Subject: Dam!
Now, no remotely savvy person can be surprised by this White House’s epic graft. When Trump was riding high, his acolytes appeared to enjoy watching his vulgar profiteering trigger Democrats. But as Trump burns up political capital on personal enrichment, some on the right might be starting to suspect that it’s not just the libs being owned.

It was against this backdrop of conservative disaffection that Trump rebuked Greene and Massie. Many right-wing influencers reacted with unusual fury, some posting images of burning MAGA hats. Trisha Hope, a Texas Republican who was at Trump’s rally on Jan. 6, wrote that she was no longer entertained by Trump, and was “beginning to find him repulsive.” Scott Morefield, a columnist for the right-wing site Townhall, called Trump’s posts “cruel in a way that should make any human with basic empathy question what kind of human he is.”

It would be easy here to make a crack about leopards eating faces. But in the past, when Trump has turned on Republicans, his base has tended to follow. Trump ended the political careers of Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, once a darling of the Tea Party; Bob Good, former chair of the right-wing House Freedom caucus; and his own first vice president, Mike Pence. His inability to stand up to Greene and Massie suggests that something has changed.

Trump’s grudging endorsement of the Epstein Files Transparency Act is kind of absurd, since he could, if he wanted, simply instruct the Justice Department to release the files. Even if Khanna’s bill passes the House, Trump will have levers to thwart the files’ disclosure. Republicans might kill the measure in the Senate, where it needs 60 votes. Last week, under pressure from Trump, the Justice Department announced an investigation into prominent Democrats who’ve been associated with Epstein, and the administration may say it needs to keep the files under wraps while that inquiry is open.

But even if the files never come out, it’s increasingly clear that the MAGA coalition is fragmenting. On Monday, I asked Morefield how significant he thought the fissures in the movement were. “I think it’s pretty serious,” he said. “Epstein really started it. It was like the crack in the dam, I think.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/1...