New York Times: Trump Bows to Reality in Epstein Reversal, Beating a Rare Retreat

There is no way to spin this.

The way the Epstein files was handled has been a huge self inflicted political disaster.

New York Times:

“President Trump denounced calls for the release of the Epstein files as a Democratic hoax. He dispatched aides to warn Republicans that backing it would be seen as a “hostile act.” He placed personal calls to those who dared to do so, and even dispatched his attorney general and F.B.I. director to meet with one in the White House Situation Room in efforts to get her to flip.

In the end, none of it worked. And on Sunday night, Mr. Trump did something he has rarely been forced to do: He caved in the face of pressure from his party and called on House Republicans to go ahead and back a bill that would order his Justice Department to release all of its investigative files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

By Monday, he was saying, “Sure,” he would sign the legislation he has spent months trying to kill. …”

Politico:

“President Donald Trump’s call for House Republicans to support releasing Jeffrey Epstein-related documents was a stunning capitulation after a months-long campaign to block the vote.

It was also a specific defeat for Trump at the hands of a despised GOP opponent: Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

“He got tired of me winning,” Massie said of Trump’s U-turn in an interview Monday morning.

Insisting “I DON’T CARE!” in a late-night Truth Social post, Trump was bowing to the inevitable — a broad House Republican mutiny on a vote that was only scheduled because Massie forced it. …”

This was also the worst political terrain to fight to purge MTG and Thomas Massie on.

What is the point of having an authoritarian cult of personality if it is used to fight the dumbest conceivable political battles on behalf of the most corrupt donors in American politics?

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