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I'm your host, Greg Sargent.

The Mega Movement The MAGA movement has been in full meltdown ever since President Trump's Department of Justice concluded they have no evidence that sex offender Jeffrey Epstein kept a client list or was murdered in jail.

This contradicted a major MAGA conspiracy theory, and MAGA influencers are screaming cover-up.

Tucker Carlson just took this to another level by attacking Trump over it.

Tucker faulted Trump's government for failing to take MAGA's questions about the situation seriously,

and even criticize Trump himself,

which in the MAGA universe is a rarity. So what is it about the Epstein matter that pushed MAGA

to the point of directly taking on Trump and his top officials, rather than merely falling into line,

as they so often do? Nobody decodes right-wing pathologies better than

historian Nicole Hemmer, author of several major books about the right and its media sources.

So we're talking to Nicole about all this today. Great to have you on, Nicole. Great to be back,

Greg. So what makes this story so rich is that senior Trump administration officials are now

reaping what they sowed on Epstein in a big way.

Back when they were mere MAGA influencers, Cash Patel and Dan Bongino, now the director

and deputy director of the FBI, were incredibly vocal in questioning the official version of Epstein's suicide.

Remember, the story then in some quarters was that the deep state was covering up the truth about Epstein

...