Does this have LONG ‘Legs’ against Trump & Co.?
Will it split Trump’s base?
Congressional Democrats appear to have finally found their mojo in sticking it to the White House by seizing on the Jeffrey Epstein saga to humiliate the president and split the GOP. Unlike in the past, senior Democrats have shown a surprisingly nimble ability in recent days to pivot to the GOP’s vulnerability du jour, threatening to force votes exposing a divided Republican Party.
The strategy has effectively hijacked the House, derailed Hill Republicans’ agenda and forced Speaker Mike Johnson to send lawmakers packing for an early August recess. That’s not to mention embarrassing Trump in the process and exposing the surprising limits of his sway on a party he’s held in his clutches for the better part of a decade.
“We’ve been trying to say Trump is full of shit for years and it hasn’t really stuck, right? But something about this topic is making a healthy portion of MAGA world — particularly folks who are not ideologically aligned with Trump but kind of flirted with him last year when they pulled the lever for him — be like, ‘Yea, he’s definitely full of shit,’” a senior Democratic campaign aide boasted to me. (This aide and others in the story were granted anonymity to speak candidly about dynamics on the Hill.)
Even better for the Dems: Their effort tapping into MAGA world fury has legs. Between a bipartisan discharge petition expected to ripen this fall and Trump bowing to public pressure in promising to release grand jury information in the coming weeks, the issue will almost certainly remain at the forefront for weeks to come. That means Democrats will have plenty of opportunity to continue to stir the pot.
At issue is Trump’s handling of the Epstein files amid a public clamor for the documents’ release. The president’s top MAGA allies have argued for years that the government is covering up for powerful men who had connections with the convicted sex offender. But now that some of those allies are running the Justice Department, they’ve gone back on promises for transparency.
In the middle is Trump, who once had a well-documented friendship with Epstein and who has been referenced in court documents surrounding the now deceased financier — though who is not accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein. Trump has tried to smother the controversy, even scolding his supporters for obsessing….