In a recent installment of the media’s daily “DISAPPOINTED TRUMP VOTERS” piece, The Washington Post suggests that the MAGA base is mainly upset about tariffs. At least that’s what I gleaned from an article headlined, “Is Trump keeping all his promises? This MAGA couple doesn’t think so,” followed by 20 solid paragraphs about tariffs.

But on closer examination, the Trump voters being interviewed, Carter and Jessie Meadows of Georgia, weren’t all that exercised about tariffs, certainly not as much as the Post obviously is. Yes, the levies have increased prices for fruit and berries at Jessie’s flower shop, and on something-or-other for one of the suppliers to Carter’s funeral home.

On the other hand, both of them said they were willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt. Carter said, “I’m not an economist,” noting that it’s “probably going to hurt before it gets better.” Jessie added, “We also really don’t have a suggestion on how to fix that. We don’t understand enough about it.”

The Meadowses were much more rattled about another matter, but only readers who made it to the second half of the piece will know that their main beef with Trump is his refusal to release the Epstein files. The whole article reads as if the reporter was peppering them with questions about tariffs, and they kept responding by talking about Epstein.

When discussing Epstein, the couple provided specific, telling details indicating that the cover-up was a genuine concern of theirs — not an idea planted by the reporter.

For example, they describe “sitting in the living room one day” and being shocked by a Facebook post that quoted Trump attacking what he called his “PAST supporters” for believing the “bullshit” of “the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax.” He called these (PAST) supporters “weaklings” and announced, “I don’t want their support anymore!”

“Jessie turned to her husband,” the article reads.

“‘It’s gotta be fake,’ she said.

"They looked up Trump’s post and found that it was real. Briefly, Carter felt ashamed of his vote.”

They had a lot more to say about Epstein, too.

“[Jessie] thought the Epstein files probably contained embarrassing information about rich and powerful people who were bent on keeping it private.”

[As do we all.]

“When Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) filed a petition this month to force a House vote on releasing the files, she cheered him on. She called the office of her congressman, Republican Rick Allen, about it and soon received a generic email.

"Trump’s Justice Department said it found no ‘incriminating "client list,”’ the email said.

“Still, Jessie wondered: Why not put everything out there, if there was nothing to hide?”

Excellent question. Jessie said she’ll be voting for Rep. Allen’s primary opponent next year.

It certainly seems odd for the Post to start with tariffs, blather on and on about them, while tucking away Trump’s refusal to release the Epstein files — manifestly, the couple’s main complaint. But consider Trump’s behavior. On this one issue, he and the Post are in total, 100% agreement: Epstein? That’s old news. Let’s move on.

Epstein, the notorious sex trafficker, may have finally brought Trump and the Post together in peace and harmony. (What’s the definition of “The Swamp,” again?)

The same day that the Post was downplaying Trump supporters’ wild interest in the Epstein files, The Wall Street Journal reported on Trump’s smooth handling of the matter. His crackerjack explanation is, “People don’t understand that Palm Beach in the ‘90s was a different time.”

Nice of Trump to try to implicate the entire island in a pedophile’s international sex ring, but assiduous readers will recall that Palm Beach considered Mar-a-Lago a nouveau embarrassment in the '90s. Many still do. Maybe he should stick to telling us what he was like in the '90s.

With his base up in arms, Trump responded to a reporter’s question about Epstein, saying: “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for years. That is unbelievable.”

You know how to ensure people continue talking about him for years? Keep stonewalling.

Speaking of things that have been said for years, White House spokesman Steven Cheung dismisses criticism of the Epstein debacle as “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and “fake news,” phrases that used to mean something other than “NAILED US.”

FBI Director Kash Patel told the MAGA base to move on, writing: “The conspiracy theories just aren’t true, never have been.”

We want to know who was funding Epstein and who participated in his sex ring. No one in Washington will tell us. That’s not a conspiracy theory — it’s a conspiracy.

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