Trump’s Distraction Methods Fall Flat Against Epstein Uproar

Trump has scolded reporters, claimed ignorance and offered distractions in an effort to quash questions about Epstein and the suspicions still swirling around the disgraced financier’s case years after his 2019 death in prison. The demand for answers has only grown.

“For a president and an administration that’s very good at controlling a narrative, this is one that’s been harder,” said Republican strategist Erin Maguire, a former Trump campaign spokeswoman.

Unlike political crises that dogged Trump’s first term, including two impeachments and a probe into alleged campaign collusion with Russia, the people propelling the push for more transparency on Epstein have largely been his supporters, not his political foes.

“Donald Trump’s been running a Ponzi scheme based on propaganda for the better part of a decade and it’s finally catching up to him,” said Geoff Duncan, a Republican former lieutenant governor of Georgia and Trump critic. “The far right element is just dug in. They’re hell bent on getting this information out.”

The White House has dismissed reporting about Trump’s ties to Epstein as “fake news,” though it has acknowledged his name appears in documents related to the Epstein case. Trump and Epstein were friends for years before falling out.

“The only people who can’t seem to shake this story from their one-track minds are the media and Democrats,” said White House spokesman Harrison Fields.

Before leaving for a trip to Scotland on Friday, the president again urged people to turn their attention elsewhere.

“People should really focus on how well the country is doing,” Trump told reporters, lamenting that scrutiny was not being given to others in Epstein’s orbit. “They don’t talk about them, they talk about me. I have nothing to do with the guy.”

THE ART OF DISTRACTION

Trump in recent weeks has employed a typical diversion playbook.

That, said Republican strategist Brad Todd, was more effective than focusing on Obama in 2016, which voters had already litigated by putting Trump back in office.

“The Tulsi Gabbard look backward, I think, is not the way for them to pivot,” Todd said, noting that Trump’s trip to the Fed highlighted the issue of economic affordability and taking on a Washington institution. “If I was him I’d go to the Fed every day until rates are cut.”

Democrats have seized on Trump’s efforts to move on, sensing a political weakness for the president and divisions in the Republican Party that they can exploit while their own political stock is low in the wake of last year’s drubbing at the polls.

Trump’s supporters and many Democrats are eager to see a release of government files related to Epstein and his case, which the Justice Department initially promised to deliver.

“Yesterday was another example of the Trump folks trying to throw as much stuff against the wall to avoid the Epstein files,” Mark Warner, a Democratic U.S. senator from Virginia, said in a post on X on Thursday about Gabbard’s accusations against Obama.

Trump allies see the administration’s efforts to change topic as a normal part of an all-out-there strategy.

“They are always going at 100 miles an hour. Every department, every cabinet secretary, everybody is out there at full speed blanketing the area with news,” Republican strategist Maguire said.

Pollster Frank Luntz noted that Trump had faced felony convictions and other criminal charges but still won re-election last year.

“We’ve been in this very same situation several times before and he has escaped every time,” Luntz said.

(Reuters)