Epstein scandal primed to slide freely down unctuous Trumpian armor of deception

A survey of recent national headlines makes it easy to believe the country is hurtling towards a revolt against Donald Trump, fueled by the president’s handling of information related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “Epstein Returns at the Worst Time for Trump,” The Atlantic reported in November; “Latest Epstein Files Knock White House on Its Heels,” Politico wrote. Even a more academic observation from the Washington Post seemed ominous for the Republican Party: “Epstein is the one issue that persistently splits Trump from his base.” However, though the Epstein scandal may be grabbing national headlines, it poses little threat to the president’s legitimacy with supporters.

The most recent deluge of analysis and commentary about the Epstein case was sparked on November 12 by the House Oversight Committee’s release of some 23,000 pages of documents, documents which included comments by Epstein that Trump “knew about the girls” and spent several hours with one victim in the sex offender’s home. This release coincided with the advancement of a discharge petition from the Department of Justice forcing the House to vote on the release of all documents in the case. It is far from certain whether Trump will appear in any more incriminating documents declassified in the future, but, even if he does, he and his allies have already been maneuvering to control the scandal. 

Since February, when Attorney General Pam Bondi failed to produce for the president’s supporters a long-awaited client list, Trump has worked to divert attention from the case, which he called “boring.” Days after the release of these documents, as the files remained persistently in the news, Trump ordered the Justice Department to investigate ties between Epstein and Democrats, reframing the scandal to focus on political opponents. In a shocking reversal, he then announced on Truth Social, “I DON’T CARE!” in regard to the case and pushed for a quick vote for the release of information so the country would “move on from this Democratic Hoax.” On November 13, conservative media personality Megyn Kelly questioned whether Epstein was, in fact, a pedophile, pointing out on The Megyn Kelly Show, “he wasn’t into, like, 8-year-olds.” 

Kelly’s open doubt of the severity of Epstein’s crimes reveals a weakness of American culture, which tends to shame the victims of sexual harassment or assault and dismisses trauma of various forms. In 2017, the international #MeToo Movement revealed the widespread experience of sexual misconduct, especially in the power-dynamic-ruled workplace, and indicated the intense fear many victims have in deciding whether to come forward. Though the movement resulted in hundreds of firings in prominent positions and has created a greater culture of victim openness, Pew Research found in 2022 that 46 percent of Americans still say it is extremely or not very common for sexual harassment or assault at work to be reported. From Kevin Spacey to Bill Clinton to Elon Musk, powerful men have a tendency to recover from sex scandals as the public’s attention shifts and people forget their heroes’ disgrace.

Trump is no stranger to such controversies. Adult film star Stormy Daniels has alleged that she had sex with Trump in 2006 and was paid $130,000 for her silence about the episode ahead of the 2016 presidential election. In 2023, a jury found Trump guilty of sexually abusing and defaming journalist E. Jean Carroll, whom he had called a “liar” and “nut job” after she came out with the allegations. Instead of sinking his political career, these cases have been swatted away by the president through his unapologetic responses and the broader context of an American culture prone to forgiving the rich and famous. Any doubts of Trump’s ‘righteousness,’ whether from the president’s conservative Christian base or the wider public, have been quelled, with shocking ease, by the reminder that, as evangelist Reverend Franklin Graham put it, “All of us have sinned.”

It should be without debate that complacency in the sex trafficking of minors is morally reprehensible. It should also be without debate that the forced separation of children from their families, the encouragement of an attempted insurrection, the leverage of deportations to coerce institutions into self-censorship, the content of the 2015 Access Hollywood tapes, and various other actions by the president, are an affront on ethical norms. Yet, Trump has twice been elected president of the United States, and his leadership of the country and the Republican Party remains firm. The release of documents implicating Trump’s awareness of, or even participation in, Epstein’s crimes will not change this. This is not because Americans do not care about the moral character of their leaders; rather, it is because of natural myopia to the struggles of others and the seemingly unquestionable good of a rare leader who appears to understand one’s own victimization.

Trump emerged in the political scene as the manifestation of American aspirations: he was wealthy, he was confident, he was a Hollywood star. At the same time, he spoke in the language of the working class, correcting the injustice of decades of having been forgotten by Washington. In 2016, he rode to victory on the momentum begun with the Tea Party Movement; in 2024, he was carried by discontent with the economy and the suppression of extreme, right-wing views. The Epstein case, popularized in 2019 by the president himself, was always one thread of a greater narrative Trump created to show his resistance to the elite, but the president’s role as a champion against the Deep State never relied on his promises to release the files. This appearance as a warrior of the people is the ultimate source of the president’s legitimacy and his own sort of platform of moral higher ground. Just as many Americans have overlooked the gross abuse of due process in ICE raids, the murder of Venezuelan and Colombian citizens in boat bombings, and the dehumanization of political opponents, they can overlook a sex trafficking scandal with no direct bearing on their lives. Without a compelling populist alternative, Americans will continue to hold faith in the fraudulent Trump. 

Trump is instinctively aware that, as suggested by Toni Morrison, “Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined,” and he has weathered repeated scandals by maintaining control over definitions of himself. This is particularly easy to accomplish now. In an age of individualized social media feeds, polarizing rhetoric from political leaders, and deepfake images and videos, there is no consensus on truth. In October, Gallup released a poll finding that only 28% of Americans have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in newspapers, television, and radio. Compounding this issue for the president’s critics is that, to whatever extent he appears in the files, he is unlikely to be there alone, at least in the tellings of fringe outlets—days after the release of documents from the House Oversight Committee, sources including Newsweek and Yahoo News reported on comments by Epstein that could be taken as reference to oral sex between Trump and former president Bill Clinton. What Democrats take as clear evidence of Trump’s nefarious dealings with a sex offender is likely to be interpreted by the president’s supporters as the artifacts of a witch hunt, and moderates or those already alienated from the political sphere may tune out the political storm the release of documents creates rather than get pulled into the riptide. Some Trump supporters may leave his base as he fails to pursue justice in the Epstein case as he had promised, but cognitive dissonance will leave most unmoved. Meanwhile, Democrats are barely disguising their new interest in the Epstein case as a push for justice for its victims, in reality leveraging it to try to bring down an administration defying the law and its spirit, which is unlikely to gain them supporters.

Trump is not immune to political downturn. The effects of tariff-induced inflation, social spending cuts, or job loss related to factors beyond the president’s control, such as AI, have the potential to wreck the image of Trump as a populist hero and financial genius. The compounding cases of the president’s disregard for the rule of law and the symbols of American pride—whether seen in the bombing of boats in the Caribbean, the destruction of the White House’s East Wing, or the weaponization of the Department of Justice, in which an Epstein cover-up could indeed play some role—could similarly alienate the president from voters. However, with the extent of Trump’s appearance in the Epstein documents unknown and American culture primed to forgive his involvement, the notion that the case will bring down the president is nearly as conspiratorial as the scandal itself.

by Aria Boehler

Published December 1, 2025

Oshkosh West Index Volume 122 Issue III