Supporters of President Donald Trump are turning on him after he ordered MAGA to move on from the controversy surrounding the Epstein files, in a post on Truth Social.
Several prominent Trump supporters have hit back in response to Trump’s Saturday Truth Social post, in which he pleaded for his allies to stop attacking Attorney General Pam Bondi for failing to release the much-anticipated Epstein files. Now, some of his supporters are aiming their attacks not just at Bondi, but at the president, too.
“This is how things go from bad to worse,” right-wing conservative commentator Benny Johnson said in a Saturday podcast launched after Trump’s post. “It just went thermonuclear with President Trump taking a side in the epic battle royale between Dan Bongino and Pam Bondi.”
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Former DOGE adviser Elon Musk joined in, tweeting that Trump should “just release the files as promised,” adding the Epstein saga “is a very big deal.”
Fractures have been appearing all over the MAGA sphere this week in the wake of the joint announcement from the Department of Justice and the FBI that Epstein’s infamous client list did not exist, and that Epstein did indeed die by suicide and was not murdered as part of an elaborate cover-up.
At the heart of the civil war: Attorney General Bondi, Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, and FBI Director Kash Patel. Bongino is said to be pondering resignation over Bondi’s handling of the case. Trump mentioned Bondi and Patel in his Truth Social post, but Bongino was noticeably absent.
“I’m sure it’s a relief for Pam Bondi to hear the president is still in her corner,” Megyn Kelly tweeted. “Unfortunately, huge swaths of the party are not. She repeatedly misled on Epstein. Then didn’t have the courage to explain herself. Suddenly, she’s camera shy & no Qs allowed. Good luck!”
Even Fox News wasn’t convinced by Trump’s latest tirade, posting a stream of reactions from young conservatives at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit who claim it is “not a good look for the president at all.”
“I do not agree with the president,” a number of those interviewed said.
“I think there’s a lot of instances where the president should keep his mouth closed,” said another.
Nick Fuentes, a prominent white supremacist influencer and known supporter of the president, tweeted, “So now Trump is claiming the Epstein files are a Democrat hoax? Lol. MAGA is dead. Good riddance.” Another MAGA influencer, Evan Kilgore, posted his own lament, writing, ”I feel totally betrayed. Who else?” and ”RIP to Donald Trump’s legacy.”
The president’s own post came in for harsh criticism from supporters on Truth Social, demanding accountability and warning Trump he was losing his MAGA base.
Some MAGA supporters are also reportedly burning their MAGA hats in response.
The president has been facing increasing pressure from his base to change course on his administration’s handling of the investigation into the disgraced financier’s death since the memo was released.
Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon demanded Wednesday that Trump hire a special prosecutor to initiate a probe into the files, while Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said that the DOJ and FBI both had “more explaining to do.”
Celebrity Trump supporters also chimed in, with podcaster Andrew Schulz condemning the Trump administration and actor Roseanne Barr imploring Trump to “read the damn room.”
Trump’s former director of communications told CNN Saturday that she had been watching in astonishment as Trump ignored his base this week.
“This is the first time I can really remember that Trump is sidestepping his base and not doing what they’re very vocally asking him to do,” Alyssa Farah Griffin said.
“If Donald Trump wants all of the information the government has on Jeffrey Epstein to be released, he can make that available—he can direct the attorney general to release it,” she explained. ”So the fact he’s not, I think, raises a lot of questions. And this is an issue this White House is not going to be able to make go away overnight.”
