White House officials are worried about losing support from Trump’s MAGA base outraged about his handling of Jeffrey Epstein’s case—with an insider saying that the president’s all-important crowd sizes could be affected.
Americans give President Donald Trump low marks on his handling of the controversy, which has dominated headlines for weeks after the Department of Justice and FBI announced earlier this month that the evidence showed conclusively that the disgraced financier died by suicide and did not keep a “client list.”
The administration’s failure to produce new revelations in the case has infuriated many of the MAGA faithful, who have long believed Epstein was murdered in his cell while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking to protect his powerful associates.
A poll released this week by The Washington Post found just 43 percent of MAGA Republicans approved of how the administration has handled the issue, compared to 17 percent who disapproved and 39 percent who hadn’t formed an opinion.
White House officials are now worried that even a relatively smaller number of defectors could hurt Trump’s efforts to sell his equally unpopular budget bill to the public, The Washington Post reported. The president could begin holding rallies as soon as next month to tout the legislation, the newspaper reported.
“It’s not going to be some huge revolt, but you’re going to see less lines at the rallies,” a source close to the White House told the Post, saying officials are also concerned about a lack of action over the Obama investigations Trump has demanded. “All you need is 5 percent of these people to just get cynical, apathetic, lethargic, and we’re done.”
The president is obsessed with the size of his crowds—and with those of his political opponents—and has repeatedly exaggerated the number of people who attended his first inauguration.
At the same time, he has lashed out at his own base for their continuing interest in the Epstein case, calling them “weak” and saying he doesn’t care if they stop supporting him.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
The administration has attempted to deflect from the Epstein saga by offering up half-baked claims that former President Barack Obama masterminded a treasonous conspiracy against Trump back in 2016, but even that could backfire with MAGA if officials over-promise and under-deliver.
A senior White House official admitted to the Post that with a certain “very small segment” of Trump’s base, the Epstein issue “will never die down, no matter what.”
“We’re not just sitting on our hands,” the official said. “There are things happening that are not public. Just because they’re not public doesn’t mean things aren’t happening.”
The president has been dogged by questions about his 15-year friendship with Epstein, offering contradictory accounts of why they ultimately parted ways in the early 2000s.
