President Donald Trump is in unfamiliar territory — not lashing out at Democrats, but turning on his own base.
Facing a wave of backlash over his administration’s abrupt decision to shut down the Epstein investigation, the president has begun publicly scolding the very supporters who once believed he would be the one to expose the “deep state.”
Trump railed against followers who questioned why the Epstein files remain sealed in a lengthy post on his social media platform Truth Social on Wednesday morning.
“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bulls‑‑‑,’ hook, line, and sinker,” Trump added. “They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.”
But the damage was already done.
His supporters — long animated by conspiracy theories that Trump would finally unearth Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged network of powerful abusers — are in open revolt. The reaction to the administration’s latest move has been swift and unforgiving.
Videos of furious MAGA loyalists burning their red ‘Make America Great Again’ hats have flooded TikTok and X, with the viral hashtag #ReleaseTheFiles trending across multiple platforms. In one viral clip, a man torches his hat in a backyard grill while declaring, “I’m not gonna play with these anymore. MAGA hats are off… Burn baby burn.”
@harryjsisson They are NOT happy at all 07/12
♬ original sound – Harry
Others took to digital protest in creative and unexpected ways.
Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson, a Democrat and longtime Trump critic, dropped a full-blown parody ballad on Monday night, mocking the former president’s about-face with a twangy rendition of Jason Isbell’s “Dreamsicle.”
“Epstein died by suicide, believe that and you must be blind,” Johnson sings in the viral video. “You’ve been telling us you’d release the file, but where are they?”
In another verse, he belts: “Trump’s howling at the moon, release the Epstein files soon!”
While some dismissed the song as cringe, others praised Johnson’s guts and musical chops. “HE MISSED HIS TRUE CALLING,” one user posted on X. “WHAT IF THE DEEP STATE SEES THIS AND IS SO MOVED THEY JUST RELEASE THE FILES.”
But the frustration fueling these reactions is rooted in more than just creative expression. For years, Trump and his allies stoked the belief that he would be the one to pull back the curtain on Epstein’s alleged trafficking network and its high-powered clientele. During his 2024 campaign, Trump and Vice President JD Vance repeatedly hinted they would declassify the full Epstein file.
“I’m inclined to release it all,” Trump said at a rally last year.
That anticipation peaked earlier this year when Trump officials invited popular social media influencers to the White House for what was billed as the “Phase 1” release of Epstein documents. But the stunt flopped. The binders distributed to the influencers contained no new information. Even Trump’s own supporters called it a “smokescreen.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi only poured fuel on the fire when she claimed in February that Epstein’s “client list” was “sitting on my desk right now.” Yet by mid-July, Bondi abruptly announced the case was closed — sparking mass outrage and deepening suspicions.
Trump is standing behind Bondi and is openly willing to lose supporters over it.
“Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!”
The post marked a stunning turn for Trump against his own loyalists as last week he opted to pin the whole drama on Democrats.
“For years, it’s Epstein, over and over again,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday. “Why are we giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration, who conned the World with the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, 51 ‘Intelligence’ Agents, ‘THE LAPTOP FROM HELL,’ and more? They created the Epstein Files, just like they created the FAKE Hillary Clinton/Christopher Steele Dossier that they used on me, and now my so-called ‘friends’ are playing right into their hands. Why didn’t these Radical Left Lunatics release the Epstein Files?”
Last week Axios broke the news about the FBI sending the Justice Department a memo saying that after an “exhaustive review” there was “no credible evidence” Epstein “blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”
The memo only intensified the disbelief.
Supporters who once considered Trump the last best hope for full transparency now feel betrayed.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m completely losing confidence in America,” one X user wrote. “But then somebody like Rep. Hank Johnson comes along and totally redeems themselves.”
Epstein, a convicted sex offender and disgraced financier, had deep ties to world leaders, billionaires, and celebrities before his 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges. He died by suicide in a Manhattan jail shortly thereafter — though many Americans have long doubted the official story.
By July 15, seeming to cave to the outcry by his voters, Trump said Bondi should release “whatever she thinks is credible” on Epstein, according to ABC News.
