None of this is logical. If Trump knew there was something to hide, why did he and other MAGAs (including Trump Jr.) make a big deal of promising to release the files? If there's nothing there, why not be more transparent and do more than put out a memo saying trust me, there's nothing there?
Why didn’t he know in 2019 when he had Epstein arrested.
you're assuming a logic that he intended to "pay up", something he's never had to do, he's always bullied his way thru when baffling with bullshit fell short on delivering whatever grift du jour was - coupled with his narcissistic belief of "i could shoot somebody & get away with it"
now that "supporters" aren't quite willing to swallow the baffling bullshit, he's bullying and badgering them (his standard operating procedure) as weak *everyone* who doesn't get on the bus, gets thrown under the bus: always has been, and will be
Trump is not logical.
The maga base may not understand asylum laws or how tariffs work, but they are deep into pedophile conspiracies. I hope they have the capacity to put two and two together. Trump lies to and turns on EVERYONE and often just for funnsies.
Gawd I hope his followers can see the similarities in how Trump is handling the Epstein stuff to how he handles every other issue. Lie, lie, lie, attack those who don't agree.
There is no big mystery about it: TRUMP IS STUPID.
It was a tool to fire up the Qanon base and get them to vote for him.
AH but they kept it up even after the Inauguration...
Of course. But then you figure out a way to do some sort of release. And you so point someone to do a full scale review of the material and issue a report. More transparency than what they did here. Why do a phase one, if you weren’t going to do a phase 2?
He thought they would forget about it. Or that his "2 week" delay could go on forever. He can't release anything because there is simply too much THERE there, IMO.
Wow, you actually think DJT has the capacity for logical, measured behavior
Because it’s underpants gnome strategy. There’s only phase one and phase three.
That would require forethought. He never got past the quick high of telling them what they wanted to hear in the moment.
People implicated have much more money and power than Trump has.
Stop being thinking he operates like a normal person.
The House of Cards is teetering! He will resign with a full Pardon! In addition to Epstein, he has outlived his usefulness.Project 2025 almost fully implemented! Useful idiot not needed anymore and he is not controllable! Insufferable ranting embarrassment!
He would never resign
Epstein died in 2019 during the first term. Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted at the end of 2021 under Biden. The key here is the big push by Dershowitz to get a pardon. He is acting like he has a lot of leverage.
I don’t think the FBI files have anything Trump didn’t expect, but they probably have enough to make a Maxwell pardon not viable.
Trump has always acted cagey around Maxwell, but he may not have been sure what she had. If this is all Dershowitz making it clear to Trump that she has the goods then this all makes a lot more sense.
He did it to get votes. Now he doesn't need votes anymore.
Since when have they ever had to deal with consequences? I'm sure they assumed their impunity would continue as they grab more and more power.
He thinks he’s a master of reverse psychology but he’s just a master of the obvious.
I believe it is about the hyperfocus on child sexual abuse, turned into conspiracy theories by Q-Anon which grew to include many Trump followers. Their attachment to delusions (recall H.Clinton and pizza story) is AS STRONG as their (sick) attachment to Trump. But Epstein was real. Will be endless.
Tough to plumb. Could be they thought they could scrub out Trump, but realized late that it wasn’t feasible.
Because, for a variety of reasons - ego, impairment, biological issues, etc. - people very often do not act in a logical manner. Trump is stupid. Trump surrounds himself with stupid people who give him stupid advice.
I don’t think he thinks that far in advance. He uses what he can in the moment to fuel outrage. Then he moves on. It’s not working with the Epstein files.
Exactly. Like 9 years ago, saying he'll release his taxes as soon as his audit is over, falsely claiming you can't release your taxes while they're under audit. And what happened when he didn't release his taxes? Nothing. He doesn't concern himself with thinking beyond the convenience of the moment.
Bc he wanted conspiracy theorists to vote for him. He is a liar and never intended on releasing the files. It’s all smoke & mirrors.
Never expected the bluff to be called
He wasn't really going to build the wall. He wasn't really going to lock her up. So he didn't think he'd really have to release the files.
At the time he knew he was in deep shit so what to do? What he always does, accuses others & promises he’ll release the evidence when possible. His best defense is his offense. It worked too, till it didn’t. He employs this tactic constantly & ppl fall for it. Why are folks so confused about this?
