This is the Daily Blast from the New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.

I'm your host, Greg Sargent.

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 because elite Democrats just might be in the

Epstein files and were part of a pedophilia ring. Now Patel and Bongino are being accused of the

cover-up. Nicole, can you give us your overview on all this? Sure. So that's a pretty good start because

Bonjino and Patel are plucked from the world of conservative media and had been these,

as you were saying, these primary attackers against

the deep state. And so when they were put in these key positions at the FBI, there really was a

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