It’s no secret that the Trump administration’s bungled handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files has left a lot of Trump voters boiling with anger. Many Trump voters feel they were promised an administration that would investigate, expose, and prosecute the vast sex trafficking conspiracy that was the plot of the popular MAGA conspiracy theory QAnon. Instead, Trump’s Justice Department announced over the weekend that Epstein did, indeed, kill himself, and that there is no conspiracy to investigate. While many conservative voters are still in the rage and denial phase of this development, others have moved on to disdain. Increasingly, some MAGA voices seem to feel that the Trump administration’s Justice Department is little more than a big joke.
Over the weekend, ridicule rained down on Trump’s Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and the head of Trump’s FBI, Kash Patel, as news spread of the government’s new dismissal of the conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein. The comments have ranged from pithy and sarcastic to skewering and accusatory.
“The lone sex trafficker theory,” said Mike Cernovich, a rightwing “meme maker” and alt-right media personality who was also an early supporter of Trump. Later, Cernovich tagged Trump in a post, writing: “No one is believing the Epstein coverup, @realDonaldTrump. This will be part of your legacy. There’s still time to change it!”
Tim Pool, a rightwing podcaster who was recently invited to the White House as part of the administration’s new focus on alternative media, posted: “Pam Bondi is just keeping the tens of thousands of child porn videos for herself.”
The Babylon Bee, long the MAGA audience’s version of The Onion, posted an article Monday entitled “Epstein List Hangs Itself Moments Before Release.”
Norm Cruise, another account that posts right-wing edgelord-type content, posted a picture of Epstein and wrote: “No clients. No blackmail. Just the love of the game.”
Auron MacIntyre, who is a host of the podcast for the conservative publication The Blaze, posted a meme of a party of lizard people discussing the Epstein “client list”:
Meanwhile, RetardFinder, a rightwing account that typically posts pictures of liberal politicians and progressives and dubs them “retards,” posted a picture of Dan Bongino, deputy director of the FBI (who has said that he believes Epstein died by suicide), followed not long afterward by a picture of Patel. “Officially a retard,” the account wrote.
Accusations about Epstein’s alleged association with Israel (conspiracy theories have long suggested he was collecting sexual blackmail on U.S. politicians for Israeli intelligence) have also become the subject of disdainful jokes. The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire, which endorsed Trump during the election, posted a racist picture of Patel in a turban decorated with a zionist symbol. Next to the image, the account mockingly wrote: “Epstein killed himself. No evidence exists to suggest that a single politician/powerful figure was ever blackmailed. The flight logs are fake. In fact, Epstein was just a wealthy and moral philanthropist. To suggest otherwise is anti-Semitic. Support Israel!”
Blaire White, a conservative YouTuber who says that she voted for Trump, posted: “We’re really on a rock in space paying taxes to elite pedophiles this shit is crazy.”
All of this has served as political fodder for Elon Musk, who is currently engaged in a political battle with the administration he once served. Musk has taken full advantage of the current controversy with insinuations that the Trump administration is involved in a cover-up. It certainly seems like a great opportunity for him to capitalize on MAGA disaffection and funnel it towards his new political party.
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— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2025
In addition to ridicule, there is also still plenty of anger to go around. Rightwing accounts throughout the internet reacted with shock and outrage at the government’s assertions about Epstein, and Fox News reporter Peter Doocy even put White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s feet to the fire during a press conference on Monday. Doocy noted that Bondi had previously claimed that the Epstein “client list” was sitting on her desk for review (Bondi now says that there is no such thing as Epstein’s client list). Leavitt stammered her way through this encounter, claiming that Bondi was referring to “the entirety of all of the paperwork, all of the paper in relation to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.”
Serious voices have also chimed in to criticize the government’s silence on the Epstein case. Julie K. Brown, one of the most credible journalists on the Epstein case, posted Monday: “As I’ve written too many times to count, there ARE massive amounts of FBI/DOJ files that have not been released, or those that are available are so heavily blacked out that they are unreadable. The FBI and DOJ can release these files (redacting the names of victims) so that the public knows what the FBI did — and didn’t do — to investigate others involved in Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.”
As it stands, it looks like the DOJ is ready to call this case closed, whether MAGA wants to move on or not.
For MAGA, DOJ’s Handling of the Epstein Files Has Turned Pam Bondi Into a Joke
