U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with reporters, as he departs for travel to Pennsylvania from the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, D.C. U.S., July 15, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
MAGA Republicans are bitterly divided over U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. President Donald Trump is vigorously defending Bondi, urging Republicans to move on from Epstein and accusing them of being "duped" by a Democratic "hoax." But some Trump supporters are joining Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino in calling for Bondi to be fired.
During an appearance on journalist Molly Jong-Fast's vodcast "Fast Times" posted on July 20, The Lincoln Project's Rick Wilson — a Never Trump conservative and former GOP strategist — argued that Trump is flailing badly in his response to the Epstein controversy.
Wilson told host Jong-Fast, "It's all Epstein all the time for the rest of all time. Because he has lost control of the narrative. He keeps trying to throw…. bait out there for the rubes, and they're not even picking it up. They're not taking it. They're not wanting it. They're angry with him."
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Fast noted that Trump is trying to use "culture-war" subjects to distract his supporters from Epstein — for example, voicing his opposition to the football team, the Washington Redskins, being renamed the Washington Commanders — and it isn't working.
Wilson advised Democrats, "Stay on this thing. Do not let him off the mat. Do not let him recover. Do not let him get a moment of peace in this. Do not let him play his name. And so far, not only is his base not letting him play his game, but Democrats have done a great job at not letting him play his game."
Democrats, Wilson added, need to "keep pounding him on the Epstein issue."
Wilson told Jong-Fast, "They spent ten years, Molly, telling themselves: 'We're saving the children. And Donald Trump will help us save the children from Hillary Clinton and George Soros and John Podesta and whoever.' It was all a lie. It was all made up, but they bought into it — and it became a central part of their political character, their personality. They couldn't stop themselves from internalizing it."
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