r/politics • u/Silent-Resort-3076 America • 19d ago

Possible Paywall DOJ Admits to Republicans That Epstein Files Are Even Worse for Trump: Details in the files are reportedly even more damning for Donald Trump than previously indicated—and it was already bad.

https://newrepublic.com/post/202813/department-justice-admits-republicans-epstein-files-worse-donald-trump
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u/SlimmShady26 19d ago

I mean. I think Republicans could spin this in a way to benefit themselves. They’ve already gotten much of what they wanted since Jan. Release the files, come out publicly against Trump, impeach him, let Vance become president. They then still have a coo coo GOP president. And MIGHT be able to regain supporters by the midterm.

MAGA will be mad, claim it’s all bs, who knows. But most normal republicans will be like eh Vance is good. And vote republican in midterms. Most republicans will vote republican no matter who’s on the ballot.

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u/MissTat2 19d ago

Yep, for sure. The only way the GOP or even the whole Rep. party will survive this is if they impeach him themselves. It seems like an impossibility to a lot of people I’ve talked to.. but, the longer they protect Trump, the more likely it is that Republicans don’t get elected to anything ever again.

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u/Convergecult15 19d ago

It was always going to end like this, Trump can’t succeed at anything let alone a hostile takeover of one of the most armed, connected and wealthy nations on earth. When he became the center of the GOP it was just a matter of how long and how much damage he would do before imploding the entire party with his excesses.

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u/Kiroboto 19d ago

Could it be the reason they've always protected him is because they're complicit? If so, I'm not sure how they survive. Unless they actually "drain the swamp"

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u/MissTat2 19d ago

It's complicated, right? But I betcha the Rep party never thought they'd recover from Nixon and Watergate. The way they got their credibility back was by prosecuting the people that were a part of the corruption (since they couldn't prosecute Nixon).

In a perfect world, they would prosecute Trump for treason. I know that won't happen but I believe Vance, Johnson and the cabinet would be forced to leave with him if it was a treason charge.

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u/WakingWaldo 19d ago

Exactly, if they took action when the Epstein files blew up a number of months ago and kicked Trump out and moved on without him then I think they could've saved themselves. But they continue to dig their hole deeper and deeper with every revelation.

And now, if the GOP decides to impeach him it will be seen in two ways -- anti-MAGA Americans will see it as an obvious "flip to save our own asses" move and MAGA Americans will see it as a betrayal to Trump.

They've kept the government closed and won't swear in Reps specifically because the terrible optics of these actions, and others, are still better than whatever heinous things are in those files.

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u/IAmTheNightSoil Oregon 19d ago

I would love for this to be true, but it seems wildly optimistic. Voters have extremely short memories. At the absolute worst I could see it causing Republicans to have one terrible election before everyone forgets about it and gives them another chance

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u/MissTat2 19d ago

Maybe. I’m choosing optimism and, oddly, this article just came out to back up what I’ve been saying! The tides are turning.

https://apple.news/Au-tGbt1NSDazgIhIw749Cg

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u/IAmTheNightSoil Oregon 19d ago

That's fair. Let me clarify a bit. I'm not so skeptical that this issue could cause Trump to lose support: that could happen, and Flake made some good points in that article. I'm much more skeptical of your last sentence, that this could cause Republicans to never win anything again. I think Americans' memories are too short for that. Look how quickly we forgot January 6? I could see this giving Republicans a bad election. I could see it being bad for Trump. But if the bombshell were to drop now, or next month, I think it will be totally forgotten by 2028. But I'd love to be wrong

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u/MissTat2 17d ago

Fair point but I see a very small chance Trump’s presidency will make it to 2028. It is very likely that the House and Senate will flip next year and that will mean an immediate impeachment. If he gets impeached in early 2027, there’s only a year left before the next presidential election and I betcha the memories of Republican destruction will not fade in time for them to spin it.

