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Rethinking Trump 2024 As An Epstein Coverup Campaign

They knew they were in there. It wasn't projection. It was misdirection.

Brian Beutler's avatar
Brian Beutler
Feb 04, 2026
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(Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Knowing what we know now, it’s interesting to go back and listen to what Donald Trump loyalists (though not Donald Trump himself!) were saying about the Epstein files before the election.

Here’s Elon Musk, who would go on to serve for several weeks as Trump’s informal co-president and wrecker, telling Tucker Carlson, “I think part of why Kamala is getting so much support is that if Trump wins, that Epstein client list is going to become public.”

Tensions between Musk and his rivals in the administration became so untenable that Musk ultimately left the Trump White House in a huff, announcing that Trump’s name is all over the Epstein files—before quickly tucking tail and making amends and “mysteriously” losing interest in Epstein files disclosure.

And of course, Trump’s on-again/off-again consigliere Steve Bannon fanned right-wing, QAnon-style lies about pedophilia rings linked to the Democratic Party.

If you knew nothing else about the Epstein scandal, and were told this story chronologically—at least as it stood at this time last week—you might mistake these assertions for righteous crusading: Epstein dies mysteriously in jail late in Trump’s first term, then Joe Biden takes over and the story goes dark? Why won’t Biden release the files? We need to get Donald Trump in there so that someone less compromised will make everything public.

In the idiom of reflexive Republican partisanship, this became an accusation almost as soon as Trump’s second presidency began, and people began asking him to keep his promises: Whatabout Democrats? They had four years to release the Epstein files and they covered it up!

But now we know this wasn’t just lazy partisanship. Some of the people who led the charge for Epstein transparency knew they were inculpated in the Epstein files. Musk was desperate to party with Epstein. Bannon was Epstein’s public relations guy!

What could explain this? Projection, perhaps. But it’s apparently more knowing and villainous than that. Their behavior—support Trump on an Epstein Files transparency pledge, then stand pat as Trump attempts a brazen Epstein coverup—makes most sense if they wanted Trump to win because they thought he’d be able to keep the truth about them buried forever.

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THE SUMMERS OF ALL FEARS

Here’s more Occam’s razor for you.

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