By the time you’ve stuck with Donald Trump through two impeachments, a Capitol riot, four indictments, and The Apprentice, you should know how all of it works by now. But nope. In classic Trump fashion, the guy is now publicly slamming his own base for daring to ask questions about the Jeffrey Epstein case that he and his administration hyped up beyond all reason to prey on their love of conspiracy theories.
This week on Truth Social, Trump lashed out at supporters who questioned why the “Epstein Files” remain sealed and his client list has been kept under wraps. Rather than reassure them with calm and measured tones, he called his supporters “weaklings” and accused them of falling for a leftist “hoax.”
The same people who bought the t-shirts, printed flags with his face on Rambo’s body, and shouted “Lock Her Up” at his rallies are now, in his words, “doing the Democrats’ work.” He’s very publicly breaking up with his hardcore fans. The funniest part is that this is not new behavior, and everyone should have seen this coming.
Donald Trump Is Now Beefing With His Supporters
Trump burns through allies like they’re Russian escorts. Michael Cohen, Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions, and, most recently, Elon Musk all got the boot after they stopped serving his narrative. And all those relationships ended with a spectacular, very public flameout.
Musk went from “brilliant genius” to “bullshit artist” in record time after disagreeing with Trump on a few too many talking points. But now, finally, it’s time for the grand finale: can he so thoroughly infuriate, degrade, condescend, and gaslight his own loyal supporters, who have stuck with him thanks to their incredible ability to ignore reality, that he finally pushes them away too?
Hard to say. I still lean toward no. His supporters become so good at brushing aside every atrocity that it’s hard to believe there’s anything Trump can do that will cause them to lose his trust.
However, all this Epstein-related news does feel a little different. It’s not just the fringe QAnon crowd demanding answers. Big names in Trump-world, such as Lara Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson, are also calling for transparency.
Even they can’t figure out why Trump is suddenly pretending that Epstein’s criminality is a boring topic that no one has truly ever cared about, especially after years of fueling deep state conspiracies that made his supporters suspicious of everyone in the government.
Trump helped create this monster of distrust. He told people the system was rigged, that elites were hiding dark secrets, and that only he could drain the swamp. Now his supporters are realizing what the rest of us have always known: he was the swamp all along, and he drags everyone in his orbit down in it until they’re choking on mud.
I’m not sure if any of this will stick. Any second now, his supporters might go right back to buying the propaganda. But for now, it’s at least a little bit funny to watch them all finally realize that loyalty to Trump is a one-way street, and being publicly flamed by him is just what happens when you’re no longer useful to him.
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