July 16, 2025 11:33 AM UTC

MAGA Meltdown As Trump Declares Epstein Files A "Hoax"

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• by: Colorado Pols

As CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger reports, the growing intraparty crisis among MAGA Republicans over the Trump administration’s handling of what was once a central tenet of the movement’s conspiracy canon–evidence allegedly left behind by deceased billionaire child molester Jeffrey Epstein implicating a cross-section of elite society in an international sex trafficking ring–exploded today after President and former Epstein buddy Donald Trump declared the entire story to be a “hoax,” and told his supporters who won’t shut up about it to take a proverbial hike:

President Donald Trump on Wednesday sharply criticized the bloc of his own political base that is publicly demanding the release of the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files, calling them “weaklings” whose support he does not want.

“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, [Pols emphasis] and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bull—-,’ hook, line, and sinker,” Trump vented in a Truth Social post.

The president’s swipe at a prominent and vocal subset of his backers is his latest and angriest effort to pressure people within his MAGA movement to stop talking about Epstein.

As NPR reports, if the Epstein case was ever a thing for you, and that’s a very large percentage of Trump’s conspiracy-minded base of support, Trump doesn’t want you around anymore:

“Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!” Trump said. [Pols emphasis]

As of this writing, there’s been very little response from MAGA world to this latest and by far most emphatic statement from Trump, essentially demanding that they forget everything they believed about the Epstein conspiracy theory for the past six years and longer or take off their MAGA hats. This includes Trump loyalists like Colorado’s Rep. Lauren Boebert, who just yesterday called for a Special Counsel to investigate what happened…and then beclowned herself by suggesting former Rep. and accused minor-diddler Matt “Giggity” Gaetz be that counsel.

Trump’s latest announcement that the MAGA faithful must discard a conspiracy theory they have cherished and nurtured for years could shatter the thin pretense that Trump himself had no involvement in Epstein’s trafficking of young women for sexual use by powerful men the world over, which has somehow held together despite the mountain of evidence that Trump at the very least knew about Epstein’s preference for women “on the younger side” years before their alleged falling out. The MAGA movement needed Trump to be on the side of releasing the files to maintain their steadfast belief that he wasn’t personally involved.

Now that Trump has told them to disbelieve their lying eyes or pound sand, what are they going to do?

Far-right shabby slacktivist Charlie Kirk, who locals may remember was a big if not terribly persuasive supporter of Heidi Ganahl’s 2022 faceplant run for governor, declared Monday he is “done talking about Epstein,” and he now believes his government friends–an about-face that had the MAGA rank-and-file wondering if he was replaced by a pod person. Then just hours later on Tuesday, Kirk flipped again to demand the administration release everything:

Charlie Kirk, one of the most powerful and influential MAGA podcasters, devoted Tuesday’s podcast to extensive interviews about Jeffrey Epstein — a day after he and several other MAGA figures suggested they would take President Trump’s advice and move on.

Andrew Kolvet, the show’s executive producer, told Axios that Monday’s viral clip had additional context: “Charlie is not done talking about it. The ball is in the administration’s court to find a solution.”

But that was all before this morning’s Orwellian riposte from Donald Trump. If the ball was “in the administration’s court,” Trump just took it and went home. Now it’s time for Trump’s supporters at every level to ask themselves what they are willing to swallow to remain loyal.

Even if it’s Trump turning out to be part of the great global conspiracy.