Dem
47
GOP
53
This past weekend, about 5,000 young conservatives, mostly high school and college students, gathered in Tampa for the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit. The goal of the event is to train attendees on how to promote conservative values at their schools. There were speeches by Donald Trump Jr., Tucker Carlson, Pete Hegseth and other well-known conservatives, leadership workshops, and more.
All was not rainbows and unicorns, though. There was a great deal of free-floating anger at the administration for the way it has treated the "Epstein files," even though no such files may actually exist. Many speakers criticized AG Pam Bondi from the stage for not releasing the "files" after she said she had them on her desk. For example, podcaster Brandon Tatum told the audience: "I think that that guy was involved in something nefarious that implicates a whole lot of people. And my guess is that a whole lot of people may happen to be some of our allies and some people that we don't want to have a bad relationship with." The event raises questions about why Donald Trump seems to be out of step with the base on this.
It isn't just the kids who are unhappy. On Sunday, "Fox & Friends" host Charles Hurt said there are valid unanswered questions about Epstein and the White House needs to provide answers. Kevin Corke and Rachel Campos-Duffy agreed that Trump's supporters need better information.
There were many postings on social media during the weekend, both from attendees and others, saying that the Epstein scandal will not "go away." Gen. Mike Flynn (ret.) tweeted: "Donald Trump please understand the EPSTEIN AFFAIR is not going away. If the administration doesn't address the massive number of unanswered questions about Epstein, especially the ABUSE OF CHILDREN BY ELITES (it is very clear that abuse occurred), then moving forward on so many other monumental challenges our nation is facing becomes much harder."
Apparently this carping got to Trump. On Saturday, he issued a strong defense of Bondi, saying she is doing a FANTASTIC JOB. It is a long and rambling posting, where he claims the files exist and were written by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and other MAGA bugaboos. He also took an unusual jab at the base, saying: "We're on one Team, MAGA, and I don't like what's happening. We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and 'selfish people' are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein."
Who are the selfish people? The kids in Tampa? The Fox hosts? Laura Loomer (who wants Bondi fired)? It is rare for Trump to turn on his base, but this seems to be one of those times. He wants the issue to go away and the base is making it clear it does not want the issue to go away. It wants answers. It was not at all happy with the memo the DoJ released last week stating that Epstein killed himself and there is no "client list." Carlson is not convinced. He said Bondi is "covering up crimes, very serious crimes by their own description."
Elon Musk responded to Trump yesterday with this tweet:
It is not clear what the base is thinking, assuming it is thinking at all. If Trump and Bondi had evidence that Democrats abused children, surely they would be trumpeting it from the rooftops. So if they do have unpublished information they are intentionally hiding, that must mean some Republicans are implicated, maybe even Trump. After all, Trump knew Epstein and liked him well enough to have posed with him for this widely circulated photo taken in 2000:
In any event, the Epstein story is far from over and could prove to be an albatross around Trump's neck. (V)