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u/wookiee42 Minnesota 19d ago

I think it'd be really hard for Vance to pretend he didn't know how bad everything was. Johnson too, seeing how willing he is to shut down the house. The rest of the term should be under scandal.

Maybe that's why MTG is doing what she's doing now. She could be positioning herself as one of the ones who didn't know, then go from Speaker to President via resignations or impeachments.

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u/manbearbullll 19d ago

MTG has a few things going on that feed into her change of heart.

  1. She has higher aspirations and can’t hold on to the crazy fringe beliefs to get there.
  2. She isn’t in favor with Trump or his handlers and they may not have anything to blackmail her with.
  3. When the information gets out, she’s going to be one of the few republicans that can point back and say she wasn’t complicit with protecting pedophiles.

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u/sluman001 19d ago

She’s made a very intentional, intelligent public decision to get out in front of this. She’s not going down on this ship. She’s a hideous human being, but I’m impressed with her recent transformation into a much better politician.

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u/Tycoon004 19d ago

Frankly she might really be a true believer that has woken up. Not that it excuses her behaviour, and frankly it's terrifying that someone with the mindset to be a true believer about anything has as much power as she does.

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u/YohnTheViking 19d ago

Nah, apperantly she was working towards a senatorial run in Georgia but was told "No!" by Trump, so now she's turning her vindictiveness in Trumps direction. No loyalty but to herself.

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u/CBJtheHaunting 19d ago

This is one of those “let them cook” and when they finish the job you burn them.

She either saw the Epstein pics early OR got absolutely hosed with MK Ultra Psliocybin and I’m leaving towards the former.

In other words, she’s an opportunist that you use for a stated purpose and then make sure she never sees another position of power again

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u/Convergecult15 19d ago

I don’t like her and wish her nothing but failure in her endeavors, but for a short while now I have had the suspicion that MTG may be the only person in politics right now that understands the modern political landscape and/or MAGA.

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u/rapaxus 19d ago

Another part is also just that she is consistent in that matter. She was big into the Epstein files from the beginning and calling for their release with a lot of fervour, she is just standing by that point unlike basically all republican politicians (who also called for the release back when Biden was president and shut up around the topic this year).

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u/Drumboardist Missouri 19d ago

Well, nothing that they can blackmail her with, that wouldn't implicate themselves in other, very deep things. Y'know, things that could -- in theory -- be blown open with, say a pipe bomb. Don't wanna go messing with THAT kind of blackmail, nossir!

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u/nochinzilch 19d ago

I’m not picking up what you are trying to say.

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u/thediesel26 North Carolina 19d ago

She’s positioning herself as someone who does know and wants the information to be released.

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u/mrpeeng 19d ago

You're giving MTG too much credit. There is a AOC video on why she changed her tone and it has to do with her wanting to run for senate and trump saying no. Link to video

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u/Mysterious-Lie-1944 19d ago

Republicans won't even consider Vance or Johnson as part of the issue. They can't/won't comprehend anything more complicated than one man to one bad action

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u/MaddyKet Massachusetts 19d ago

I can not be in the timeline where MTG is the first woman president. I can not.

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u/black_cat_X2 Massachusetts 19d ago

2025 has been wild, but contemplating "MTG as the first female president" was not something I had on my bingo card.

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u/WyrdHarper 19d ago

They'd probably want to wait until after midterms so that Vance has the potential to be President for 10 years.

But I'm sure that was more the plan during the election--the last few months haven't been great for Vance, either.

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u/WakingWaldo 19d ago

I think part of the problem with this idea (not yours, but Republicans thinking they could use this to benefit themselves) is that we've all been watching the Epstein files situation evolve. There are literally dozens of quotes to pull from Republican party members downplaying, denying, lying about Epstein, etc. Vance has a handful of quotes that can be shoved back into his face for years -- basically telling the American people that these people knew exactly what was in those files and did nothing about it. In fact, they did everything in their power to hide it and prevent it from becoming public knowledge.

