Apparently smoothly, with almost unanimous consent, the US Congress decided on Tuesday to make public the criminal file of the dead jetsetter and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In reality, the issue tore Republicans apart for months and it was ultimately President Donald Trump who — uniquely in his second term so far — had to bow to mutiny within his party.
Whether and when we will learn more about the men who abused underage girls together with Epstein remains unclear. It is certain that Trump’s position as sole ruler has weakened in recent weeks. Not only thanks to his decades-long friendship with the convicted pedophile and his broken election promise to release the file on him. It appears that other Republicans are looking beyond the Trump rule after the record shutdown and disappointing elections.
“I don’t care,” has been Trump’s motto in recent days. He wrote it Tuesday on his Truth Social about the possible Senate fiat on releasing the Epstein documents. He wrote it Sunday when, in a 180 degree turn, he yielded to obstinate Delegates who forced a vote against his will on Epstein Files Transparency Act: “We have nothing to hide.”
Trump had campaigned in 2024 to open the cover-up around Epstein, but quickly lifted the lid again as president — possibly when it became clear to him how often his own name appears in the documents. The Republican Congress, which otherwise offers little resistance to the president’s wishes, did not simply agree to this. Trump panicked.
‘Foolish’ redrawing of constituencies
Transparent as the American president is in his dissatisfaction, he had shown in the past week that he was furious with fellow party members who undermined him. Trumpista Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia) was suddenly a “traitor.” Lauren Boebert (Colorado) was pressured in the White House. The vote would be “a hostile act.”
When Trump became clear that his fellow party members would not back down and many more Republicans would vote in favor of the bill, he ceased his resistance. Since the local and state elections at the beginning of this month, in which Democrats scored well above expectations on economic themes, Trump has already rolled back import duties on beef, coffee and bananas. He recently spoke positively about knowledge migration, to prevent further panic in the tech sector. Both the Epstein issue and the economy, the rising cost of living, are weighing on his popularity.
At the same time, his mission to redraw electoral districts in predominantly Republican states continues. gerrymanderingdents. In Indiana, party members appear unwilling to do so. Federal judges in Texas decided Monday that the new districts there, which should provide five additional House seats, are not constitutional. “Completely foolish,” Kevin Kiley (California) called Trump’s attempt to adjust the districts in the meantime.
Trump is no longer supreme
Since his inauguration in January, Trump has seemed all-powerful. After ten months the magic has worn off. Republicans fear in a year, at the midterms for Congress to lose their majority in the House. Many depend on Trump’s support in partisan primaries and therefore hardly dare to contradict him. But the current president is less relevant for their future. Representative Thomas Massie (Kentucky), who has long been at odds with Trump, warned his colleagues ahead of the Epstein vote: “In 2030 he will no longer be president and you will have to explain why you voted to protect pedophiles.”
It is a sign of the future for the president, who still has three years left in his term. But also a clear signal about the general political mood. America First-Republicans do not oppose soldiers in American cities or off the coast of Venezuela, nor the self-enrichment of the Trump family. The themes on which they cornered Trump are abuse of power and class justice in favor of people like Epstein and his powerful friends and the ever-increasing cost of living. Both the specter of the dead pedophile and that of inflation will continue to haunt the president for the time being. The question is whether he can embrace the next revolt as quickly as the one surrounding Epstein.
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House of Representatives votes almost unanimously in favor of releasing Epstein criminal file
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