MAGA’s Pedestal Was Built on Epstein. Now It’s Crumbling.

July 16, 2025

By Brian Hews

We’re watching a slow-motion political disaster unfold, and the GOP seems content to let it happen. Donald Trump’s refusal to release the Epstein files—a trove of documents long rumored to contain the names of powerful Democrats involved with Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation—is quickly becoming a flashpoint that could fracture the Republican base and flip control of the House of Representatives in 2026.

For years, Trump and his MAGA loyalists promised the truth would come out. The Epstein client list was held up as proof of deep Democratic corruption. But now that Trump is back in power, he’s stonewalling. The Department of Justice and FBI both claim the files don’t exist. Trump calls the whole thing “boring” and says only “bad people” care about it. That hasn’t gone over well with the base.

Hard-right influencers, who once cheered Trump as a crusader against elite pedophiles, are now openly calling him out.

Mike Flynn Jr., Congressman Thomas Massie, and conservative commentator Dan Bongino have all criticized Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi for refusing to release the files. Bongino even threatened to resign his media post over the issue. This isn’t just internal friction—it’s a fracture.

Speaker Mike Johnson broke with Trump and supported Democrats’ efforts to declassify the Epstein files. Other Republicans, like Representative Ralph Norman, crossed the aisle and voted for disclosure. Meanwhile, the House Majority PAC has launched a campaign targeting GOP members who voted against transparency, branding them as Epstein sympathizers.

The political cost is already mounting. According to polling memos leaked to national outlets, the issue is resonating far beyond QAnon circles. Disillusioned voters are abandoning the GOP not because they believe the conspiracy, but because they see blatant hypocrisy.

The party that promised to “drain the swamp” is now protecting it.

Even Steve Bannon, Trump’s former right-hand man, is sounding the alarm. He warned that the GOP could lose up to 40 House seats if they don’t get ahead of the issue. And if Elon Musk’s rumored America Party gains traction, it could split the right-wing vote just enough to hand Democrats control.

Trump promised transparency. He built a movement on the idea that elites would be exposed. Now, he’s the one keeping the files sealed. The optics are devastating: when it comes to holding the powerful accountable, Trump blinked, TACO.

Voters notice. They remember. And in 2026, they may decide the only way to get answers is to flip the House.

Because if Trump won’t release the files, the American people just might release the GOP.