Hoisted By One’s Own Petard

Hoisted By One’s Own Petard

So, we’re back to the question: why are the MAGA faithful upset with Pam Bondi over the Epstein files?

Surely it’s not because Donald Trump is being publicly linked to Jeffrey Epstein. I mean, these are the same people who stuck with him through three marriages to immigrants (two of which ended thanks to his own infidelity), his “grab ‘em by the pussy” declaration, his hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, and the time he mused that his daughter had “a very nice figure” — adding, “if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.” (Yes, really. 2006. They later said it was a joke.)  The MAGA crowd stuck with Trump through all that.  Surely they would not be put off or surprised that Trump took advantage of Jeffrey Epstein’s “hospitality.”

So why the outrage now? 

My take: a lot of Trump’s former appointees have reputations to defend — namely, their past claims about Epstein and the “deep state.” Some are doubling down to prove those conspiracy theories were justified. Others are convinced the Epstein affair is still being covered up by shadowy elites. And of course, a few are seizing the moment to push a more insidious narrative involving Epstein’s Jewishness, Ehud Barak, and the ever-handy specter of a Mossad-run blackmail ring.

(If you want a deeper dive into the circus, Vanity Fair offers a glorious dissection of the inter-MAGA mudslinging.)

But let’s be honest: it’s great fun watching MAGA world eat itself alive. They’ve spent years perfecting the art of the conspiracy theory — and now they’re aiming the playbook at each other.

It’s all a bit Shakespearean, really.

Hoisted. Petard. Boom.