Trump and team deserve trust amid Epstein controversy despite mistakes

Editor’s note: The following essay first appeared on the author’s X account. 

Many Americans think President Donald Trump is being dismissive of the Jeffrey Epstein controversy. That he’s simply being cavalier. I don’t read it that way. I think he’s pissed. He has racked up amazing, unprecedented policy accomplishments and Epstein is taking all the wind out of it — not to just to his detriment, but ultimately to ours. 

I think we’re being presented with a false choice: you either favor full disclosure, no matter the law and consequences about which we have no knowledge, or you’re a pedo-protector. 

Do you all really believe FBI Director Kash Patel and Secret Service chief Dan Bongino, let alone Attorney General Pam Bondi despite her PR missteps, have something to hide here? Is it conceivable that Patel and Bongino have railed about this issue for some time and now have some nefarious motive in changing their position? Did they find out — unbeknownst to themselves — that they are on the list? 

REPUBLICANS FIXATED ON EPSTEIN ARE GETTING ‘DUPED’ BY DEMOCRATS, TRUMP INSISTS

Could there be some plausible explanation as to why they are playing their cards close to the vest for the time being, or is the fact that they’re doing so proof that they are suddenly embroiled in corruption? 

That is not plausible to me. I don’t think these people changed their stripes that quickly. And I don’t think my willingness to trust them — makes me an enabler of corruption or perversion. 

Back to Trump. If he were implicated the Dems would have crucified him when they had sole possession of the materials — files, list or no list. You know it. I know it. 

But now people who have doggedly supported him even through tougher times are turning on him and piling on with the opportunistic Democrats who heretofore haven’t given two shakes about any of this. 

MAGA WORLD ERUPTS OVER TRUMP’S DEFENSE OF BONDI AMID EPSTEIN FILES FALLOUT

None of us knows the full story yet. None of us knows yet why the administration hasn’t done a better job explaining or at least that they’ll be able to tell us more later. 

But it seems many have so much invested in believing the worst about this — that Epstein was the leader or at the center of a Robert Ludlum-level international conspiracy — that they can’t let it go. It’s as if their worldview will crumble if their worst suspicions aren’t vindicated. And if Trump and his administration happen to be in office when this whole thing fizzles, then they too must have been mysteriously drawn into this conspiracy that is too powerful even for the fiercest of otherwise moral mortals. 

The idea that previously non-corrupt people have immediately become corrupt just doesn’t pass the smell test for me and it surprises me that many supporters have been so quick to jump ship. 

In the meantime, Trump’s heyday is being rained on and he feels betrayed by a bunch of supporters who in turn feel that he’s betrayed them.

Well, I’m just asking for a little grace on both sides, especially the supporters who should at least give Trump, Bongino, Patel, and even Bondi some trust here before throwing them to the dogs. There has to be more to the story — or possibly way less to the story. 

BONDI SHOULD RELEASE ‘CREDIBLE’ EPSTEIN FILES, TRUMP SAYS

But 

And I repeat — no way in hell am I defending the protection or insulation of pedophiles or corruption. Trump’s policies on the border alone have burnished his credentials as an enemy of trafficking and pedophilia. (I’m not intending to conflate the different issues, but he deserves major credit for that). 

And as dramatic and juicy as it sounds, I do not believe Occam’s razor leads to the conclusion that the administration is concealing these “files” or lists because to disclose them would implicate all kinds of world leaders and lead to the downfall of civilization. Sorry folks. Just not buying it. 

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I could very well be wrong about all of this, which goes without saying. But can some of Trump’s latter-day critics make the same disclaimer? Will they? Or are they sure they know this is the worst thing that’s ever happened and they now know that the deep state is so deep that it drills all the way down to China and encompasses Trump and his administration? 

I’m not being sarcastic and I’ll allow as how the administration hasn’t handled this adroitly. But I seriously doubt that if they are concealing anything it is because they are in any way involved in corruption. If they are holding back serious information, I have to assume they have a darned good reason for doing so, even if in the end, they are wrong. I also suspect we’ll learn more sooner rather than later (I hate that Clinton-born phrase). 

We have a country to save and we need to remember that — which, again, is not to say, “Let’s close our eyes to massive corruption because the end justifies the means.” Rather, it is to say, we have a country to save and the government officials we’re entrusting to do that as our representatives are probably not doing anything wrong here — and you should strongly consider that. 

So many people I respect, I’m sure radically disagree with me here, but that doesn’t make me disrespect them or judge them — as I suspect many of them might judge me for my stance here. But I can live with that, and in good conscience. And at least, in humility, I will say I don’t know and can’t yet know all that’s involved and until I have more information in the fullness of time I’m going to trust the people I trust — and they’ve repeatedly earned that trust — beyond my wildest expectations in fact. 

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They’ve accomplished things I would never have thought possible, much less in such a short period of time, from the dismantling of the administrative state and the Department of Education, to the emasculation of Iran’s nukes in a courageous, bold, and spectacular military operation, to the sealing of a seemingly irreversibly porous border, to the unleashing of our deliberately suppressed energy sector, to the taming of inflation while growing the economy again, to the resurrection of the military with explosive recruitment numbers, to launching ambitious but achievable defense systems to protect our homeland, to the DOGE focus on waste, fraud and corruption, to the defunding of Ivy League institutions, to the successful championing of women in women’s sports, to tariff revenues, to earning once again the respect of foreign leaders and persuading NATO to contribute their fair share, to major steps toward peace around the world, to restoring respect for America as once again the true leader of the free world. And so much more. 

God bless you all. We presumably want the same things — except those who would exploit this issue, or any others for their self-aggrandizement.