Despite his supposed reversal on the Epstein files, Donald Trump is still desperately trying to make the whole scandal go away. After months of pulling out every stop to prevent the release of FBI documents pertaining to the sex trafficking case of his friend Jeffrey Epstein, Trump suddenly appeared to change his mind, posting on his Truth Social platform, “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files.”
As with most things Trump, however, this about-face is a lie. There are signs he’s scheming with Attorney General Pam Bondi to withhold the files, all the while pretending to welcome their publication. But even he seems unsure such a ploy will work. “Don’t talk about it too much,” he’s resorted to pleading with Republicans, and insisting that it’s “really a Democrat problem.” Trump has also been floating conspiracy theories, suggesting all the damning information about him in the files has been faked.
For many people, the sound of Trump’s voice can unbearable, but it is worth enduring to hear the unsubtle note of desperation when he pleads with his own voters and allies to drop this whole Esptein matter. This feels like tempting fate to write, but a full decade into this nightmare, it seems like Trump’s power over his own MAGA movement is starting to weaken.
Not too long ago, Trump’s orders to ignore the Epstein files were being almost universally obeyed without question by Republican politicians and right-wing propaganda outlets like Fox News. So it felt like a dam breaking on Tuesday when all but one House Republican joined with Democrats to vote for the full release of the Epstein files, despite Trump’s undisguised terror over what ugly information about him could be revealed.
As Natalie Allison of the Washington Post reported, the Epstein files vote is just the flashiest example of the GOP’s sudden willingness to buck Trump’s wishes. Once-sycophantic loyalists in Congress and in the right-wing media are now willing to criticize the president’s handling of the economy, his stance towards Israel and his immigration policies. On Monday, Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times explored some reasons for the “growing disillusionment among conservatives” with Trump, such as his sliding approval ratings or recent electoral defeats.
All those are certainly factors, but Goldberg overlooked one issue that might be impolite to mention in the Grey Lady, but it’s a dominant topic in less genteel spaces like social media: Trump’s constantly bruised hands. Or his ankles swelling to often alarming sizes. Or the recent rumors that he died and/or had a stroke. Or a recent report in the Washington Post about how the president keeps falling asleep during televised events. Or Trump’s recent MRI, and his refusal to explain why doctors ordered such an invasive test. All this leads to yet another reason to endure the sound of Trump’s voice in recent days: He sounds exhausted. With all that’s been going on — the Epstein vote, the economic numbers, his polling, Democrats’ drubbing of the GOP in the recent elections — it’s hard to imagine he’s feeling too good these days.
The White House continues to deny there are problems with Trump’s health. But since they lie about everything, those words mean less than nothing.
The White House continues to deny there are problems with Trump’s health. But since they lie about everything, those words mean less than nothing. There’s no small amount of wishful thinking fueling the constant chatter about the issue on the left, but the public evidence that the 79-year-old president is not doing well is hard for even the most diehard MAGA types to ignore.
Trump has been trying to hide his lame duck status with moves like building a White House ballroom, printing “Trump 2028” hats and implying he’ll run for an illegal third term. That posturing might have worked if he were younger or more energetic. But he’s looking awfully weak these days — and his coalition is starting to crack as various MAGA actors position themselves to take advantage of an anticipated power vacuum.
“I would remind my colleagues that this vote is gonna be on your record for longer than Trump is gonna be president,” Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, one of the four Republicans who joined Democrats to bring the Epstein bill to the floor, told CNN. He reiterated the talking point on ABC News: “In 2030, he’s not going to be the president.”
Republicans have been operating as if Trump could run again in 2028, and it’s no wonder. The Supreme Court has repeatedly ignored common sense, precedent and the plain text of the Constitution to grant Trump whatever dictatorial powers he wishes, including blanket immunity from criminal prosecution. So it stands to reason they would find some laughable pretext to bless his run for a third term, despite it being explicitly forbidden by the 22nd Amendment.
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But the rumors that Trump died over Labor Day weekend have kept the spotlight on his health and physical appearance. Then, in October, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson openly declared there’s “no path” to a third term for the president. The next day, Trump himself admitted as much. Considering how Johnson tried to help Trump steal the 2020 election, this capitulation says more about the president’s low-energy levels than any kind of devotion to democracy or the rule of law.
Of course, with the election being three years away, Trump should, in theory, be able to hold his coalition together. But as Sophia Tesfaye reported over the weekend, the MAGA infighting is starting to escalate, as topics like “Hitler: good or bad?” are roiling the X-addicted masses. The surest sign that Trump is losing his grip is the very public defection of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who was once one of the loudest Trump fangirls in Congress. A lot of commentators think it’s odd that Greene is feuding with Trump, even as her boyfriend, Brian Glenn, remains one of biggest suck-ups to the president in the White House press pool. But a cynic might point out that Glenn’s physical proximity to Trump is giving him insight into the president’s health, information that could be useful to someone who, like Greene, is seeking to be MAGA’s leader.
In the 21st century, it may seem a little silly to draw such a direct line between the physical strength of a leader and his ability to wield power in the world. After all, Franklin Roosevelt was one of the most influential presidents of the 20th century, and he did it all from a wheelchair. In the decades since, there’s been so much work from disability activists, demonstrating there is no reason to equate the body and mind in such a literal way. And on the whole, Americans don’t do that, believing that age and infirmity only matter if they impede on a person’s ability to do their job.
But there’s a big exception in which more old-fashioned prejudices about bodily strength and real world power kick in: When the person in question rules through intimidation. Someone like Trump cannot persuade; he can only bully. He keeps the GOP in line not through persuasion and horse-trading but by threats ranging from backing primary challenges to the implicit fear of violence. Such tactics are effective for a time, but they tend to breed resentment. And when the authoritarian leader starts to display physical impairment, the people who have been chafing under his iron fist stop fearing him. They start rebelling.
Journalist Rebecca Traister noted this dynamic in writing about Harvey Weinstein for New York magazine in 2017. She described the former movie mogul as a man who would wield his formidable size as part of a larger display of power, one which scared people from speaking out. Weinstein could and would beat people up with his body, and that use of his power was inseparable from how he would ruin the careers and reputations of anyone who resisted him. But right before the cascade of sexual abuse allegations that ended him started to come out, Traister saw him at an event and was “struck by his physical diminishment.”
“[H]e seemed small and frail, and, when I caught sight of him in May, he appeared to be walking with a cane,” she wrote. Weinstein had kept a lid on his extensive sexual abuse by intimidating people into silence for years. But it’s a lot harder to be afraid of a man when the ravages of age catch up with him.
For leaders whose only tactic is to terrorize, physical enfeeblement can be a devastating blow to their power. No wonder Trump’s makeup seems to get thicker by the minute. He knows that his power is built on appearances — and he has little to fall back on if he loses that.
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