Why MAGA Broke With Trump On Epstein

Republican upset goes beyond revulsion at sexual abuse to rage at the moral corruption of elites and the Intelligence Community for their involvement in an apparent sex blackmail operation

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press during a Cabinet Meeting at the White House on July 8, 2025 in Washington, DC. Also pictured are Attorney General Pam Bondi (L) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (C). (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Over the last decade, Democrats and the media have described President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) coalition as a cult of personality, arguing that Trump’s supporters would simply go along with anything he said or did. Trump himself joked in 2016, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?”