Back then he needed yo stop the bleed anyway possible & projection is his MO mainstay. He pulled the lie right out of his ass. They built a whole thing around it. Eventually he just manipulates the narrative in a different direction. But he miscalculated. This one was 2integral to their beliefs.
The man is a disciple of Norman Vincent Peele- power of positive thinking, he will insist his reality is real until everyone gives up and moves on #Trump
What he did and does to this day is gaslighting- the very epitome of gaslighting, and he thinks he is untouchable and will insist on his “truth” his “fact”- this whole country is victims of his NPD #Trump
Bill Barr destroyed what mattered of the files.
Why did he promise to release his tax returns in 2016? Trump says whatever he wants/needs to say in the moment, and figures he'll come up with a new distraction if pushed. He thinks his base is too stupid and slavishly devoted to him to care or turn away.
And they have been up to now. I think they’ll still stick with him.
He’s not wrong. For once.
It does look like some are turning away, though that may be only temporary.
Problem is… AG Pam Blondi …LIED… she not only has a copy of Epstein’s Clint List… there’s also a Seinfeld sidler case of evidence..
Seems pretty logical if this is taken a face value www.nytimes.com/2024/07/30/u...
He didn’t care. He’s in office and doesn’t need to run again. He probably figured once he was in it would be easy to manipulate the MAGA base because he hasn’t been proven wrong yet.
Like Hitler said “Tell the Big Lie over & over until everyone believes it! Tell it until you believe it” Maybe tRump & family have started to believe his lies!
It was just another lie to get his followers to vote for him!
Well he thought his maga sheep would do whatever he said no matter what! Sad for him to find out that the horde loved having a pedo stick to bash anyone they disagreed with!
One thing is certain, it seems to have captured everyone's attention. I guess we’ll find out later what else is happening right now.
1. Because he didn't think he would win, and it was a helpful grift 2. He assumed if there was anything bad in there about him, Biden would have Lucifer it, since that's what he would do
He and Murdoch use the Epstein stuff to extort powerful people around the world and exposing any of them ends the grift, so they need it to stay hidden.
Trump is always projecting.
Golly, I don't know. Why did he campaign in 2016 on promising to release his tax returns? It makes perfect sense to me. By promising to release, he implied he knew he was not in there. Now it's an issue because nobody forgot about it.
People people it never has anything to do with reality. Epstein was a favorite MAGA conspiracy. Of course Trump world latch in order to help get elected.
- Sociopaths focus on the moment and what will serve them best in the moment — They don’t do real long term strategy based on facts and logic so it makes sense if you understand they’re sociopaths.
Exactly. Trump operates by saying whatever crap comes into his head and repeating the crap that gets a response he likes. There is no plan. There is no intention to follow through on anything.
I think the key is any decision he makes is based on what he feels will benefit him IN THAT MOMENT. With zero regards for how it will play in the future. So we can assume he made a big deal of promising to release them because in that moment he felt doing so would benefit him.
Don't understand the confusion ha..... He has something to gain by lying, so he did. Now he will NOT be held accountable, for about the millionth time in a row. He will now create a diversion, and/or lie his way out of it. This will likely work again, so why would he care?
I think it’s a protection racket. He’s protecting someone important in exchange for something he needs… coughs in Supreme Court.
Just delaying the release ‘til his own name and those of his top donors and henchmen are deleted.
You’re assuming T remembers anything he says or does from one day to the next.
Your mistake here is to apply logic.
Because Trump miscalculated the interest from his base. He thought they wouldn’t care.
Because he's learned from previous experience that nobody will hold his feet to the fire. We haven't seen his tax returns 9 years since he said he'd release them in 2 weeks!
Naaaahhh, he acts more from hos stomach.. the fat one, not his brain, the empty one.
Because he knew if he said those things his supporters would use it as “proof” that he didn’t have anything to do with Epstein. But he knew he would never release the files and knew he would have the power to ensure they wouldn’t be.
I think I know the answer to this. Because Trump and MAGAs are short-sighted, irrational idiots.
When trump was asked about Kennedy files, Epstein files, he was a big old yes for Kennedy but remember he said well, Epstein maybe, there’s a lot of false stuff in there that could ruin peoples (his) lives. He a horrid man who should not be anywhere near the White House. I hope this regime topples
He has dementia. He doesn’t remember what he said even three weeks ago.
Because Trump believed that he could BS his way out of it, that’d he could scrub any evidence of his involvement and implicate his opponents, and he could always fall back on the hoax defense and his followers would fall for it. Republicans in Congress have bought in!
