MAGA melts down, Dems exult as “Epstein files” evaporate

The Independence Day weekend just past was a hectic time for news, even by our current frenetic standards. So you may have missed Elon Musk’s latest publicity stunt announcing the formation of something called the America Party. Yes, the world’s richest man hopes to challenge his former BFF’s grip on political power by launching a “centrist” third party, a proven way to waste lots of money and accomplish nothing.

CNN analyst Harry Enten laughed off the chances of Musk’s endeavor successfully launching because “it turns out most of the people who like Elon Musk already like the GOP.” There was, however, other news from the long weekend that may have done much more to sever Donald Trump’s decade-long dominance over the most rightward, and most conspiracy-minded, voters in the nation.

On Sunday evening, the Department of Justice released a two-page memo about its review of billionaire hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex-trafficking case, along with his subsequent death in a New York jail cell. As first reported by Axios, the memo confirmed prior findings that Epstein harmed more than 1,000 victims at his Miami mansion and private island in the Caribbean but concluded “that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.”

The FBI, the memo claimed, had reviewed physical evidence during digital searches of databases, hard drives and network drives, and had conducted physical searches of locked cabinets, desks, closets and combed through more than 300 gigabytes of data with more than 10,000 videos and images. The agency had previously boasted that FBI agents previously assigned to national security matters had been reassigned to work around the clock to review the evidence for public release of the so-called Epstein files, in response to pressure from Trump’s base.

After Sunday’s anticlimactic release, the conspiracy theorists who have suggested that Epstein’s death in custody was nefarious — and meant to cover up a wide range of crimes, presumably committed by leading Democrats and liberal celebrities — have seemingly turned on Trump and his team.

“This is the final straw,” Musk posted on X, which he owns, about the Trump administration’s promises to release the so-called Epstein list. “The Official Jeffrey Epstein Pedophile Arrest Counter,” a meme Musk posted on Sunday, is now set to “0000.” In early June, during his very public fallout with Trump, the former head of DOGE wrote in a since-deleted X post, “Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files.” He added,  “That is the real reason they have not been made public.”

Let’s review the actual facts, unsatisfying as they may be to so many. In 2019, 66-year-old disgraced financier Epstein was charged with sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls during the early 2000s. The case was brought more than a decade after a secret plea deal with federal prosecutors in Florida had disposed of nearly identical allegations. Trump’s first-term labor secretary, Alex Acosta, was one of the federal prosecutors who negotiated that original Epstein deal, and was forced to resign his Cabinet post following Epstein’s 2019 arrest.

On Aug. 10, 2019,  Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell. His death was ruled a suicide, which to most people seemed plausible enough: His reputation was ruined, his fortune gone, and he was almost certain to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Conspiracy theorists have claimed ever since that Epstein had a “list” of associates and clients he’d held onto, either for purposes of blackmail or to maintain his ongoing child-sex-trafficking operation. But according to this newly released DOJ memo, there is no “incriminating ‘client list,’” no “credible evidence … that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals” and no “evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.” The only Epstein associate who has ever faced criminal prosecution is his former partner Ghislaine Maxwell, who is now serving 20 years for child sex trafficking and other offenses.

“If there were no clients, why is Ghislaine Maxwell still in jail?” demanded MAGA mouthpiece Jack Posobiec. “We were all told more was coming. Those[sic] answers were out there and would be provided. Incredible how utterly mismanaged this Epstein mess has been. And it didn’t have to be.”

If there were no clients, why is Ghislaine Maxwell still in jail?

— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) July 7, 2025

MAGA podcaster Tim Pool similarly mocked the DOJ’s conclusions.

Based on the latest development from the DOJ, the Epstein Client list is now complete

1. Prince Andrew

That's it

— Tim Pool (@Timcast) July 7, 2025

While campaigning in 2024, Trump, who lest we forget was president when Epstein died — and for 17 months thereafter — pledged to release the “client list.” In January, unsealed court documents filed in Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre’s 2015 defamation suit against Maxwell showed dozens of high-profile names among the more than 170 people with ties to Epstein.

The next month, Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, told Fox News that she had the list. “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review,” Bondi told Fox host John Roberts. “That’s been a directive by President Trump,” she continued, adding, “The Biden administration sat on these documents, no one did anything with them. It’s a new day, it’s a new administration. Everything’s going to come put to the public, the public have a right to know, Americans have a right to know.”

