The White House press secretary touts Donald Trump as the “most transparent and accessible president” in American history, citing his constant engagement with the media and practice of including reporters at government events. But in the past few days, Trump has been uncharacteristically reticent around journalists. It seems clear that he’s rattled by the Jeffrey Epstein crisis — the rare political issue that he can’t talk his way out of without alienating his base.
Since the House Oversight Committee released documents on Wednesday related to the late convicted sex offender, including emails by Epstein that mention Trump by name, Trump has been dodging the press. The Atlantic’s Jonathan Lemire reported on Thursday:
Last night’s dinner was closed to the press. No reporter was even given a glance. And later, when the White House held a signing ceremony for the president to officially end the longest federal-government shutdown in history, the reporters present were quickly whisked out of the Oval Office. Today, too, he didn’t talk to the press after signing an executive order alongside the first lady in the East Room.
On Friday, Trump had no public events or meetings on his schedule.
Instead of engaging with reporters — whom this president typically veers toward — Trump has retreated to social media.
Instead of engaging with reporters — whom this president typically veers toward — Trump has retreated to social media to launch his counteroffensive on the Epstein crisis. On Truth Social this week, he repeatedly raged about “weak Republicans” who have “fallen” for the Epstein “hoax.” And he tried to change the topic, reminding his followers how “badly” Democrats handled the government shutdown.
Trump may well resume taking reporters’ questions with his usual bravado in the coming days, but it’s telling that he appears hesitant to do his usual extemporaneous riffing. His standard approach is to have total confidence in his ability to talk through or around any issue, often by way of disinformation or changing the topic. (Whatever you think of this as a communication strategy, it’s often worked for him.) But while MS NOW can’t confirm the allegations in Epstein’s emails, the questions are relentless and grounded in documents the public increasingly has access to. And when it comes to Epstein — who was awaiting trial on federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy when he died in 2019 — Trump appears less sure-footed, unable to carry off his usual retorts and attempts at diversion.
The reason is simple: Questions surrounding Trump’s relationship with Epstein and Epstein’s sexual offenses is one of the few issues over which segments of Trump’s base openly question him. As MS NOW contributor Philip Bump pointed out on Friday, on the issue of whether to release “the Epstein files” — more documents from the Justice Department’s investigation of Epstein — Trump has “found himself in the uncomfortable position of being empowered to deliver what his base wanted but not actually wanting to do so.” The president likely knows this doesn’t poll well with his base, as Bump notes:
In polling conducted in October by Ipsos for Reuters, 9 in 10 Republicans expressed approval of Trump’s presidency. But only 4 in 10 indicated that they approved of how he was handling the Epstein files. Quinnipiac University polling conducted this summer found a similar split: 84% of Republicans approved of Trump’s presidency, but only 44% approved of how he was handling Epstein.
Trump has reportedly lobbied some of the Republican lawmakers to drop their support for a House measure that would mandate the release of the Epstein files — without success. Although it’s unclear what the release of more correspondence or other documents could reveal about his relationship with Epstein, Trump does not have his usual control over his party, nor can he stop next week’s House vote.
Even from the safety of his Truth Social account, Trump’s whataboutism strategies are self-defeating. He called on Friday for the Justice Department to investigate Epstein’s relationship with such prominent liberals as former President Bill Clinton and former Treasury Secretary and former Harvard University President Larry Summers, saying that “records show that these men, and many others, spent large portions of their life with Epstein.” Attorney General Pam Bondi quickly agreed to it. But surely in the eyes of many MAGA followers, that’s all the more reason to release all the files.
Zeeshan Aleem is a writer and editor for MS NOW. He primarily writes about politics and foreign policy.