When MAGA Goes Rogue - 7/21/25

This is not a column about Jeffrey Epstein. The disgraced sexual predator was a vile man. The less said about the particulars of his sordid exploitation and abuse of young women, the better.

This isn’t a column about Donald Trump either. The president’s behavior over the last couple of weeks as the Epstein story has re-exploded has been mystifying. But there will be plenty of time over the next few years to discuss his unique brand of leadership and communications choices.

This is actually a column about Trump’s supporters, and whether they have reached a breaking point somewhere beyond his oft-quoted “shooting someone on 5th Avenue” threshold. As the Epstein scandal has dominated the national political conversation for the past few weeks, Trump’s MAGA base has been uncharacteristically uncompliant, openly questioning and energetically rebuking the president with whom they have stood through innumerable controversies over the last several years.

When Trump’s Justice Department first announced that they had concluded their investigation into Epstein with no additional information to be released, the same loyalists who had remained by his side during the furor of the Access Hollywood video that was supposed to sink his 2016 candidacy and after being found guilty in a criminal trial last year of paying hush money to a porn star were now pushing back at their leader—and pushing back hard. For the first time since his emergence as a national political figure, Trump’s was "ratioed" on his own social media platform, Truth Social, meaning that his posting received more negative than positive responses. 

Even more notable than the quantity of the rebukes was the tone of his disillusioned backers, who had invested themselves in Trump’s leadership because they saw him as someone who was willing to stand up for them against the entrenched and powerful interests who they believe benefit from their own misfortune. They may have disagreed with Trump’s engagement in Ukraine and Iran, and they may have worried about his public ruminations on immigration policy, but the impression that their hero was betraying them to protect a wealthy and well-connected pedophile was too much to bear.

“These victims were someone's daughters, sisters, nieces, granddaughter. Someone's child.” This was the anguished posting of one self-identified long-time Trump supporter, whose painful disappointment was reflected in countless other postings. Poll numbers reinforced this resentment, as sizable majorities of Republican respondents expressed their disapproval.

Trump first sounded bewildered by the angry response he has received from his loyalists, then defiant in his denunciation of those who refused to accept his assertion that the Epstein story was not worth their time and attention. He has now turned to his reliable strategy of distraction, offering a series of other inflammatory pronouncements designed to guide his faithful away from the Epstein debate into safer territory.

The president’s initial attempt—raising the prospect of the dismissal of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell—did not sufficiently shift public and media attention. By Sunday night, Trump was threatening the owners of the Washington Commanders football team to change the franchise’s nickname back to its racially offensive reference to Native Americans. It is unsettling to attempt to predict what his next level of escalation may bring.

The one tactic that has met with some success is Trump’s attack on the Wall Street Journal for reporting about a salacious written birthday message that Trump purportedly sent to Epstein many years ago. His supporters seemed to rally to his defense against the familiar opponent of mainstream news media, but it doesn’t seem likely that this line of counterattack is sustainable over time.

Meanwhile, members of Congress are circulating legislation that would force the Justice Department to release a great deal of information about the Epstein case. This will keep this story in the news for several more weeks and will require Trump’s GOP allies to confront curious (and furious) constituents who believe they deserve the rest of the story. While Trump will almost certainly regain the loyalty of much of his base, this is not a topic that other Republicans are eager to spend their August recess discussing.

But this is a test of MAGA nation, perhaps the most serious they have faced to date. Even if they stand by Trump himself, it has now become harder to see how this movement remains part of the Republican coalition in the future or whether they return to their suspicion of politicians of both parties. Somewhere, J.D. Vance and Trump’s other potential successors are watching—and worrying.