Why the Epstein Files Won’t Change Anything

TJ Walker argues that releasing the Epstein files won't sway Trump supporters because we're in a "loyalty first, post-truth" environment where facts get dismissed as fake. He urges Democrats to stop chasing scandals and focus on voter mobilization instead.
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I have a message for all the Democrats out there, all the liberal pundits screaming day after day, release the Epstein files. Release the Epstein files. Release the Epstein files like they're in a Wizard of Oz movie and it's going to make everything warm and cuddly. You're barking up the wrong tree. Here's the case, plain and simple. Even if the Epstein files drop tomorrow, with undeniable evidence, they won't move Trump's base or the broader political balance in America. We're now in a loyalty first, post truth era where the instant response to any damaging material is fake. Ir, AI, Photoshop, not real. Playbook is familiar, deny, deflect. Then what about find a single usable example on the left and flood the zone. Many supporters have been conditioned to see anyone outside their campus existentially dangerous. And that apocalyptic frame, even horrific wrongdoing by our guy gets minimized as collateral to prevent imagined tasks. Let me be blunt here. Imagine if the Epstein files are released tomorrow and it turns out there are thousands of pictures and videos of Epstein and Trump having sex with children. Not saying that's happened. I'm saying what if that did happen? A lot of Democrats and, and liberals and people in the museum. See, I told you. That's it. Case closed. The case is not closed. The first thing you would see right away is Trump would just deny it, say, oh, it's fake news. Oh, that's AI footage. We all know you can make anyone look like anything. They would instantly create an AI video of Obama or Biden or Kamala Harris doing pedophilic things with Epstein and it would muddy the waters. That would be the first response. It's simply fake. You would not change the mind of a single Trump supporter. I believe if that damning of information came out and it had pictures and it had video, the next thing that would happen is Trump supporters would say, well, look how manly he was and these girls should thank him. This was the best night that ever happened to him. They will try to spin this as a positive thing. Now imagine the Epstein files are released and it turns out that 999 pictures and videos show Epstein and Trump with underage girls, naked, committing crimes. And there's one video of one person who's not a political player today. Let's say it's Woody Allen. He's not been implicated in this at all, but it's, you know, a 90 year old Woody Allen who is a Democrat and a liberal. What's the only thing you would see on Fox News Channel on Breitbart on the War Room, on all the conservative podcasts, they would say, see, we told you there is a liberal elite running a pedophile ring. And here is the poster boy of pedophilia. It is Woody. Again, I'm making this up. Hypothetical. It's Woody. They would point to the one example that's provable and ignore the 999 or 999,000 cases of Trump if that were the case. So I'm here to tell you, facts don't matter to people who already like Trump. If facts mattered, they wouldn't be supporting Trump. They're clearly not bothered by icky, creepy behavior. Let's not forget Trump is the guy who told us way back in 2016, it's great owning the Miss Teen USA contest. I can walk back the dressing room while the girls are naked and getting dressed and I get away with it. This is the guy who said, it's great being a celebrity. You can walk up to women and grab their you know what. And his supporter said, fine, we love it. We love you. You're a real man. That's the other thing. Let's say, for example, that footage comes out, pictures come out and it's Epstein and Trump and a dozen 16, 15 year old girls. They're all naked. The footage shows illegal acts were committed. What's the spin going to be from the Sean Hannity's and the Breitbarts and the talk radio crowd, the very elders of the world? They're going to say, see, we told you. Trump is strong and manly and virile. Look at him. He's with 12 young ladies. Doesn't that make him viral? It's not going to change their mind. I hate to tell you, so many Democrats and people I often admire and respect, liberal pundits think if they just keep hitting this Epstein file thing that one of two things will happen. One, it will bring up Trump's negatives. Well, he already has the highest negatives of anyone in the history of politics. Number two, they seem to be under the delusion that it's going to shake away some of the support of existing Republic. Not going to happen. Trump's support a decade ago was around 40%, sometimes 42%. That's what it is today. Nothing is changing these minds of these people. And here's what they have been brainwashed into. This attitude of okay, Trump might not be perfect, but any Democrat, even if they are to the right of center, even if they are a mealy mouth, finger in the wind, poll taking moderate Centrist, Democrat, even those people are like radical extremist, left wing extremist. Their only goal is to destroy all of America, all of society and impose pedophile rings every. They've been brainwashed into believing that. And you and I can say, well, that's crazy, that's absurd. Why would they think that? They do, they just do. And it's time for you and me to accept the fact that that's what they believe. So when you do have that belief, all of a sudden things like the guy you like maybe 20 years ago, having had one situation where he was a pedophile, all of a sudden it's not important to you, doesn't seem relevant. You're like, well, that's like worrying about littering or going 56 miles an hour in a 55 zone compared to our entire society being destroyed by these radical extremists, far left Democrats. And we had to realize this at some point. We're not going to change them. Now. Hillary Clinton got a lot of criticism back in 2016 for writing off the Trump support, saying half of them are a basket of deplorables, racist morons. She didn't say morons, but she wrote them off. You remember the quote. And it wasn't a politic thing to say. It wasn't a smart thing to say as candidates. But what if she were actually correct? What if it is a basket of deplorables that Trump supporters and you cannot change them, that there are absolutely no facts whatsoever, and I am of the firm belief you could have documentary evidence, video after video showing Trump molesting, sexually assaulting 17 year olds, 16 year olds, 15 year olds and younger. Yeah, I'm not alleging any of this exists. What I'm alleging is that you could show his supporters this footage and certify that it has not been altered in any way and you wouldn't gain a single vote for the other side. You just wouldn't. They'd be like, you know what, I don't see. It doesn't mean anything compared to the fact that, you know, Hillary is running a pedophile ring in a pizza shop in Washington D.C. which many of them believe. They would say, well, it doesn't matter because it's a small crime compared to the Democrats