MAGA media figures hyped that news extensively at the time. Donald Trump Jr. reposted a story saying Bondi had accessed Epstein’s client list, adding “LFG,” or “let’s f**king go.” In March, Trump invited MAGA influencers to the White House, promising them  a “scoop” on the documents. They walked out of the White House with white binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1.” As Salon’s Amanda Marcotte reported at the time, “The hope is that the files will finally fulfill the QAnon prophecy of Trump revealing Hillary Clinton and Tom Hanks as blood-drinking Satanists, leading to the mass arrests of Democrats, Hollywood celebrities and anyone else they don’t like.”

There were no such revelations in those binders, and since then, the DOJ has backed away from any further Epstein-related promises.

Want more sharp takes on politics? Sign up for our free newsletter, Standing Room Only by Amanda Marcotte, also a weekly show on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

“You’re looking at these documents going, ‘These aren’t all the Epstein files, there were flight logs, there were names, victims’ names, where’s the rest of the stuff?’” Bondi told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in April. “And that’s what the FBI had turned over to us.” In May, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, both MAGA media figures who had publicly questioned the Epstein investigation before joining the Trump administration, suggested that the jailhouse video of Epstein’s death in custody was “clear as day.” The agency also released footage on Sunday showing that no one entered Epstein’s housing unit from the time his cell was locked at 10:40 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2019, until around 6:30 a.m. the next day.

“Blondi lied,“ Laura Loomer, a far-right influencer and close Trump confidant, complained on X. ”She was always lying.”

Who releases a statement about the Epstein files on the Sunday night of 4th of July weekend?

Someone who doesn’t want you paying attention.

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) July 7, 2025

“Dan Bongino either lied to us on his podcast for several years or he is lying to us now,” said Alexander Sheppard, who was jailed for his role in the Jan. 6 riots and then pardoned by President Trump.

“As trusted voices like @FBIDDBongino, @FBIDirectorKash, and @AGPamBondi align with the official story, many are asking: Who’s still willing to demand real answers?” Mike Lindell’s LindellTV posted on X.

Trump took to his Truth Social platform late on Monday to show support for Patel and Bongino after Infowars host and infamous conspiracy theorist Alex Jones broke down in tears discussing the Epstein memo during his show. “I think you see them losing their souls on TV,” Jones said of the FBI’s top brass.

EXCLUSIVE: Judge Joe Brown Believes That Trump Is Using The Epstein Files To Blackmail The Deep State To Surrender pic.twitter.com/x6z9S5Glab

— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) July 7, 2025

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, responding to a direct question from Fox News’ Peter Doocy, attempted to clean up the mess by suggesting that Bondi had misspoken — apparently over a period of months — about the Epstein files.

This MAGA mess comes after several weeks of the White House and its media sycophants hyping apparent recent successes, including the surprise bombing of nuclear facilities in Iran and a Supreme Court ruling restricting lower court injunctions against administration policies. But now many Democrats appear eager to further inflame MAGA infighting.

Well… where did it go @AGPamBondi?

Are you lying now or were you lying then? https://t.co/FQUysjYwKQ

— Daniel Goldman (@danielsgoldman) July 7, 2025

“Why is Trump hiding the Epstein Files from you?” Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., asked on Monday. “Any of you clowns who went to the White House earlier this year to play a part in Trump’s circus want to wager a guess?” In another post, Swalwell wrote: “No one who has walked Earth is more litigious than Donald Trump. If Trump is NOT in the files he would have already sued @elonmusk for saying he IS in the files.”

No one who has walked Earth is more litigious than Donald Trump. If Trump is NOT in the files he would have already sued @elonmusk for saying he IS in the files.

The absence of Trump’s legal actions speaks VOLUMES. https://t.co/1scEtpgCqM

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) July 7, 2025

“The absence of Trump’s legal actions speaks VOLUMES.”

Maybe she has no desk. https://t.co/ztHZdIOzNn

— Jared Moskowitz (@JaredEMoskowitz) July 7, 2025

This is hardly the first time that Trump’s diehard fans have been left holding his bag of broken promises. But coupled with rumors that Trump plans to provide relief to farmers and factory owners by offering amnesty to undocumented laborers in certain fields, we begin to see the MAGA coalition fraying seriously. More wars, fewer deportations and no Epstein list is a far cry from the core of Trump’s America First platform. Enter Musk’s more succinct “America Party.”

Musk “probably can’t win” an election, Enten predicted on CNN. But “he could spoil it for the GOP.”