On Saturday afternoon, Austin Tucker Martin, a 21-year-old golf course groundskeeper and illustrator, left his home in North Carolina and began a 10-hour drive south to president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. Early Sunday morning, Martin reportedly walked into Mar-a-Lago with a shotgun and a can of fuel; he was then shot and killed by Secret Service agents and officers from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office.
Martin was, according to friends, a vocal Trump supporter. His cousin told the Associated Press, “We are big Trump supporters, all of us”—though they added that Martin rarely discussed politics.
Law enforcement have not speculated on Martin’s motive, but a few days before the incident, Martin reportedly texted a coworker: “I don’t know if you read up on the Epstein Files, but evil is real and unmistakable,” according to texts obtained by TMZ. “The best people like you and I can do is use what little influence we have. Tell other people about what you hear about the Epstein files and what the government is doing about it. Raise awareness.”
His former coworkers told TMZ that Martin had become fixated on the Epstein case after the Department of Justice released more than 3 million documents and photos related to Jeffrey Epstein last month. They said Martin believed there was a cover-up taking place and that powerful people were “getting away with it.”
While Martin’s actions were uniquely extreme, there is a widespread and simmering anger among Trump’s MAGA base about the government’s tepid response to the Epstein document drops. Right-wing influencers, media personalities, and even politicians are focusing that anger not at Trump but at other government leaders like attorney general Pam Bondi, one-time adviser Steve Bannon, and FBI director Kash Patel.
On X and pro-Trump message boards in recent days, Trump supporters have slammed Patel for failing to deliver on his promise to hold those named in the Epstein files accountable.
“There’s arguably never been a point in history where an FBI Director had more on his plate than right now, yet the American people see no results, just some guy partying in a place he shouldn’t be,” one person wrote in response to Patel’s post on X about partying with the US men’s Olympic ice hockey team.
“I agree with [the] criticism,” a member of the rabidly pro-Trump message board known as The Donald, wrote in response to a post about people criticizing Patel. “In the game of justice he’s been unable to score a single point, 0 arrests for Epstein … He’s scum.”
In another thread that was discussing a report about Epstein, a member of The Donald wrote: “Meanwhile, Kash is in Italy getting drunk.”
While much of the right-wing media ecosystem that relies on the benevolence of Trump to survive has almost entirely shied away from critical coverage of the Epstein files, prominent far-right figures have continued to criticize the administration, though stopping short of directly attacking Trump.
“The Trump administration engaged in a failed coverup of the Epstein files,” white nationalist livestreamer Nick Fuentes said recently on his show, adding: “Pam Bondi needs to be impeached.”
The arrests of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the man formerly known as Prince Andrew, and Peter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to the US, have only increased pressure on Patel and Bondi. Both are being investigated in the UK over suspicion of “misconduct in public office” in relation to their Epstein ties.
“The UK has officially done more to prosecute Epstein predators than our own government. Shameful,” Nancy Mace, the South Carolina Republican congresswoman, wrote on X.
“Now we need justice in the United States,” Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman from Kentucky frequently at odds with the Trump administration, wrote on X in response to Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest. “It’s time for @AGPamBondi and @FBIDirectorKash to act.”
Bannon, who does not currently work for the administration in any official capacity, has also been slammed by far-right influencers after the latest files revealed a close relationship with Epstein, including providing advice on how to deal with allegations of sexual abuse.
“Steve Bannon has now been totally exposed in the Epstein files,” right-wing podcaster Ben Shapiro said on his show. Benny Johnson, another prominent right-wing figure, added that the relationship was “not a good look.” Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, says he has distanced himself from Bannon, who Tarrio said was “aiding and abetting Epstein.”
Bannon did not respond to a request for comment from WIRED.
Despite all of this backlash, Trump himself has, so far, largely managed to avoid the anger of his MAGA base.
That may be partially due to the fact that conservative media is simply not covering the topic extensively, meaning Trump supporters who rely solely on right-wing outlets for their news just don’t hear about the Epstein files. A poll conducted by Marquette Law School earlier this year found that only 49 percent of those who relied on conservative TV channels for their news had heard “a lot” about Epstein, compared to 75 percent who relied on other network TV news.
“MAGA media is a personality cult that revolves around the president’s whims, and the closer a right-wing commentator is to power, the more likely they are to follow Trump’s directives and talk about anything else—unless what they’re saying is that he’s been ‘exonerated,’” Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at media watchdog Media Matters tells WIRED.
In the absence of arrests, many of the MAGA faithful have fallen back on the crutch of conspiracy theories to explain away the lack of accountability. In the days after the latest document release, the long-debunked conspiracy theory known as Pizzagate, which claims Democrats were operating a child sex trafficking ring from a DC pizza parlor, was revived due to the mention of the word “pizza” in a number of the newly released documents. This was enough for conspiracy theorist and podcaster Tucker Carlson to confidently write on X: “It looks like Pizzagate is basically real,” before adding later on his show: “I was wrong, obviously.” (That episode has been viewed 2.5 million times on YouTube while the post promoting the episode on X has been viewed another 4.9 million times.)
“Some MAGA people are definitely still pissed about how Trump has handled Epstein,” Mike Rothschild, an author who writes about conspiracy theories and extremists, tells WIRED. “But many others have just moved on and think it’s all a big Democratic hoax. For a bunch of ‘free thinkers,’ they’re the most easily led people you can imagine.”
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