That was a bluff. Now getting called.
Deflection. What does he want us to ignore?
This assumes that he actually planned and paid attention. He simply thought there was nothing concrete that would incriminate him and he did not care to check. It just seemed like a good idea to dangle this in front of the maga / qanon crowd at the time. My guess is he is all over the files.
The best weapon against Trump has always been Trump. He has an unparalleled knack for self destruction.
whispers cuz they ain't that bright.
I suspect he's as caught off guard by MAGA's reaction as everyone else.
Because nothing matters. Shoot someone of 5th Avenue, etc. they don’t think beyond today.
Logic has no role in his calculus.
it's wild that you think there's anyone anywhere in this process who is capable of even basic logical reasoning
When was the last time Trump acted in a logical manner?
You can dismiss one, maybe even several coincidences but Trump and Epstein were joined at the hip.
It’s like Tommy Flanāgan (Jon Lovitz) is Pres: Yeh, I was never friends with Jeff Epstein. I was undercover for the FBI. Yeah, undercover director for the FBI. Head of the FBI, that’s the ticket. FBI Director.
#TrumpEpsteinBesties
Q started with "save the children". There were a lot of people that came in on the idea that dems were pedos and that everything that they said about trump were lies.
Trump has dementia. He does not plan ahead. He assumes everyone else forgets as much as he does.
In fairness, “just trust me” has been his thing all along. There’s never any actual PROOF of anything, just “everything is the Dems’ fault, trust me” and “fraud and waste, trust me” and “we’re only deporting criminals, trust me”. It was never logical but has always worked on his voters, until now.
Trump, as much as anybody else, bought the myth of his own invincibility.
Maybe you're too close to see it, but for those of it not in your club it is clear. He is playing with you. With all of you. And you all of you in your well-heeled circles talk about him, 24/7. Which is why he plays with you.
And you, sir, are helping nobody except yourself, by continuing to play his game.
@davidcorn.bsky.social I think the story isnt whether Trump is in it or not. The stories are: a) he lied to his base (either there never was a pedo ring or he is now the deep state/uniparty hiding said ring); b) he thinks his base is dumb and says it out loud c) he is (1/2)
2/2. ...now turning on and rejecting his base just as he turns on anyone who doesn't show complete loyalty. In any of those 3 stories lies an opportunity: to show in full color DJT's contempt for his most loyal supporters.
failed jedi mind tricks
Trump just tries to win the news cycle. He doesn’t do long or even medium term planning. It’s mostly worked for him.
The man is stupid.
They are short term thinkers who have absolute trust in their ability to manipulate people through the media
It’s called a bluff or puffery by a sociopath. It’s quite consistent with their other conduct
He lies about everything else and gets away with it. Why would this have been any different for him? His base is illogical, so he was banking on that. Has karma finally arrived for him?
You expect well-rationed thought?
He can’t help but project. It’s that simple
He was willing to do & say anything to get into office again. I think they are planning to impact the vote by changing rules and disqualifying democratic areas to guarantee power in the midterms and beyond. Remember his promise to his base. “ We are going to fix it so you never have to vote again.”
trump, who has never suffered negative consequences for his actions, acts like a person who never considers consequences 🤷🏽♂️
They truly thought they could distract from them once they won, I think. It usually works for them.
Because hes, as former Sec. Tillerson said, a fucking moron.
They’ve also hyped it up so much that even if they did release what is left it won’t be enough. Nothing will be enough to satisfy the appetite they whipped up.
Why? Come on! You know. The only reason he said and did every single thing he did…was to avoid Jack Smith and Judge Chutkin. That’s the reason for each and every lie each and everyone of them spewed. He needed every vote each of his lies secured. No matter which lie, if it worked.
Trump's ADD makes him incapable of strategic planning - it's all seat of the pants riffing. When he saw Q crowd energized by "Epstein Clinton Comet Ping Pong", Trump was happy to keep them stoked, never thinking it would blow back, or if it did, confident he could just lie his way out to the rubes.
yep. he's never been held accountable for anything else, why would he think this time would be different?
I doubt he admitted to his son that he routinely raped young teenagers
Malignant narcissists like Trump do what benefits them in the moment and will do a 180 when what they believe benefits them changes. Trump has operated this way with impunity for his entire life.
He wasn't really going to build the wall. He wasn't really going to lock her up. So he didn't think he'd really have to release the files.
