made the same promise. Yet, earlier this month, his administration released an undated and unsigned memo claiming that “no further disclosure” of the voluminous government materials on Epstein would be “appropriate or warranted.”
MAGA Republicans were outraged by the memo. Although most avoided direct criticisms of Trump, they accused those around him, particularly Attorney General Bondi, of joining the conspiracy now that they are in office. Republicans in Congress and across the country rejected the memo and called more stridently for the public release of all Epstein files. There is even talk of a resolution in the House of Representatives.
Trump has defended the non-release of the files. He has tried to move on from the subject, but the pressure from his base has only grown. Last week, Trump asked his attorney general to request the release of grand jury files, which she did. Those files will be only part of the full government trove, and they are unlikely to satisfy MAGA Republicans. The Epstein conspiracy, like the Kennedy assassination conspiracy, has taken on a life of its own; it will not go away any time soon.
Why does the Epstein conspiracy matter for our democracy?
First, it shows how deep and wide the distrust of government and elites has spread. Millions of Americans do not believe that those in power are telling them the truth, even about a convicted sexual predator. Millions of Americans believe that the most powerful people in our society are sexual predators. Trump’s refusal to release the files turns these allegations on him, too.
Second, the Epstein conspiracy reveals that our national priorities are terribly misguided. The attention to the conspiracy is focused on the elites, not the women who suffered from predatory behavior. The same MAGA Republicans who are yelling about Epstein and his friends just passed a budget bill that will deny millions of women and families basic health care and housing. At the same time, the Trump administration slashed funding for the State Department office tasked with combating human trafficking, one of the few agencies actually helping prevent abuse like Epstein’s. MAGA Republican policies are harming far more women than Epstein, yet they don’t want to talk about that. Epstein is, in part, a distraction from the real and growing harm done to Americans by the critics of elites in government.
Third, and perhaps most surprising, the Epstein conspiracy shows that Trump does not control the MAGA movement. He has bullied Republican members of Congress into kissing his rear end, and he has filled the government with his sycophants, but the base of MAGA voters does not accept his actions without criticism. Note that Republican members of Congress only cautiously pushed back against the non-release of the Epstein files after MAGA podcasters and social media personalities condemned the administration. The MAGA base has more courage than elected Republican officials. The MAGA base does not blindly follow Trump; it is sincere in its obsessions.
Ironically, this might be a good thing for democracy. MAGA voters have outrageous, anti-democratic views, but they will not accept everything Trump does to help himself and other billionaires. Part of the strategy for preserving our democracy must involve showing MAGA voters how Trump is hurting them – how he really does not care about them. The budget bill is a perfect example. It will kill rural hospitals, schools, radio stations, and businesses. When MAGA voters see and feel the consequences, maybe they will push back against Trump, as they are today over the Epstein files.
Trump’s popularity is declining, and that is an opening for reasonable candidates who can speak directly to a broad population of voters. Democracy will endure if our leaders do the hard work to reconnect with voters, even disgruntled MAGA voters.
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Jeremi Suri holds the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a professor in the University's Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Professor Suri is the author and editor of eleven books on politics and foreign policy, most recently: Civil War By Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy. His other books include: The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office; Liberty’s Surest Guardian: American Nation-Building from the Founders to Obama; Henry Kissinger and the American Century; and Power and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Détente. His writings appear in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN.com, Atlantic, Newsweek, Time, Wired, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and other media. Professor Suri is a popular public lecturer and comments frequently on radio and television news. His writing and teaching have received numerous prizes, including the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Texas and the Pro Bene Meritis Award for Contributions to the Liberal Arts. Professor Suri hosts a weekly podcast, “This is Democracy.”
I applaud this article. Three points stick out to me: 1) The big bill of betrayal will deprive women and families of healthcare, but especially females without the guaranteed right of reproductive choice. 2) Defunding of programs to combat human trafficking. Republican policies are more harmful to women than Epstein. 3) It is significant that anger is focused on the Epstein client perpetrator pedophile predators, and not on the countless young victims of female child sexual abuse, molestation, exploitation and the traumatic mental and physical damage. ("The Body Keeps the Score" Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.)
Thank you for an insightful journey through this deceptive house of mirrors that has been created as a cynical distraction . We’re living through a grotesquely perverted deconstruction of reality and T he ghost of B. F. Skinner is laughing.