"They think we're completely incompetent" - MAGA Rejects Trump's Latest Spin: MAGAReport 7/16/25

Trump's narrative on Epstein is failing as the controversy heats up

Trump put up a long post today (copied at the end of this message) blaming the Democrats for creating a “Jeffrey Epstein Hoax”, his latest attempt to deflect attention and criticism from his administration’s failure to release the Epstein Files. It prompted a flood of replies from his followers, most of which reject the premise and reflect a turning tide in the MAGA movement. There are new cracks starting to form in MAGA’s loyalty to Trump - really the first I’ve seen of it in the last decade - and the situation is approaching a crisis point for the movement.

The release of the alleged Epstein client list was a key promise of Trump’s campaign. The conspiracy theory that many people in power are involved in pedophilia rings is a core part of MAGA, not just because of Epstein, but going back to Pizzagate and QAnon.

Yesterday, Trump and some followers tried out the line that the files weren’t worth releasing since they had been in the hands of Democrats during the Biden administration and probably had been doctored. That approach seems to be failing.

In response to Trump’s post, the discussion on the main forum I monitor blew up - over 1,000 comments in the first two hours. Here’s the most up-voted part of the conversation. I’ve included "points" at the beginning of each post, which represent the popularity / agreement with the comment, because they will provide context.

• (298) This is why his polling number are imploding. Seems he'd rather sink his presidency than tell us the names of the pedos in the Epstein tapes.

  https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/07/this-is-horrifying-top-us-pollster-trumps-approval/

  • (233) who is advising him? this must be intentional. he has never been so out of touch before.

    • (157) Advising? More like extorting

      • (87) Two minutes and fifty three seconds of deleted tape. They think we're completely incompetent. They think we're going to forget.

        Their defense is as bulletproof as tissue paper.

• (134)This is gonna be a millstone around his neck for the rest of time

  • (150) Bro, he called us PAST supporters and said he doesn’t want our support anymore.

    I didn’t leave Trump, looks like he just kicked me and many others off the train.

    • (26) Yup, I guess he made my choice for me... Vance has been good but his silence on this is disappointing. MTG has been doing good shit recently though I think.

Keep looking, and you see some fracturing that goes beyond just this issue:

• (170) Jesus Christ.

  This is a shark-jumpingly bad take.

  • (84) It's pure gaslighting

    • (58) It's made me wonder how seriously to take everything else he's been saying. It's cratered his credibility among supporters. Calling Epstein a hoax is wild. "PAST supporters"???

      • (24) Along with his “gas is at $1.87”. Like what are you talking about bro? It’s the same price as it was with biden.

Someone tried to offer the “dems corrupted the files argument” and their comment currently has a -35 rating. MAGA isn’t buying this:

• (-35) If the previous administration had 4 years to handle the evidence, and all this current one says they have is the tape that has been proven to be doctored. Are they hiding anything?

  That’s what I think he’s calling a hoax. That they have this mountain of evidence they’re sitting on. Trump literally said yesterday that Bondi should release more from the files.

  The Epstein hoax is the media acting like Trump is hiding evidence from the public, when he himself has been telling Bondi to release it

Others are having a little more success with that line, but not so much that MAGA is being swayed.

• (54) 🔴 Do we really want the "Democrats" version of the Epstein list?

  They tampered with the evidence, and now they pretend like they want "transparency" because they know it's rigged. They did this with Hunter Biden's laptop, the Russia hoax, Weiner's laptop, 51 intelligence agents and much more.

  I got to give it to the Democrats for coming up with such a brilliant political ruse, in order to FRACTURE the MAGA base. Trump knows this.

  • (84) I agree that's possible, but he needs to be making THAT case, not doubling down on Epstein being a scam.

    Don Jr. or Tucker or someone needs to hold an intervention.

    • (34) And tampering with evidence is a crime, so tell Pam, Dan, and Kash to go after whoever he thinks tampered with the evidence… if that’s what he really believes. It’s almost as if there were deals made to bury this story, and the full disclosure of details would upset that deal. Perhaps the assumption was that the base was so captured that we’d go along with anything we are told to. Sure, it works on the NPCs on our side, but that’s a minority of MAGA, thankfully.

I’m still not sure this is going to be enough to turn MAGA against Trump, but if he doesn’t come up with a better tactic, it seems like he could legitimately lose a substantial fraction of his supporters.

Trump’s Original Post