He wasn't really going to release his tax returns, or an infrastructure plan, or a healthcare plan, etc.
He also has a compulsive need to get away with committing crimes out in the open. He destroys evidence, uses accountants & attorneys to obfuscate paper trails, and ensures witnesses stay “loyal” (bribery, extortion, Epstein…). It’s part of his superiority complex; makes him feel smarter than others.
It’s almost like a supernatural order how sociopaths pursue fascism, and are mercurial in their positions, PLUS they need to destroy the notion of objective truth to achieve the goal, which task is aided when their cults ACCEPT (🔑) their absurd mercurial changes, further eroding truth. Blessed 👹
This makes sense. He saw how it would bring in votes when he needed them and figured he'd bullsh*t his way out of it later.
Applying logic is about as useful as applying sunscreen to the orange one’s face
Every accusation is an admission.
Haven't seen anything in his personality to date to anticipate a conversation with his eldest son that starts: "Well Junior, you know that Epstein thing, well..."
I'm a psychotherapist and I've said many times that if you look for motivation of seemingly illogical things within a logical framework, it's not going to get you (one) anywhere. Imo, donald is making emotional choices, so there's no point in trying to make rational meaning of any of it.
Because he deep down inside really truly believes that everyone of his followers are idiots
Remember Trump's Razor: the stupidest possible explanation is usually right
I don't know for sure what is actually in his head on this, but it wouldn't be outside of Trump's character to rant at 11 on something as a propaganda tactic while planning to drop it entirely when it stopped being useful. Where's the investigation of pet-eating? Nobody is pushing for that.
Exactly this. He floods the zone so much that he thought this would be another thing lost to the tide once it’s usefulness was done
Maybe sometimes he isn't good at discerning between his base's real beliefs and shared lies.
Mr Corn can you do a story on how Bill Barr started the Epstein cover up? www.npr.org/2019/08/12/7...
Right? The logic doesn’t add up. And now they’re trying to rewrite the whole thing like it was never real to begin with. New drop today plays with that idea. See the rest of the designs at: 📎 EpsteinStickers.com #TruthSticks
He was using it to incriminate the Clinton’s and the narcissist thought MAGA would never question him.
Because he’s a fucking idiot. Just exactly like Rex Tillerson said.
Because he just says whatever lie will get him through the daily news cycle with no thought for the long run?
Yeah, it's kind of pointless and a mistake to analyze Dishonest Donald using logic, common sense or appropriate behavior. He doesn't function that way. It's always: "What benefits me at this moment."
Campaign promises are not commitments. To the extent campaign promises are not kept, the blowback is strictly confined to the unrest caused the electorate. Trump is immune to electorate unrest. Congress and GOP-central unrest? Maybe not. But they don't listen to the electorate.
It’s because he’s an incredibly stupid and feckless man, happy to help
They could have just released a fake list and 99.999% of Trumpists would have believed it. They lie about everything, but the truth on this must be so damning that they just reflexively went into denial mode.
Accepting this fact is the hardest pill many people have ever had to swallow
I’m sick of a decade of “what is Trump’s strategy?” pondering. He lives from minute to minute. He’s never had a strategy for 10 minutes from now let alone for a day, a week, a month or years. People cheered when he said he was gonna release the Epstein files and that’s it. He liked the cheering
If the “explanation” makes sense, that’s just you projecting. If it makes no sense at all, you’re probably on the right track
IMO this isn't just about pedophiles. Epstein had to go. I think it's a huge RICO case involving drugs, blackmail, human trafficking and it involves some prominent, wealthy powerful people. Trump knows he will take down a lot of people who have helped him.
I agree and hope we can eventually expose them all!!
Maybe, just maybe, Peter Thiel and J.D. Vance are okay with Trump’s downfall. Seems plausible. And logical from their viewpoint.
They could have definitely strung this along for four years. Why suddenly try and bury it.
Probably because they thought they could make it a campaign issue and then forget about it once they got elected. Never said they were smart. Dictatorship 101. Always set up the Ministry of Truth with a large capacity Memory Hole. They messed up.
Trump is so good at projection that he may have projected his own political demise
What do you mean it's not logical? Becoming President justifies whatever means it took to get there
Not unlike A.I., Trump hallucinates. He also schemes. He thinks himself a brilliant strategist (he's not) and he's honed his tactics to deliver a punch. But the Epstein Files got away from him, probably another copy emerged and his 'revised' one designed to be released got upstaged by a real one.
