In 2025, Epstein showed MAGA who they really are

[marmar]

In 2025, Epstein showed MAGA who they really are
Trump is desperate to distract his base

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published December 29, 2025 6:30AM (EST)


(Salon) While most Americans spent Christmas relaxing with family and eating too much pie, Donald Trump was having a social media meltdown. Whatever is wrong with the 79-year-old president, no one can look at his Truth Social tirades on a day he allegedly holds so dear and think he is well.

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The president has spent most of his first year in office engaged in an increasingly frantic but unsuccessful effort to block the release of the infamous Epstein files, the nickname given to the million-plus documents the Justice Department has on the investigation into the wealthy financial manager, who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking minors. Under Attorney General Pam Bondi, the DOJ has been stalling the release of the files, which were supposed to made available to the public on Dec. 19.

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But Trump’s most loyal voters, the MAGA base, have developed elaborate mythologies to deny the truth about the president. In their imaginations, he’s not a pathetic genital-grabbing predator but a knightly hero, sent by God to wage war on pedophiles and rapists. Not the real ones, of course, who Trump is more likely to defend; MAGA prefers to fear imaginary pedophiles and rapists. They project their own sins onto innocent people — often LGBTQ+ people or Democratic figures — and avoid thinking too hard about their lavish support for a man whose vile predilections haven’t been hidden.

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For whatever reason, though, Trump seems to sense that this time could be different. This would explain his erratic behavior — desperately grasping for any distraction he can throw at his base, leading to the pathetic blitz of “look over there!”-style Truth Social posts. One is left to wonder if this could even be affecting presidential decisions such as his bombing of Muslims in Nigeria, where he claims Christians are being persecuted. Experts say this isn’t true, and that violence in the region is being driven by other factors. But Trump wants his base to imagine he’s their “protector,” and stories about the persecution of Christians, no matter how false, shore up that fantasy. ..................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/12/29/in-2025-epstein-showed-maga-who-they-really-are/