For most Republicans, Jeffrey Epstein is a peripheral issue — more of a distraction than MAGA’s casus belli. In most Republicans’ minds, issues like the budget, national defense, trade, affordability, immigration, and taxation are far more important than the loathsome actions of any one creep.
But it doesn’t matter what most Republicans want, because elections are won on the margins. I often disagree with Steve Bannon on policy, but his instincts for political tactics are razor sharp. From CNN:
Steve Bannon, a Trump first-term political adviser who now presents the “War Room” podcast, argued at the Turning Point USA conference on Friday that it wouldn’t take much erosion in the MAGA base to have a dramatic effect. He said that if 10% of the movement was disaffected, the party could lose 40 House seats. That would mean a Democratic majority. [emphasis added]
It echoes my observation from yesterday:
In the 2026 midterms, the GOP will already be at a historic disadvantage: The party in power almost always takes it on the chin. (During the 2018 midterms, Republicans lost 40 seats in the House, giving the Democrats a majority.) Historical trends — plus the Epstein fallout — will be too much to overcome.
So, how do we keep the MAGA coalition unified, energized, and mobilized?
President Trump has three options:
Option One: Ignore the uproar and march forward
Until the Democrats take over the House and subject the White House to constant lawsuits, hearings, and subpoenas, President Trump will have a free hand to set the national agenda. It’s entirely within his power to ignore the Epstein controversy, “flood the zone” with new storylines, and eventually, the oft-elusive Epstein Files will be pushed off the front page.
Might take more than a day. Might take more than a week. But eventually, we’d get there.
This is probably Trump’s preference. He understands that the media’s bandwidth is limited; “flooding the zone” has worked far more than it’s failed.
The problem is, too many people in MAGA aren’t willing to turn the page. (The percentage is unclear, but it’s certainly more than Bannon’s 10% threshold.) The sordidness of the Epstein allegations — and the entertainment value of the conspiracy theories — is going to keep this story alive.
At least, to some.
Option Two: Deal with it head-on with a primetime speech
Nobody speaks for President Trump better than President Trump. No disrespect to anyone in his inner circle, but Donald Trump’s top advocate is still Donald Trump.
Why not take advantage of this?
I’ve never met Jeffrey Epstein. (The only “islands” I’ve been to are Jamaica, Hawaii, and wherever that booze-cruise took us in the Caribbean.) So, I’m not going to pretend like I know whether any, all — or none — of the conspiracies are actually true. (My suspicion is, we’ll look back on the Epstein controversy in a few decades and conclude, “Hmm, maybe Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson aren’t exactly sticklers for accuracy and/or shouldn’t be considered credible news sources.”)
But it doesn’t matter what I think. Nor does it matter what you think.
What matters is, the current narration attached to the “Epstein” storyline will damage the MAGA coalition, so we’ve gotta fix this before the midterms.
In a primetime speech, President Trump could tell us the REAL story. Maybe it’s a tale about a rich guy with powerful friends getting preferential legal treatment. Maybe it’s a story about foreign espionage and blackmail. Maybe it struck a chord with so many because child trafficking is a real problem, and not enough is being done to stop it.
Just. Tell. Us. The. Truth!
A primetime speech would give Trump a platform to reframe the Epstein narrative — and to do so in a way that keeps the MAGA coalition intact.
There’s only one Donald Trump. Nobody else has his emotional connection to his audience or his credibility as the leader of the “America First” movement to pull it off.
But if he doesn’t want to…
Option Three: Outsource the Epstein “damage control” to trusted subordinates
An upside of having your inner circle packed with folks who fanned the flames of Epstein conspiracies is, these are the exact same people with the standing to correct the record. Specifically, I’m talking about Vice President JD Vance, FBI Director Kash Patel, and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino.
(Apologies to Attorney General Pam Bondi, but at this point, I’d keep her the hell away from the media. More than anyone else in the Trump administration, she’s responsible for overhyping expectations. Her ineptitude was stunning.)
If Trump doesn’t want to get his hands dirty, book Dan Bongino on Joe Rogan’s podcast and let Bongino convince Rogan — and more importantly, Rogan’s audience — about the truth of the Epstein allegations.
Whatever they are.
Bongino is a talented communicator. If he could convince Rogan that there’s no “there” there, it would go a long way to finally putting this story to bed.
Those are the three options. My preference, by a Pritzker-sized margin, is option #2: Donald Trump is our big gun. Nobody else is close.
Put him on primetime and let him fire away.
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