MAGA's Reaction to the Epstein Files Reveals Total Moral Collapse

[Nevilledog]

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/epstein-maga-trump-morals/

No paywall link
https://archive.ph/boBCI

I’m not sure we’re terrified enough about the American right’s scrapping even its own scant moral boundaries.

Every segment of the Trump-backing right wing—America First nationalists, Trump loyalists and rank-and-file MAGA activists—has unsubscribed from the idea that there is any such thing as right and wrong, much less that wrongdoing should result in consequences. In effect, there is no behavior Trump’s GOP sees as too wrong to vote for. In late July 2025, almost half of Republicans said they would keep voting for Trump even if he were “officially implicated in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking activities.” Crime is legal, where right-wingers are concerned, however heinous the crime is.

At least, for themselves. The right still has morals for days when it comes to Black folks, immigrants and trans people. Its moral code has always been selective and conditional; rigorously enforced and mercilessly punitive toward “outsiders” and “others,” but generally indifferent to even the worst acts by those on the right side of whiteness and power. Wilhoit’s Law—coined by music composer Frank Wilhoit in a now-famous 2018 comment on a political science blog—neatly captures this truth. “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition—there must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” Now it’s ditching even its in-group protections.

The right’s reaction to the Epstein files disclosures is the clearest evidence of this. For the better part of a decade, conservatives lurched from one pedophile-focused moral panic to the next, proclaiming themselves the true saviors of children. They didn’t mean all children, of course; these are the same people who gifted a white woman with $750,000 just for calling a 5-year-old autistic Black boy the N-word. Their concern was always reserved for the white children they saw as fully human. They insisted pedophiles were hiding in pizza parlor basements; obsessed over Q drops and waved signs calling us to “#SavetheChildren” and “Stop Child Trafficking”; and pushed anti-LGBT “groomer” hysteria alongside anti-drag bills. Roughly half of Trump voters said they believed elected Democrats were running child sex rings in surveys from 2020 and 2022; a majority of 2020 Trump voters told pollsters that Trump was actively working to take down “an elite child sex trafficking ring involving top Democrats.” White lives mattered to conservatives, especially the youngest white lives. At least in theory.

And at least as long as they thought their political opponents were responsible. But the more we know about Epstein, the less they care. The nearly half of Republicans who said the Epstein files mattered at least “a little” to how they assess Trump’s presidency in July 2025 dropped to just 36 percent by November. (That figure is 64 percent for Democrats.) Faced with at least one allegation in the files that Trump sexually assaulted an underage girl and well-documented associations between their leader and Epstein—as well as other alleged sexual predators—the right isn’t just overlooking the implications; they’re abandoning the principles. The right has “gradually de-emphasized” the Epstein issue, CNN writes, choosing to “largely move on.” It was all political calculation.

*snip*

[underpants]

1. Fox barely covers it. They should 5 minutes of Pamela Jo's "Mean Girls" bit

The only thing they really hear about it is 3rd string Watters saying Epstein wasn’t really that bad AND Trump saying he was totally exonerated.

[B.See]

2. Their "morality" was ALWAYS a fallacy.

Judgment reserved for US, not them.

They were ALWAYS capable of ANYTHING.

Nice to know the world is finally waking up to that fact.

[msongs]

3. their new messiah is a se worker loving serial adulterer. MAGAns have no morals nt

[SWBTATTReg]

4. A disgusting cult, that's all this is. Thank God it's a minority, although this minority yells and screams like a bunch

of spoiled brats when they don't get their way. Just like tRUMP. These people need to be aware that one day, all of this will be gone and then we'll be there instead.

And this time, whoever is representing the democratic leadership in the WH and Congress, the Senate, had better not nominate someone like Garland. He was so worried about doing governance the correct way, but I hope that he's looking at all of the illegal ways tRUMP is putting governance in play illegally now. Garland is now forever on my list of worthless doers, never to appear on any of my fave democratic leaders.

[PatSeg]

8. And those "spoiled brats" are often heavily armed

and extremely violent. They're looking for a fight and any fight will do. What's the point of all those guns if you're not going to use them?

[popsdenver]

12. LOL

I would love to see all these armed assholes, dropped into a war zone, and see how they handle opposition that shoots back, instead of picking on kids and women all the time.........and only then when they have a 10-20 to 1 advantage......

[PatSeg]

22. Oh absolutely

They certainly don't want to fight anyone equal or superior to them.

[popsdenver]

30. Plus, the added advantage

of the rule of law, constantly being on only THEIR side......

It is like an athletic game, played with refs that call EVERYTHING on one team, and NOTHING on the other team......

(Which is interestingly, happening a lot more these days...not only at the Professional Sports Team Level, but the College Level and even High School Level......it is really appalling..........)

When we were younger, we ALL knew that Prize Fighting was rigged..........With the On-Line sports betting, we have now opened the rigging of all levels of sports to players and refs being paid covertly to either "shave" points or "throw" entire games.

Truly, no different than the Mass of Republican Politicians, getting un-limited Massive Campaign Donations from Corporations due to their 2010 "Citizens United" decision......with the "paid" off Republican Supreme Court justices who are basically the "referees" throwing games.......

The United States of America should be renamed: The Corporate States of America....or The Fascist Corporate States of America

WASF

[PatSeg]

32. Now it appears everything is rigged

Integrity and principle are becoming extinct.

[Efilroft Sul]

18. Most any one of these John Rambos can do is shoot two handguns at once, and probably not even well.

Their fantasy extermination scenarios don't factor in when they have to step out of the house to drive the kids to school, shop for groceries, mail letters, get gas, mow the lawn, etc. But if they want to live in that kind of world, the same people on their extinction agenda can also reach out and touch them and their families, too, at any old time. And then take their arsenals.

