Megyn Kelly on Epstein, MAGA Fury, the Loyalty Test Trump Didn’t Expect, Plus the End of the Elites

Next Up with Mark Halperin

MK Media

News, Daily News, Politics

4.8 • 846 Ratings

🗓️ 17 July 2025

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today, Mark Halperin sits down exclusively with Megyn Kelly for a deep dive on Epstein, why the scandal hits Trump’s base in a uniquely personal way, and why it’s not the political deal breaker the left might hope. Megyn reveals the unanswered questions that still matter to MAGA, why firing Comey’s daughter isn't the "scalp" that will satisfy the need for accountability, and why Pam Bondi might be the story's next casualty. She also explains why this may be the closest Trump has come to his “shoot someone on Fifth Avenue” moment. Done with Debt: https://www.DoneWithDebt.com American Financing: Call American Financing today to find out how customers are saving an avg of $800/mo. 866-886-2026 or visit http://www.AmericanFinancing.net/Next . NMLS 182334, nmlsconsumeraccess.org Paleo Valley: Visit https://paleovalley.com and use code NEXTUP at checkout to get 15% off your first order Then, Mark’s report on how Jeffrey Epstein came to embody the populist revolt against elite power and institutional failure. He traces how the saga evolved from a lurid scandal into a potent political metaphor—and shares what Trump told him back in 2016 about Epstein as a looming problem long before it exploded into the mainstream. But did Trump see the scandal coming for him? Mark has the inside story.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome in Nexters. I'm Mark Cowperin, editor-in-chief, a two-way, and your guide to everything next.
0:07.5	I'm very glad to have you here in the summer day in July when it's not much news going on in the world.
0:15.3	There's some stuff, but the main focus in my world and in most of the news you see is what our focus is today, which is the
0:23.3	Jeffrey Epstein story. It's an incredibly interesting and important story, and it speaks to a lot of
0:28.9	different things. And I couldn't be more excited and delighted to have Megan Kelly here on this
0:34.4	episode, a host of the Megan Kelly Show, an AM update on Sirius XM. And of course,
0:38.9	with her program, you can find it on YouTube and all podcast platforms. And she, of course,
0:44.0	the fairy godmother of this show. Megan and I are going to talk about the whole thing,
0:49.0	where we are now, why the president's doing what he's doing, what might happen next. And I'll be curious to see what Megan has to say about the trajectory of this story going
0:58.2	forward. And she is as shrewd and knowledgeable as anyone about what's happening both behind
1:04.1	the scenes in Washington, but also around the country. And the tension between President
1:10.6	Trump, who wants his story to go away and has said to his
1:13.7	his supporters this week, you're not, basically, you're not my supporters if you don't, if you don't
1:20.1	move beyond the story. And the people out in the country who Megan and Charlie Kirk and others
1:28.7	who have programs hear from every day overwhelmingly saying we need answers. We need more stuff
1:34.5	out there. Will Maxwell testify? Will the administration put out more material as Laura Trump and
1:39.7	others have suggested? Megan and I will talk about all of that. And then in my reported monologue,
1:45.6	a story that I think is the context of the Epstein story, but bigger than the Epstein story,
1:50.4	which is why is there so much passion about this, amongst young people, amongst people in
1:54.7	MAGA, amongst some well-meaning Democrats who aren't now entering this fray just for politics
2:00.1	in some cases. Why do people feel so strong?
2:03.0	For me, it has to do with the loss of faith in institutions in this country and the reality
	...

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