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The Fracturing of American Political Movements

For years, Trump built his movement by promising to expose the "deep state", shadowy forces supposedly controlling America from behind the scenes. He suggested Epstein's death was suspicious, retweeting theories about murder and cover-ups. During his 2024 campaign, when asked about releasing the Epstein files, he said "yeah, yeah, I would." Once in power, though, Trump's tune changed completely. In February, his administration invited right-wing influencers to the White House and handed them binders marked "The Epstein Files: Phase 1", which contained mostly redacted documents already in the public domain. Attorney General Bondi claimed there were "tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children", fueling expectations of explosive revelations.

We're watching the inevitable conclusion of conspiracy politics, the moment when true believers realize their conspiracy theorist-in-chief might be the biggest cover-up artist of all. The revolution, as they say, is eating its own children. And for the first time since 2015, Donald Trump might not be able to control what he created.