Friends like these
A new report on Donald Trump’s ‘bawdy’ birthday message to Jeffrey Epstein has capped a chaotic week of paranoia, backlash and uneasy questions from the MAGA faithful.
Considering the often chaotic approach of Donald Trump’s second administration on everything from personnel selection to immigration enforcement and trade policy, it’s maybe surprising that the biggest current threat to his presidency is a message on a birthday card.
Today, the Wall Street Journal reported on a “bawdy” message allegedly written by Trump back in 2003 for the 50th birthday of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who died by suicide in prison in 2019 while facing federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors.
The story, which made waves in US media circles ahead of its publication, landed amid growing disquiet from even the most passionate Trump diehards on the issue of his relationship to Epstein. It was followed by an explosion of anger from Trumpworld, including a threat by the president to sue Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp owns the Journal.
This mess probably could have been anticipated. For years, the Trump camp has played chicken with a passionately paranoid segment of the MAGA base, who believe in a vast parapolitical conspiracy — orchestrated by Democrats and their elite allies, naturally — to cover up the truth of Epstein’s crimes, his co-conspirators and his death.
