{Mods – wasn’t sure if this belongs here or in the Pit. Please move if you feel appropriate.)
I haven’t been following the story closely. Here’s what I think/vaguely recall is going on:
Epstein was accused of trafficking minors to prominent people. While in jail (awaiting trial?) he died. Officially it was suicide but some folks think it was murder.
There are a lot of files that were Epstein’s. Among these was a client list (or maybe client lists). AG Bondi said not that long ago that the list was on her desk. Trump said at some point (I don’t think recently) that the Epstein files contained a lot of information that would harm Democrats. He also promised the files would be released at some point.
Conspiracy theorists on the right, many of whom are MAGA, are convinced that the files will prove those nasty Democrats are pedophiles and maybe even cannibals.
But now Trump is saying there’s nothing of note in the files, and has even implied that his followers who believe the files contain dirt on the libtards are gullible (or maybe he said or least suggested they’re stupid). Bondi is saying there is no client list.
I think Trump is surprised that his word is not sufficient for these people (who are among his followers) aren’t taking his word that there’s nothing in the files. They aren’t doing what he wants, which is to forget the whole kerfuffle.
(Please correct whatever I have wrong in the above.)
So here’s my question: Why hasn’t the Trump Administration faked some “Epstein files” to placate the conspiracy theorists?
It can’t be ethical considerations holding them back, not with this crew. So it’s got to be practical considerations, right? But what?
If there are people out there who would say the files released are fake, then they must know some of what’s in the files. If they are willing to step up and call the fake files fake, why aren’t they Telling now what’s in the files?
I know Musk said (or maybe implied) on Formerly-Known-as-Twitter that Trump is himself in the files. If that’s the case, why wouldn’t they just delete references to Trump? In fact, they could offer to delete references to other people for a chunk of money. That could be pretty profitable, no? We all know Trump likes making money.