Be careful of what you want, MAGA. Nemesis smiles upon you all.

[PatSeg]

23. They are rather delusional

often living as if they are in an action movie or a video game. Reality doesn't quite fit into their fantasy world.

[Efilroft Sul]

24. I hated writing that previous post, too. But their simpleminded vindictiveness will destroy them.

Along with a little visit from everybody sick of their shit.

[durablend]

31. THIS.

Seems to be a lot of facets of life nowadays where people treat everything like a video game. You just push "reset" and 'poof' starts off, no consequences.

[PatSeg]

33. A whole lot of instant gratification

with no real life consequences, at least for the perpetrators.

[DSandra]

10. They have outsized influence though because of the electoral college and because a sizeable amount of people don't vote

A handful of states have the deciding factor in a presidential election and gerrymandering gives them outsized influence in those states in the house. They naturally had an advantage in the senate as well. They get the power because our federal government gives them it.

Voter turnout is lower overall because many people know that their state won’t have a say in determining the election (although it has a say in whether the president gets a mandate for their agenda), but the ones that sit out in battleground states are super guilty in essence because silence = a vote for the opposition party.

[popsdenver]

13. agreed

and esp true in the U.S. Senate where many a piss ant state with 500K has the same two Senators, as a state with 40+Million.....

[Hieronymus Phact]

21. I hate when people complain about this

If "piss ant" Rhode Island wasn't equal in the senate to i guess "not piss ant" California, than it's no different than the House is it?
Why would we need another house of representatives? The senate gives voice to the minority and insulates from the heat of the moment, explicitly the opposite of the House.
Its a checks and balances thing.Don't like it, the answer is to win elections.

[popsdenver]

27. Since the Senate is where

the "Rubber Truly Meets The Road"............I don't think that ONE person's vote in Wyoming, should equal a Thousand peoples votes in say California.............one person/one vote is not the case in the Senate.......

MOST dramatic in the case of Trump's Impeachment Vote.........

[Hieronymus Phact]

28. It's not one persons vote

It's one States vote, every State is treated equally. It's not complicated.
Want more votes? win more elections.

[popsdenver]

29. Exactly

My point is, that it takes 19.75 MILLION VOTERS IN CALIFORNIA TO GET ONE VOTE IN SENATE, WHEREAS IT ONLY TAKES 294,000 VOTERS IN WYOMING TO GET ONE VOTE IN THE SENATE.........

I Understand how that was, originally a good idea 200 years ago, and with the electoral college, why the Republicans want it to stay that way........

[Hieronymus Phact]

34. your point is pointless

Its still a good idea. Minority representation in a Democratic system is a requirement.

Capitalizing it isn't making you less redundant. but let me try:
ITS SUPPOSED TO BE THAT WAY!
TO MAKE IT HARDER FOR POPULOUS STATES TO IGNORE LESS POPULOUS STATES INTERESTS.
LIKE THEY DO IN THE HOUSE.

Get over it and focus on winning elections or adding more liberal senators by giving statehood to DC.

DON'T THROW SMALL STATES UNDER THE BUS JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN'T WIN ELECTIONS!

[IronLionZion]

5. MAGA loves Q-anon conspiracies but ignores real evidence and witnesses

[creon]

6. Accusation equals confession.

When the RW accuses Liberals of something, the RW is admiiting to it.

[CanonRay]

7. They still have a sense of right and wrong.

If they do it, it's right. if we do it, it's wrong.

[angrychair]

9. Is not "MAGA"

It's Republicans. All Republicans. Every. Single. Republican.

That is why I continue to beg our party to stop drifting to the right. Stop trying to bring these disgusting people into our tent.

I don't want Liz Cheney at the Democratic National Convention.

I didn't want Adam Kinzinger on the Democratic campaign trial.

I don't want to hang out with Thomas Massie.

They are the absolute worst version of humanity. The most vile, ignorant, cruel and disgusting people on Earth.

Republicans are beyond redemption. Beyond pity. Beyond hope.

[popsdenver]

16. That was the reason

Mueller held back.......He knew if he released everything, it would have been the end of his beloved Republican Party.......

[IronLionZion]

11. MAGA doesn't believe real victims

but they believe there are child victims hidden in a basement of a pizza shop that has no basement.

[jmowreader]

14. There's a phrase we use that applies here...

IOKIYAR. It means "it's OK if you're a Republican."

What we're not really considering here is the absoluteness of that phrase: remember, Mr. Trump famously said he could kill someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and still draw votes. Name the crime and Republicans either have done it themselves or have paid other people to, and they still get elected. It makes no sense to me but I'm not of the mindset that a good leader is one that hurts as many people as possible.

[markodochartaigh]

17. "...he could kill someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue ..."

In fact he did the presidential equivalent of shooting someone on 5th Avenue. He ramped up federal executions in the last months of his first term in order to gin up support among his base.

[ChicagoTeamster]

15. They only cared about smearing people they didn't like with the social media insinuation that they were in the files

Now that they know it’s Trump and many of his associates along with other rich people who he probably already extorted money from, they don’t care. The young girls never mattered.

Trump doesn’t want people to say he blackmailed them and they already paid when they get charged so he was protecting his kompromat.

[Joinfortmill]

20. It was all a projection. And, most of them bought it

[markodochartaigh]

19. For authoritarians

it is less about the crime committed and more about who committed the crime. Wealthy White teenager gets drunk, takes his parents' vehicle and gets into a wreck killing several people? Affluenza. Poor Black teenager steals a sandwich from a convenience store? Maximum penalty.
Convicted Republican felon tears down the East Wing? Crickets. Black Democratic president wears a brown suit? Disgusting.

[Javaman]

25. Gotta have morals first in order for them to collapse nt

[Johonny]

26. Yup, never met one with morals