Trump is a moron. For example earlier today: 'Trump on Jerome Powell: “He’s a terrible Fed chair. I was surprised he was appointed.” Trump appointed Jerome Powell during his first term in office.'
www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5M1...
Bc he's in so deep that when he was asked if he'd declassify the Epstein documents during that interview he was so scared to say he wouldn't thinking that would look incriminating and because next question would be why he would not. He chose to say yes (reluctantly) and kick the can down the road.
Remember his answer was that he would declassify, then he sort of walked it back by saying he would be very careful because a lot of the things in the file were false and could hurt innocent people (himself). He also tried to distance himself with something like "I don't know much about this case".
IMO Tru*p really believes in Hitler’s Big Lie principle, as his speeches might be the only book Tru*p has actually studied. Along with his massive ego and malignant narcissism, he is high on his own supply in thinking he can lie his way out of anything, as he has done in the past. HUBRIS.
THIS!! ⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️
pam bondi promised sean hannity on march 3, 2025 -a DOCUMENT release from a "truckload" of "previously withheld" evidence containing "thousands" of docs the fbi delivered after phase 1. -a "detailed report" from kash patel explaining why those docs had been withheld, w/in 14 days. GIVE IT HERE!
MAGA is a coalition of terrible humans allied for power: Wealthy criminals Oligarchs Bigots Tech bros Theocrats Sex predators Anti-vaxxers Pizzagate nuts Trump bought Pizzagaters' votes w/promise to release the Epstein files, figuring he'd brush them off eventually. It's really that simple.
So the minor victim that claimed Trump raped her was lying? Trump doesn't want the "files" released because he knows he is throughout them combined with victim accounts such as the poor one who recently killed herself or the one that actually swam away from the island and on and on and on...
SCOTUS JUSTICES are on the list, investigations already show they accepted and failed to report gifted vacations. He wants to avoid a Constitutional Crisis that will derail his administrations already falling approval numbers. Free vacations on Pedophile Island!
Consequences to themselves is never given a thought. They simply cannot connect the dots.
I think Trump used the conspiracy as red meat for his base. He could use it against the democrats. He never intended it to be used against him. He figured once Epstein was dead, this story would die.
“They’re not that bright and things kinda got out of hand….”
You're way overthinking it. There is no logic involved; just "blame the Dems" scapegoating. Create wild conspiracies, shout them louder when questioned. It'll be fine - the base will lap up that Kool-Aid, like always. When he's king, he'll make the problem vanish. No one will question it! Whoops.
What if he just didn’t realize just how much Epstein had on him? I’d be shocked if Epstein didn’t keep photos or videos of his clients as leverage. His supporters don’t care was into teen girls. But what if it was more than that?
trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims during his first presidential term, averaging 21 per day. It works until it doesn't. 🤷♀️
He figured he would lie and say it's "Hillary who wrote them", and every one would say "oh. Ok. Nothing more to see here." Which is exactly what he did but MAGA really has a bee in their bonnet about this. Even though they voted for a rapist. It's sooooo sordid.
You were supposed to forget, as with many other campaign promises. If Epstein briefly bubbled back to the surface, you should have been sidelined by a different scandal.
“I play to people's fantasies." Donald Trump in “Art of the Deal”
In all fairness, he did not write nor has he even read "Art of the Deal".
Well, Tony Schwartz, actually.
Makes perfect sense. He needed bait that would be enticing enuf to set the hook in MAGA & "Christians". That's a strong hypocritical drug for them. He just never thought he'd have to deliver but once he was cornered, he figured they'd fall in line w whatever outlandish things he said. Yet again🙄
I’m still not 💯 that his base will leave him. Unless he makes things much worse which of course he’s very capable of doing.
Why do you expect an administration full of rapists, felons and junkies to act logically? Everything they say is lies and bullshit, while the Dems and pundits are transfixed by normalcy bias.
They are short term thinkers. What ever works in their favor at the moment. They think they can just adjust to what ever the consequences are with the next short thought. Thats why nothing they do makes sense. It’s constant setting fires and putting them out with another fire.
He made the promise because he knew it would garner him votes. He never cares about the consequence of his lies because he always assumes he can get out of it.
Because Donald Trump is a pedophile who was best friends with pedo Jeffrey Epstein who ran a pedo cabal that trump absolutely has compromised images and videos of him participating in