Trump says no one cares about Epstein. Why won't his base let it go?
Consider This from NPR
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4.1 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 18 July 2025
⏱️ 10 minutes
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Summary
Nothing represented that theory more than the case of Jeffrey Epstein.
He was a man most people had never heard of initially, with a private plane and a private island. Acquainted with the world's most powerful people: British royalty, U.S. presidents.
A man who ultimately died in jail...by suicide, according to authorities... before the case against him went to trial. Epstein's case and his death bred skepticism and conspiracy theories – especially among supporters of Donald Trump.
Now, some of Trump's most ardent supporters are attacking his Justice Department's decision not to release all of the files related to the Epstein case.
Trump says nobody cares about Epstein. But his base won't let it go.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | One of the narratives at the heart of President Trump's political movement is this. |
| 0:05.9 | American society is dominated by a shadowy group of elites, and those elites are deeply corrupt. |
| 0:12.8 | Nothing represented that theory more than the case of Jeffrey Epstein. |
| 0:17.2 | A billionaire financiers in custody, sources say accused of trafficking girls in Florida and New York for sex. |
| 0:23.7 | Epstein was a man most people had never heard of initially with a private plane and a private island, |
| 0:30.0 | acquainted with the world's most powerful people, British royalty, U.S. presidents, a man who ultimately ultimately died in jail by suicide, according to authorities, |
| 0:40.2 | before the case against him ever went to trial. |
| 0:43.2 | Epstein's case and his death bred skepticism and conspiracy theories, especially among supporters of Donald Trump. |
| 0:51.4 | Trump nodded to that in a 2024 interview with podcaster Lex Friedman. |
| 0:55.6 | A lot of big people went to that island. But fortunately, I was not one of them. |
| 1:03.0 | It's just very strange for a lot of people that the list of clients that went to the island |
| 1:09.0 | has not been made public. |
| 1:11.5 | Yeah. |
| 1:14.1 | It's very interesting, isn't it? |
| 1:16.3 | Probably will be, by the way. |
| 1:18.6 | So if you were able to, you'll be? |
| 1:20.4 | Yeah, I'd certainly take a look at it. |
| 1:24.4 | The thing is, Trump did have his own history with Epstein. |
| 1:27.4 | The two became friends in the 1980s. Trump flew on Epstein's private plane, |
| 1:30.1 | according to flight logs that were released as evidence in court. And Trump told New York |
| 1:35.0 | magazine this in 2002, that, quote, he's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes |
| 1:41.8 | beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. |
... |
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