President Donald Trump wants Americans to stop talking about Jeffrey Epstein. But judging from recent polling and responses from USA TODAY readers, many people aren’t ready to do that.
Trump and other top administration officials had played up the case of the disgraced financier who died in jail on charges of sex trafficking girls. They pumped up the idea that once Trump was elected he would let loose explosive revelations. Instead, the Justice Department and FBI closed the case.
Now the president is facing blowback from many quarters, including once-loyal MAGA supporters who are expressing a sense of betrayal – and Democrats pointing to Trump’s backtracking as a lack of transparency.
As part of our Opinion Forum, we turned to USA TODAY readers, asking if they thought an Epstein “client list” existed – and if they thought the Trump administration had access to it, as well as what they thought of Trump’s calls to move on from the Epstein affair. Read the responses below.
I believe Trump administration has access to an Epstein client list
I do believe a Jeffrey Epstein client list exists. And I believe the Trump administration had access to it. They can’t release it because the billionaires, corporations and deep state that rule the country wouldn’t allow it. I think Trump believed he couldn’t be told what to do.
The only thing I cared about was criminal “pedos” being brought to justice, but we know that will never happen. Epstein wasn’t the only one out there doing what he was doing.
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While Trump has said repeatedly he wants people to stop talking about Epstein, he’s one who used this for his campaign platform. If that’s what he wants, he should’ve never brought it up.
As for whether MAGA will split with Trump over this Epstein fallout – maybe some of MAGA will break with him but most will stay loyal.
— Christine Luongo, Rockaway, New Jersey
Mr. President, I supported you. Please release the list.
Yes, I believe a Jeffrey Epstein client list exists. Court records indicate that massive amounts of information exists, documenting Epstein’s (apparently shared) need and enjoyment in having predatory sex with perhaps hundreds of underage and emotionally vulnerable girls.
I believe that he and others used the girls to feed their addiction to selfish, self-gratifying sex. And that he and others are on the “list.” And that many, many highly visible people are on the list; it appears that the president is protecting them (and possibly himself). Because of this I think we will start to see a greater divide among his supporters.
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I would say to the president: Despite your (more than several) less-than-likeable personality traits, we supported you because we love America and you also love America. However, we also stand for truth, justice and the American way. Please put our minds at ease and release the list. I supported you, attended many of your rallies and even greeted Kamala Harris at three of her rallies with a 6-foot Trump banner. Follow American ideals, Mr. President. Please release the list … or resign.
— Phil Parlock Sr., Huntington, West Virginia
MAGA cult has been brainwashed
I’m not sure if an Epstein client list exists. It’s obvious they spent so much time talking about it because it fueled the conspiracy theorist-type thinking that Trump has been able to manipulate people’s reality with so easily. That, and it supported a narrative that the Biden administration was withholding information that he, Trump, would release.
When asked about releasing presumably hidden files such as those on President John F. Kennedy’s assassination or the 9/11 attack, Trump always affirmed without hesitation that he would make them public. When asked about the Epstein files however, he seemed to always qualify their release with the condition that unnamed innocent people who he seemed to be aware were on the list could be protected. This caution can only be explained either by his knowledge that the files did in fact exist or by his awareness from personal experience that their existence was plausible.
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I do care about the Epstein case, and in a perfect world it should get more attention than it currently is. However, the MAGA cult has been brainwashed to automatically see the media reporting on Trump’s bad behavior as evidence of Trump’s righteousness. I fear more attention by the media would trigger their persecution complex and override the cognitive dissonance they feel by having their “open book” president “deep state” them. The Trump administration should focus on resigning and making way for competent people to lead the country.
The most likely explanation for Trump saying we should stop talking about Epstein is that he did something illegal with Epstein that he knows all but his most loyal followers would condemn him for. The likelihood of this explanation is supported by Trump’s resistance to releasing any such list and his attempts to explain away the files, saying things like, there are innocent people who would get hurt, they don’t exist, the Clintons fabricated them, etc.
In terms of whether MAGA will split with Trump over the Epstein issue, I think maybe some in the movement will break away, but most will stay loyal.
— Samuel Barnes, Saint George, Utah
I don’t care if there’s an Epstein list
I don’t believe any client list existed. But I also don’t care. Epstein struck me as too wily to leave any kind of written record of his business, clients or victims. But MAGA folks love a conspiracy and this one has everything: salacious details, mysterious death, famous names and money. Lots of money.
Epstein is dead. His empire crumbled. And Americans have far too much going on in the U.S. and in the world that requires our attention.
I don’t agree with Trump on much, but I certainly do when it comes to his recent repeated calls for us to stop talking about Epstein. He really needs to focus on urgent matters now – flooding in Texas and elsewhere, uncontrolled wildfires in Arizona, education and immigration battles. Then there are the international problems, many of which seem to have no easy answers. But I do think we will start to see a greater divide among his supporters.
— Kathleen Bryson, Globe, Arizona
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump brainwashed MAGA. But Epstein may cause split | Opinion