Many ardent Donald Trump supporters are turning on the president due to his administrations treatment of the Jeffrey Epstein files, and one columnist thinks she knows why.Trump has lashed out at his base for its anger that he wont release files about the late sex trafficker that the administration has long been dangling in front of supporters. He has continued to try to convince people to forget about Epstein, despite the fact that the MAGA world has been obsessed with the case for years and despite the fact that Trump, himself, has fueled that obsession. Related MSNBC host in hysterics at Pam Bondis explanation of missing minute in Epstein surveillance footage Im curious, would you go to this surveillance company to set up your home security cameras? Joe Scarborough joked. The presidents confusion over why this matters to his base is understandable, wrote Salons Amanda Marcotte. MAGA voters have made it abundantly clear that they do not care about sexual abuse. They didnt care when a tape of Trumpbragging about sexual assaultwas released in 2016. They didnt care when he wasfound liable for sexual assaultby a civil jury in 2023. They dont mind that Trump goes out of his way to associate with men accused of sex crimes So why do they care about Jeffrey Epsteins crimes, or the identities of his alleged co-conspirators? Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Marcotte emphasized that the biggest difference between Epsteins case and the others is the victims ages. Alleged or otherwise, the victims of Trump and most of his buddies were adult women Epstein, however, abused underage girls. In that narrow space between abuse of adults and pedophilia, the MAGA masses have found their moral absolution, she wrote. Despite their acceptance of misogynist violence, they still get to be the good guys because they draw the line at raping minors. By being very loudly against pedophilia, they can recast themselves as the heroes, ignoring all the other villainous behavior, including their love of a man who boasted about how he grabs unsuspecting women by their genitals.She emphasized that Trump is of course baffled by all of this since he has never shown any sign of having a conscience and likely cant imagine how his supporters might be suppressing feelings of guilt for their complicity in backing a sexual predator. She described Epstein conspiracy theories as a coping mechanism for many Trump supporters.Yes, a civil jury found that Trumpassaulted journalist E. Jean Carrollin a department store dressing room, she wrote. But if Trump voters tell each other Bill Clinton is on the mythical Epstein client list and is about to be arrested for pedophilia, they can believe Democrats are worse.She said Trumpers can feel like they are fighting for young girls by demanding the release of the Epstein files, even though Kristi Noem mismanaged rescue efforts in the Texas floods that killed dozens of kids. They can feel like they are protecting children even though Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy is an anti-vaxxer because they believe Bill Gates is a child molester, she posited. MAGA needs Epstein conspiracies, and the movement will accept no substitute, Marcotte continued. This craving for moral absolution is why. One of the most defining features of the Trump era has been the culture war over sexual abuse.She emphasized that MAGA voters are on the wrong side of history in siding with sexual abusers time and time again, But you cant be a warrior for rape culture day in and day out without starting to ask yourself, Am I the baddie?' she said. Thats where Epstein and his imaginary client list come in. By hating on Epstein and fantasizing about political enemies being on the list, MAGA gets to play at being the heroes for once. Better yet, they can do so without the risk of bringing actual predators to justice, a precedent they dont want to establish lest it come for their leaders. After all, Epstein is dead, and his list only existed in their fevered imaginations. Marcotte acknowledged that the Department of Justice probably does have some unreleased files and videos about the Epstein case and that not everything related to this is a conspiracy theory. Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minors. While the medical examiner determined that his death was a suicide, many people, especially on the right, do not believe that it was, instead asserting that he was killed to keep him silent about the clients for whom he found children to sexually abuse.Many officials associated with Trump had spent years repeating the same rumors, andTrump himself said repeatedly in 2024 that the Epstein list needed to be released. In February, Attorney General Bondi said that she was reviewing a lot of names related to the Epstein investigation and said that the Epstein list is sitting on my desk right now to review.But last week, the Department of Justice released a memo that said there was no secret client list and reaffirmed the 2019 finding that Epstein died by suicide. Many Trump supporters were outraged that the rumored client list wouldnt be released, while many on the left speculated that the reason Bondi wasnt releasing it is because Trump himself or at least high-ranking members of his administration is on it.Trump had a decades-long friendship with Epsteinand joked about how his friend was fun and terrific andliked women on the younger side. Trump has also beenfound liable for sexual abuse by a jury, hasadmitted to sexually assaulting womenin the past, and hasadmitted to walking in on underage girlsas they changed clothes. He has been accused of sexual assault or other forms of sexual improprietyby at least 27 women. House Democrats have tried twice this week to introduce measures to get Bondi to release documents associated with the investigation into Epstein, withRepublicans blocking the measures, fueling speculation online that Republicans are protecting either Trump or other administration officials who may have sexually abused children in connection with Epstein.But one thing remains clear: Team MAGA is not happy with how things are going, and for once, they are not letting Trump distract them with something else.Trump thought nothing would get in the way of his bases loyalty to him, wrote Marcotte. But it may be that the one thing that will rattle their faith is this stark reminder that hes always been the villain, and they are his accomplices.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.