The Epstein debacle has MAGA imploding. Democrats are turning the screws.

In an upside down world, Trump and the GOP are ditching their voters' demand for transparency, while Democrats are taking up their calls for full release of Epstein documents. Why that's important.

There are so many urgent and important issues to be enraged about—from the horror and brutality of Donald Trump’s Florida concentration camp for immigrants to Trump’s tariffs now driving up inflation—but the MAGA base is angry at Dear Leader over a conspiracy theory he fueled and which he’s now desperately trying to snuff out, to no avail. Even Trump is no match for QAnon, it appears.

This is now the world we live in. And Democrats have to adapt to the world we live in.

So far, they are. And it’s important because the Epstein saga could indeed actually affect so many other much more pressing issues.

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Let’s be clear: Epstein was an insidious sex trafficker and pedophile who was protected by—and protected—many of his powerful friends. It’s not a non-story. But the Epstein saga has driven a portion of the MAGA base because it fed a deranged and dangerous conspiracy theory about a global elite of pedophiles embedded in the “deep state” and the Democratic Party.

Somehow, according the the QAnon conspiracy theory, the accused sexual assaulter and rapist Donald Trump was going to get to the bottom of it all—let’s not get too deep into the ridiculousness of that, as we’ll be going down a rabbit hole—and would reveal all once he was back in office. But that didn’t happen, and now there is outrage.

For Democrats, it’s a big opening because nothing has shaken the faith of the Trump base quite like this. Again, you don’t choose your opportunities. You just take them when they come and stoke this division as much as you can.

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, has been calling for full release of information and sent a letter to the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, accusing him of withholding funds about who financed Epstein.

Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California introduced an amendment in the House Rules Committee yesterday to force the Trump administration to release all the files. Republicans blocked it—underscoring Democrats’ charges and the MAGA base’s claims that the GOP is covering something up—but one Republican, hard-core MAGA Ralph Norman of South Carolina, voted with the Democrats. The 5-6 vote may have been different if Texas Rep. Chip Roy had been there, as he’s hard-core MAGA and may have gone with Norman.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called for the release of Epstein information:

The American people deserve to know the truth as it relates to this whole sordid Jeffrey Epstein matter. Democrats didn’t put the whole Epstein thing into the public domain. This was a conspiracy that Trump and these MAGA extremists have been fanning the flames of for the last several years and now the chickens are coming home to roost.

Democratic Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland introduced a measure in he Senate Appropriations Committee last week, with Durbin saying Trump and Republicans “either mislead the American people for years with this conspiracy or they’re covering it up now.”

The measure passed by a voice vote, but Republicans didn’t want to record the vote.

The GOP is clearly petrified. Their choice is either Trump—who punishes anyone who crosses him—or MAGA. And it’s now not clear Trump can save the GOP from an angry MAGA.

What’s almost hilarious about Durbin now taking the lead is that last year Tennessee’s Senator Marsha Blackburn, deeply immersed in the Epstein mania, was railing against him in his role as chair of the Judiciary Committee, claiming he could release the Epstein “flight logs”:

The Tennessee senator told Fox News Digital that while she could not say who was on Epstein's list, it is "important for us to keep in mind that this is one list from one trial involving one victim, one judge, and there are many other victims."

Blackburn said she wanted to get transparency to discover "who was involved in what way with Epstein, so that we can begin to break apart this sex trafficking ring and figure out who all was involved with him."

Blackburn was, of course, grandstanding and stoking the conspiracy theory for political gain, as Durbin had agreed to work with her on getting any documents. And that’s proven by the fact that she’s now suddenly gone dark, only releasing a statement last week saying she’s “hopeful” we can “uncover” the information.

Republican senators indeed are on the run, and that’s a good place for Democrats to have them.

This isn’t just about the Epstein files, however, and that’s why it’s important for Democrats to stoke it. We finally have a major rift in MAGA, in which Trump—so far—can’t seem to control the base, and could lose power over it.

And that presents Democrats with the ability to make the case to Republicans on many much more dire issues—from immigration to spending cuts—that Trump’s losing his grip.

If Trump’s power over the base is shaken just enough, GOP senators could feel more free to buck him. That’s not a given, but it’s certainly an opportunity Democrats must take as we try to save democracy.