You’ve got to dance with the ones that brung ya – even the ‘bad, boring weaklings’

Well, well, well. It turns out you do reap what you sow.

After hijacking and weaponising conspiracy theories for much of his political career, Donald Trump is belatedly realising that people who perpetuate conspiracies are probably misguided – and pretty annoying.

The US president is trying to quash a revolt from the more rabid elements of his Make America Great Again movement over the administration’s decision to draw a line under the Jeffrey Epstein saga and declare: nothing more to see here.

Epstein is a matter of MAGA gospel. For years, Trump supporters have clamoured for the release of the so-called “Epstein files”, which would – it was assumed – incriminate swaths of the American liberal elite as paedophiles who had availed themselves of Epstein’s seedy connections and hospitality.

Like many conspiracy theories, it is grounded in an element of truth. Epstein was indeed a prolific sex offender, and counted big names among his friends and acquaintances over the years, including former Democratic president Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and, at one time, Trump himself.

It fed into a broader conspiracy, QAnon, that contends a wide network of rich and powerful paedophiles is running the world, protected by the “deep state”, with Trump one of the few bulwarks with the power to put an end to it.

Moreover, Trump leant into this during the election campaign, promising to release the “Epstein files” if he won the Oval Office. And he put prominent deep state conspiracy theorists into key positions, including Kash Patel as director of the FBI.

In February, Attorney-General Pam Bondi furnished a slew of right-wing podcasters and influencers with a file of documents that was described at the time as “phase one” of the Epstein data dump. When that turned out to be disappointing, Bondi promised there was more to come.

But now the FBI and the Department of Justice say there’s nothing left to uncover except child pornography. There is no “client list”, they say. Epstein killed himself in jail; there was no evidence of foul play. And they warned that “perpetuating unfounded theories about Epstein” did not help combat child exploitation.

For many MAGA types, this was the ultimate betrayal. That included some senior administration figures, such as deputy FBI director Dan Bongino, who reportedly took Friday off work to consider his future but returned on Monday. Many believe he will quietly exit his post soon.

Donald and Melania Trump with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2002.Credit: Getty

Sitting uneasily in the background is a since-deleted post from billionaire Elon Musk alleging Trump himself is named in the Epstein files. Musk didn’t elaborate – and given Trump and Epstein were acquainted, it’s entirely possible Trump would be innocuously named somewhere. But the suggestion adds fuel to the fire for those who are already conspiratorially inclined.

Trump has a famously short attention span. He moves on quickly. He has clearly decided to move on from the Epstein saga – now that it no longer suits him – and woe betide anyone who wants to hold him back.

First, he said he didn’t understand the ongoing interest in the case. Then he called it “boring” and said only “bad people” wanted to keep the story running. And now he is openly abandoning some of his most rusted-on backers, calling them “weaklings” who are undermining his achievements and doing the Democrats’ bidding.

President Donald Trump has been forced to defend Attorney-General Pam Bondi.Credit: AP

Indeed, Trump’s latest strategy is to try to paint the entire Epstein circus as a Democrat hit job. He spuriously claims the documents in question were authored by some combination of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and former FBI director James Comey, and calls the affair a “hoax”.

As The Daily Show host Jon Stewart neatly summarised: “In a few months’ time, we went from ‘the Epstein files will expose the Democrats’ to ‘the Epstein files were written by the Democrats and therefore can’t be trusted, so let’s move on’.”

But can MAGA just move on? There are some signs that yes, they can and will. Just witness right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, a prominent Epstein truther, going to great lengths to explain how MAGA’s Epstein obsession is actually all about protecting Trump.

Even one of Trump’s most vocal media cheerleaders, Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, spent much of his Tuesday podcast dwelling on the Epstein matter.Credit: AP

“The base cares about this because they have your back,” he said on his podcast. “The base cares about this because they have your best interests at heart.”

In Kirk’s view, the Epstein case is the “skeleton key” to unwinding the entire deep state, which he accuses of trying to force Trump out of office, rig the 2020 election and assassinate Trump in July last year at the rally in Pennsylvania.

There is no evidence for any of these claims, but they are not unusual in the MAGA universe.

Steve Bannon, a former Trump aide who hosts his own influential MAGA show, was more sanguine about the Epstein matter on Thursday (AEST), seizing on reports that Trump would endorse the appointment of a special prosecutor to probe concerns about the “deep state”, including the Epstein case.

For many, the Epstein obsession runs deep. Subscribers will be loath to just cast it aside and forget about it. Trump may find that irritating, but he created the monster. You’ve got to dance with the ones that brung ya, warts and all.

Ultimately, though, Trump is in a politically strong position. He has a good story to tell about the past six months – at least for conservatives – and can rightly argue the Epstein hullabaloo distracts from that.

And while some basement dwellers and online sleuths of the MAGA movement may never move on, those who shape opinion day-to-day will. You can bet they care more about staying in Trump’s orbit and good books than they do about Jeffrey Epstein.

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