Finally, a conspiracy theory Donald Trump doesn’t like
Donald Trump thrives on conspiracy theories. It’s how he built his political brand.
From the racist birther lie about Barack Obama to the baseless claims of a stolen election, Trump’s built his base by encouraging people to reject facts, embracing whatever fiction suits his purposes.
Now, suddenly, there is a conspiracy theory that Donald Trump doesn’t like.
We don’t know what’s in the Epstein Files, or if there is a “client list.” But whatever the truth, it’s become a huge headache for Trump.
The man who conditioned his supporters to distrust official narratives, to believe the wildest, evidence-free claims, and to blame everything on the “deep state”, now tells his MAGA faithful there’s nothing to see here, except a plot by Democrats.
For some of his fiercest fans, it’s proof Trump is part of the deep state he trained them to hate. Hence the red caps doused in petrol and set alight.
This is a trap Trump set for himself. For more than a decade, he has told his supporters that truth is optional, what matters is what “feels real.”
If you spend years eroding trust in facts and institutions, at some stage you’ll end up trapped in the chaos you created.
As Barack Obama wearily published his birth certificate in 2011, he warned the US could not solve its many problems “if we just make stuff up and pretend that facts are not facts… if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers.”
Fourteen years on, the carnival barker is the ringmaster, but he seems to be losing control of the crowd.
