Epstein affair creates cracks in MAGA bloc, Elon Musk further opens them

A rare rebellion has broken out within the Make America Great Again movement this week against the Trump administration over its decision to permanently close the legal case surrounding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trumpist influencers, who have been peddling wild conspiracy theories about Epstein online for years, are calling it a cover-up. Their criticism of the government, expressed mainly through tweets, is being actively fueled on X by platform owner Elon Musk, now that he wants to launch his own political party.

The president clearly doesn't appreciate all the criticism, but so far he's barely managed to stifle it. Asked about the affair during a press briefing on Tuesday, he responded testily: "There's so much going on. Why are people still talking about this guy, this creep? Unbelievable."

Meanwhile, the affair has reached the heart of his administration. FBI Director Kash Patel and his Deputy Director Dan Bongino—both former MAGA influencers who were active in spreading Epstein conspiracies—are reportedly threatening to resign if Attorney General Pam Bondi doesn't resign. Controversial far-right Twitter user Laura Loomer, who Trump has invited to the White House several times for advice, is also calling for Bondi's dismissal.

It was Bondi's department that announced Monday that, after a "thorough investigation," along with the FBI, it had uncovered no conspiracy surrounding Epstein's death. The financier and jet-set figure was found dead in his New York jail cell in August 2019. He had just been jailed there on suspicion of abusing more than two hundred underage "masseurs" for years. Bondi released a nearly eleven-hour video from a jailhouse surveillance camera that was supposed to prove that no one could have staged Epstein's suicide. Furthermore, there were no accomplices to prosecute.

Customer list

Trump campaigned for president last year on the promise to release Epstein's client list. Like other members of his entourage, from his running mate J.D. Vance to eldest son Don Jr., he eagerly fueled the theory that Epstein was murdered in his cell because he allegedly wanted to release the list of powerful men for whom he arranged to sexually abuse minors. Epstein allegedly filmed them during sex parties at his homes in New York, Florida, and a private Caribbean island. Influential podcaster and former Fox News star Tucker Carlson this week rehashed the story that Epstein did all this as a secret agent for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.

Epstein did indeed have many high-ranking acquaintances and friends during his lifetime, from British royals to billionaires, including Donald Trump. These excellent connections also ensured that he was treated exceptionally leniently by the Florida authorities at the beginning of this century when his systematic abuse was prosecuted there.

Within Trumpism, his death became part of decades of radical-right, and partly anti-Semitic, conspiracy theories. Top Democrats, including the Clintons, businessmen, and Hollywood stars formed a " cabal " (network) of high-ranking pedophiles, devil worshippers, and baby blood drinkers.

Boomerang

Now that even Trump officials have been forced to acknowledge that such a conspiracy doesn't exist, the MAGA distrust is backfiring on the government. The authenticity of the cell door video is being questioned (because it was clumsily edited and had a single minute missing). FBI Director Patel's girlfriend was cast as suspect (because she is much younger and works for a news website founded by an Israeli ex-spy). Left-wing Twitter users, on the other hand, suggested that Trump himself was one of Epstein's clients and therefore caused his "list" to disappear.

Musk's political ambitions

In Trumpist circles this week at X, the focus was on little else than Epstein. For owner Elon Musk, the MAGA revolt offers opportunities. Since his political alliance with Trump spectacularly collapsed last month, he has been able to focus for a few weeks on his many companies, which were struggling with overdue maintenance after his time in Washington.

The latter became apparent several times this week. For example, when his chatbot Grok experienced anti-Semitic hallucinations after Musk asked the AI protocol for "less political correctness". A day later, the top executive of X, in which Grok is embedded, suddenly left. Tesla's share price, meanwhile, remains under pressure due to declining sales, especially in Europe. Only Musk's favorite company SpaceX is really doing well thanks to its Starlink satellite network, according to a new share offering.

Yet Musk already wants to return to politics. After Congress passed Trump's massive budget and tax bill last week, he announced he was forming his own political party, the America Party. Not to run for president himself (he's not allowed to do that as a South African native), but to finally force politicians to adopt more fiscal discipline and even more tech-friendly policies.

Musk hopes to win several seats in both the House and Senate in the next November 2026 congressional elections by donating millions to his own candidates. Because Democrats and Republicans are winning increasingly narrow majorities in those chambers, Musk's candidates could claim a decisive vote.

Many Americans have long said they're fed up with their two parties and that they primarily support the least bad option in elections. Yet, due to the American electoral system, "third" parties or candidates rarely achieve power. Moreover, building a national party infrastructure is a major bureaucratic undertaking, and Musk could face legal opposition, particularly from Trump's party. Republicans are already missing out on the money from the man who donated $290 million in their previous election cycle, but now they also have to fear that he will lure voters away.

Among Trump loyalists, voices are already calling for Musk's political adventure to be nipped in the bud. The most vocal advocate for this is former spin doctor Steve Bannon. Even when Musk and Trump were still friends, he criticized the tech entrepreneur's influence on the new administration. This highlighted a conflict of interests between the more nationalist-populist wing of the MAGA and the tech bro camp.

At a Trump youth event on Friday, Bannon again advocated stripping "the illegal alien" Musk of his US citizenship and deporting him to South Africa. Trump had previously said "we should look into this" and also hinted that he might bar his former first buddy from government contracts, even though NASA is heavily reliant on Musk's rocket company, SpaceX.

Bannon, however, now sees opportunities for revenge. On Friday, he called it "my sole purpose in life to destroy Musk." He also recalled that during his heated feud with Trump last month, the billionaire sneered that the president also featured in the Epstein dossier (an X-message that he later deleted, incidentally).

Risks for Trump

Since Musk took over what was then Twitter in the fall of 2022 and renamed it X, it has become the town square of the MAGA crowd. The fact that the Epstein conspiracy machine continues to run at full speed here makes it extra difficult for Trump to put the genie back in the bottle. Musk’s power over the platform also makes it extra risky for the president to tackle the tech billionaire through his business interests or his US passport.

Musk is keeping Trump's discontent with Epstein alive with a few tweets a day. Because, he tweeted this week: "How can you expect people to trust Trump if he won't release the Epstein files?"