It’s not unusual for Donald Trump to post a caps lock-littered rant on social media. It is unusual for him to do so against his own base.

In a Wednesday post on Truth Social, Trump blamed the Democrats for another hoax in the Epstein files before laying into his supporters for believing there’s something there. “Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bulls***,’ hook, line, and sinker. They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years … Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work … I don’t want their support anymore!”

Our editorial team agreed this morning: We can’t recall another instance where Trump went after his base like this. So, speaking of remembering things, let’s take a quick and by no means comprehensive walk down memory lane.

• For years, Epstein and his girlfriend and now-convicted felon Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked underage girls for the sexual pleasure of Epstein and his many wealthy and influential friends. Some names of his associates are known — Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Bill Gates, and … Donald Trump. What is not known (or, rather, proven in court) is who, besides Epstein, committed statutory rape.

• In 2002, Trump said something particularly regrettable and creepy: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”

• In July 2019, our Michael Swartz wrote a piece about Democrats’ political games. It had an eerily prescient title: “Trying to Hang Epstein Around Trump’s Neck.” It was then that Trump said, “I did have a falling out [with Epstein] a long time ago. The reason doesn’t make any difference, frankly. But I haven’t spoken to him in probably 15 years or more. I wasn’t a big fan of Jeffrey Epstein, that I can tell you.”

• In August 2019, Epstein died by hanging in his jail cell while awaiting trial. Because of the mysterious circumstances — including sleeping guards, likely edited or manipulated security camera footage, and the baffling excuses for those lapses that continue to this day — and awfully convenient silencing of a man who could incriminate numerous powerful people, many folks continue to believe he didn’t kill himself. It quickly became legendary in the meme world.

• Trump soon joined the fun, calling for a “full investigation” and even (probably jokingly) insinuating that the Clintons had something to do with his death.

• Ever since Epstein’s death, rumors have circulated that his “client list” would be released, though in 2023, Democrats blocked a subpoena for flight logs. Because of course they did.

• On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump commented on the Epstein files multiple times, including promising that he would declassify and release them. Notably, he was president for a year and a half after Epstein’s death.

• In February of this year, Attorney General Pam Bondi promised a big reveal of the Epstein files that culminated in a showy photo op, with several MAGA social media influencers receiving big binders full of supposedly damning information. It was a total dud — no one learned anything new. If Trump wants to rage about an “Epstein hoax,” that was it.

• In May, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino said they had reviewed the full file and publicly asserted that Epstein did kill himself. Both men had previously questioned that finding.

• Last week, Bondi came out and effectively said there is no client list, sending MAGA world into a fit of disbelief and outrage, which in turn prompted Trump to blow up with reporters last week and in several Truth Social posts since then, including the one yesterday.

Earlier this week, our Douglas Andrews asked, “What Is Trump Thinking?” Essentially, Andrews argued, the Trump administration had overpromised and underdelivered, and it’s strange that the president is lashing out at those who object to his team’s unforced errors.

Whatever happened to “drain the swamp”? If anything ever smelled swampy, it’s Epstein’s crimes and the cover-up to protect powerful people in Washington at the expense of underage girls.

Now, a couple of important assertions. I don’t believe for a second that Trump is on any client list or that he engaged in illegal behavior with Epstein. If he had, we’d have known it years ago. Joe Biden was president for four years and had access to all existing files. (Note: It’s also possible that some files no longer exist for that same reason.) If Trump were implicated in any way, there’s simply no way Democrats would have let that slide in their legal war against him. The Clintons are shameless enough to accuse Trump if it might have helped Hillary win, even if it implicated Bill.

I also don’t believe there ever was a “client list,” so to speak — if by that term you mean a list of fellow pedophiles and statutory rapists. That isn’t to say there isn’t witness testimony regarding who did what with Epstein.

Consider the source, but Alan Dershowitz agrees on both counts. In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, Dershowitz wrote:

I was Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyer. I know the facts, some of which I can’t disclose because it is privileged or subject to court-imposed sealing orders. But what I can disclose makes several important things clear:

Epstein never created a “client list.” The FBI interviewed alleged victims who named several “clients.” These names have been redacted. They should be disclosed but the courts have ordered them sealed. I know who they are. They don’t include any current officeholders. We don’t know whether the accusations are true. The courts have also sealed negative information about some of the accusers to protect them. Neither the Justice Department nor private defense lawyers are free to disregard court sealing orders. The media can and should petition the courts for the release of all names and information so the public can draw its own conclusions.

As for Trump, Dershowitz says, “I have seen nothing that would suggest anything improper or even questionable by Mr. Trump.”

Dershowitz also addressed another angle floating around on social media:

I have absolutely no doubt that Epstein never worked for any intelligence agency. If he had, he would surely have told me and his other lawyers, who would have used that information to get him a better deal. (He wasn’t satisfied with the so-called sweetheart deal he got, which required him to spend 1½ years in a local jail and register as a sex offender.) My sources in Israel have confirmed to me that he had no connection to Israeli intelligence. That false story — recently peddled by Tucker Carlson — probably emanated from credible allegations that Robert Maxwell (1923-91), father of Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, worked with the Mossad.

Take that for what you will.

Some number of the aforementioned MAGA influencers and others have built followings based, in part, on Epstein’s case and sordid stories like it. No wonder they’re angry that Trump brushed them off — after Bondi threw gas on the fire, no less. Yet some typically loyal Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and MAGA firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene, are also pushing back on Team Trump.

Democrats and their Leftmedia sycophants are delighted to watch what they hope is a MAGA implosion, and they’re trumpeting bad poll numbers for Trump on the issue. (To be fair, conservative media outlets can’t help but also notice that atrocious polling.)

As for the rest of us, we just want what Trump promised: namely, transparency in government. This is a bizarre hill to die on instead of keeping that promise.

I stand by my conclusion in May: In short, Epstein’s death has a firm place in the annals of distrusted narratives. Many powerful people, including Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump and the UK’s Prince Andrew, had some level of relationship with Epstein. Even if one or all of them did nothing wrong, no one in Epstein’s orbit wishes to have anything further exposed. And most people find no reason to trust the same system that looked the other way while Epstein was exploiting countless young women to tell the truth about his death (or apparently anything else about his case) now.

Exit conspiracy theory just for fun: Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, prosecuted Epstein and Maxwell, as well as Sean “Diddy” Combs, and she was just fired yesterday from her job in the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office. Maybe she knows something…

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