Hazardous Material
I tend to steer this newsletter away from the dark, growing world of conspiracy theories, in part because I want to focus on reality-based coverage (I know, quaint, right?), and in part because I want to avoid even dipping a toe (or any other appendage) into the slimy, swampy, grim, bleak world of the dark fantasies and crazy-making theories that drive these stories. I get nauseated enough covering the regular news. But we’re going to have to go there. A Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy theory deployed and spread by the MAGA crowd has come back to divide the movement and haunt Donald Trump. MAGA and its alternate news universe has long been promised a list of Epstein’s clients and connections that would supposedly prove some evil truth about democrats and elites. But in a very public U-Turn, they’re being told the list won’t be released, or there’s not a list, or to stop worrying about the list, or list, what list? It’s fair to wonder if Trump’s name is on the list if one exists. It’s also fair to be dubious that Trump’s name on some Epstein list would damage his standing with his base. But the debate over the list itself has become a raging war among Trump supporters who peddle in myths, many of whom currently occupy high positions in the administration. OK, I’m feeling that gross feeling building up. I’m going to step away and aggressively scrub myself with a bleach-dipped wire brush and let David French take over in the NYT (Gift Article): MAGA Is Tearing Itself Apart Over Jeffrey Epstein. “The Epstein story mattered so much in MAGA circles because it was a key element in their indictment of America’s so-called ruling class. Trump’s appeal to the Republican base isn’t just rooted in his supporters’ extraordinary affection for the man; it’s also rooted in their almost indescribably dark view of the American government. Why are they so keen to burn it all down? Well, if you believe your government is populated by people so depraved that they’d participate in and cover up the systematic sexual abuse of children, then you wouldn’t just want them out of office; you’d want them prosecuted, imprisoned and maybe even executed. And you’d want all the power you’d need to make that happen. And if you believe that the ruling elites would abuse children, then they’d certainly be the kind of people who’d gin up a Russia hoax or try to steal an election in 2020.”
+ The Atlantic (Gift Article): Conspiracy Theorists Are Turning on the President. “This is undeniably a turning point for the highly online among Trump’s base. The story of the client list had effectively morphed into a more palatable and plausible version of the QAnon conspiracy theory. As does QAnon, it features a secret ring of evildoers, though it doesn’t have certain ostentatious elements of that conspiracy (no harvesting blood). But both theories encourage people to disbelieve everything the government tells them. Until now, Trump and his appointees were positioned as exceptions to that rule—the deal was that if they got back into power, they would reveal all.”
+ Dan Pfeiffer (paywall) on why this controversy is different than all the other controversies, none of which seem to even make a dent. “The scandals that hurt aren’t the ones that make your opponents hate you more — they’re the ones that make your fans question why they love you.”
+ All this comes with the usual caveat that it is a fool’s errand to underestimate how much part of Trump’s base loves him. WaPo: How the Trump shooting supercharged beliefs in a divine right of MAGA. “Trump has long claimed that God was on his movement’s side, and attendees at Trump rallies have routinely described the events in spiritual terms.
But after the assassination attempt, many of his followers — and most notably Trump himself — more explicitly cast him as a divine instrument.” (I wish I had a divine instrument to delete this story from my brain.)