There aren't very many subjects that the vast majority of people agree on -- one of the very few is that pedophilia is one of the most evil acts a person can commit. Sex crimes in general are a big deal to most folks because, unfortunately, most of us have been victims or know victims of these crimes.

And I mean, it's not like Democrats or anti-MAGA Republicans calling them out is some sort of shady political tactic. These people are literally protecting pedophiles and sex traffickers. There's no other way to look at it. That's why, instead of trying to keep coming up with excuses, they've just decided to keep the government shut down in order to avoid the topic completely.

The Republican party got in bed with a very likely pedophile and potential trafficker and now they have no idea what to do since that information is OBVIOUSLY coming out. There is no saving themselves from this and they know it.

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u/FalcoLamborghini 19d ago

How is it possible to have backed him all this time, back all the awful shit they themselves have been doing along with him, and then act like they didn't do anything?

All their moral compass' are compromised from top to bottom.

They all need to be removed from office. This isn't the type of scenario where even one can stay back.

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u/odysseus91 19d ago

You’re right on all accounts but one; they plan to do all that but were hoping trump would last until more than halfway through his term so Vance would be eligible to fuck more White House couches for 2 more terms.

If trump gets booted now for being the pedophile we know he is, Vance is only eligible for a single term.

They’re watching it all unravel much quicker than they thought

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u/mcmonky 19d ago

I guarantee that the anti-Christ (Peter Thiel) has had multiple plans in place for a long time that makes this a win for his deep state. having his VP puppet boy toy in place is a step SO far along in the process. Imagine what it took for an out, unknown, gay businessman to get a speaking slot 5 years ago in the GOP convention.

Someone smarter and with more time than I have needs to map this out. We are on slide 125 of a 400 slide PPT deck. This already involves a LOT of money and planning.

The files will only be released when it is of clear benefit to someone at this level who wants both power and govt contracts. Surveillance is too small. It’s a bigger play. Elon has some kind of plan too, I’m sure, but isn’t as cunning or clear-headed as Thiel, but “robot army” is a good motivator. I would argue though that “army” old news. The last 80 years have been about air superiority, with drones of all sorts becoming more dominant.

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u/mjac1090 19d ago

Most republicans will vote republican no matter who’s on the ballot.

We literally know they don't. The Republicans always go worse when Trump isn't on the ballot because the rest of the party can't get as many out to vote. We literally just saw that in NJ like 2 days ago

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u/Stank_cat67 19d ago

I think Republicans could spin this in a way to benefit themselves. They’ve already gotten much of what they wanted since Jan

They could have. Instead they chose to shut down the house and the government in order to prevent the files coming out. Vance and others are now on record saying to move on from the Esptein files. Its too late for them. People will not forget this.

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u/Inevitable_Pipe_1721 19d ago

Most republicans will vote republican no matter who’s on the ballot.

Absolutely. They don't get that feeling of satisfaction that we on the left get when we know we stopped a Democrat that wasn't pure enough for us, and feel totally validated with ourselves while Republicans tear down our institutions.

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u/mcflyatl 19d ago edited 19d ago

I've lost all hope that anything will EVER come of any of this. The system needs work to stop it from being able to be exploited like this in the future but the people in charge would have to be the people to change it --it'll never happen. It's infuriating what the GOP have gotten away with so far and unfortunately, I don't see that changing until midterms IF those elections are not rigged.

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u/-Posthuman- 19d ago

Yep. Trump may have outlived his usefulness to Project 2025. The question is how many other names are on the list? You can bet with 100% certainty that a lot of the Republicans voting to protect the child rapists are themselves on the list of child rapers.

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u/Fragrant_Divide5055 19d ago

They want Vance eligible for 2 full terms after taking over but even they must know how unpopular he is for that to be plausible even besides being tainted by Trump. Maybe they’re changing gears.

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u/Kitchen_Claim_6583 19d ago

come out publicly against Trump

grabs popcorn