stealing the election in 2020, which didn't happen, but they now believe. So what is the answer? I hate to tell you the answer is a lot of Democrats have to get off their duffs. Now I sound like Ronald Reagan, who used that word, get off their posteriors. Try and keep a family friendly, business friendly show here and actually vote and stop being petty and stop being stupid. And I'm talking to any of the Democrats who voted for Jill Stein in 2016 and brought us Donald Trump in the first place. One thing you could say about Republicans and conservatives and maga, they're smart. They know that politics is about compromise, the art of the possible, not about the art of getting perfect. Everything you want, I guarantee you. You give a shot of sodium pentothal to all the conservative Republican traditional values, Christian ministers and say, do you want to support someone who publicly cheats, has sex with porn stars, throws ex wives in the gutter regularly? Is that your first choice for a presidential nominee? They say, no, that's awful. But he's going to give us the votes we want on the Supreme Court. He's going to ban abortion. So we're going to swallow our litmus test of everything we want. We're going to get most of what we want. Republicans and MAGA are smart at doing that. They really are. Whereas so many Democrats, so many liberals, progressives, Greens, whatever you want to call them, take this attitude of, well, the Democrat is imperfect. Oh, they took money from a corporation. They're bad. The two parties are both the same equally. I'm gonna. I'm gonna be pure and stay at home and not vote, or I'm gonna cast my vote for Jill Stein or Ralph Nader. That's why we're in this mess. That's why we're this close to completely ending this experiment in democracy because of sanctimonious Democrats and liberals and progressives who think they just need to find someone perfect. Oh, if only Bernie Sanders were the nominee. That's why we have Trump. Let's look at some raw facts here. Yes, Trump did win not only the Electoral College in 2024, he won the popular vote by a couple million votes. But let's not Forget there are 81 million Americans who could have voted in 2024 and said, not important enough, not going to bother. Yeah, no, 81 million. The Democrats need to spend their time going after those people, not people who already know that Trump is corrupt, that he lies about everything, that he's brutal, that he's vicious. Those people know who Trump is. They voted for him. They're not going to change their mind. Stop going after them. Let's go after the 81 million people who didn't bother to vote. And I'm sorry to be racial here, maybe this isn't politically correct, but I'm going To spit it out, there were 13 million Black citizens who could have voted in 2024. No, couldn't be bothered. What is Trump's favorite activity these days? If it's not, you know, bombing a Venezuelan and killing them illegally, it's firing black people. Especially firing black women, harassing them. A black woman who does her job like Letitia James or Lisa Cook. You're fired. Don't like you. You don't seem like you. You just don't look like it. Trump supporter. Now, I'm not saying all black people or white people should vote alike, but I mean, how many times do you have to be single? How many times do you have to see people who look just like you and are fired, humiliated, or have the Department of Justice coming after them to imprison them before you say, maybe I don't want this guy to stay in power. And I'm not putting it all on black people, but black people alone could have changed the last election easily. 13 million didn't vote. Trump only won by 2 million. You could make the case that, you know, Hispanics and Latinos, similar situation. It's hard to imagine any Hispanic or Latino person in America who doesn't have at least some family, cousin, second cousin, whose lives weren't destroyed by this administration. What ICE is doing. And yet some sources say as many as a half of Hispanics voted for Trump. What are you thinking? So maybe what the Democrats should do is stop talking about Epstein, maybe spend more money in the Spanish media, Spanish social media. Just putting a spotlight on Hispanic people whose lives have been ruined by this administration. And as much fun as I had at the no Kings rally last weekend or recently and other people do, and the Million Man March and all these other marches that always happen after the election, maybe Democrats need to spend even more energy getting out to vote because there's something fun and sexy about protest rally. Oh, it's like the 1960s again. Let me get my tie dye out. It seems fun, romantic. You know what's not romantic? Walking door to door saying, are you registered to vote? The elections Tuesday for the 2026 campaign. We really need your vote to take back the House. And. And then going back on election day, say, hey, did you vote yet? Do you need a ride to the polls? Not nearly as fun, not as sexy, not as much music, not as many funny costumes on election day. But that is what can rid the country of this Trump menace. Vote, maybe put some pressure on family members. Now, I'm not telling you, if you're an employer, to tell Your people, you have to vote against Trump or they're fired. I'm not telling you to do that, but wow, if you have a family member, if you've got some, a son who's failed to launch or a child, they're 23, they're living in your basement, they haven't found themselves yet, and they're too lazy to register to vote. Why don't you tell them, hey, register to vote or get out of the house. It's time to start applying some pressure, family and friends, rather than waiting for this magical Epstein file to be released. I almost think we're at the point where Trump is going to tell his team, find the Epstein file, add my name, a whole bunch of, add pictures of me with Epstein and naked girls, and let's release it to the world and let's look at the liberals heads explode. I almost think it's that point because he will see this as the ultimate way of trolling the media. Liberals, academia, anyone with decency, anyone who cares about morals, all the people he opposes. I almost think we're at that point where he will release them just to mess with you. So please, if you're a liberal, a progressive, a media pundit, and you keep on harping on this Epstein file, I think you're wasting your time. And ultimately you may actually be helping Trump. We got to focus on what matters. This next election may be the last election this country ever faces in a meaningful way. We'll still have elections in the future, but they may be elections in the way that Russia has elections, if you know what I mean. 2016 or 2026 may be our last time for a reelection. So let's stop wasting time trying to persuade people who in fact are no longer persuadable and have proven to us they are not persuadable. Let's instead focus on people who've been too lazy to vote or somehow haven't been paying attention or think that their vote doesn't matter. Let's focus on those people and let's get turnouts as big as they are for protest day on election day.
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