"As it happens, this past weekend supplied a pair of textbook illustrations showing how the MAGA power elite throttle the mediasphere to serve their purposes. Exhibit A was House Speaker Mike Johnson's bizarre declaration to Capitol Hill reporters that President Donald Trump had operated as an FBI informant during his decade-and-a-half friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. "He was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down," Johnson confidently asserted, without presenting any evidence."
"Never mind that Trump himself has disavowed any past civilian dealings with the FBI, even though he did do some informing work to advance his casino interests-something far more on-brand for him than a deep-cover op targeting a notorious sexual predator of underage girls. Never mind as well that if Trump did undertake this covert role, it didn't stop him from helping Epstein's allies; in 2017, Trump's first White House signed on Alexander Acosta, the former Florida prosecutor who oversaw Epstein's get-out-of-jail agreement there, as its secretary of labor. And never mind that just two months ago, Trump abruptly fired the federal prosecutor who did bring Epstein to justice, without any plausible rationale."
Intense attention on the second Trump administration's authoritarian agenda often overlooks the messaging apparatus that sustains it. A recent weekend illustrated how MAGA elites throttle the mediasphere with unfounded claims to serve their purposes. House Speaker Mike Johnson asserted, without evidence, that Trump acted as an FBI informant in his long friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, a claim that resonates with QAnon believers. Trump has denied civilian FBI dealings despite past informing for casino interests. Regardless of any informant role, Trump aided Epstein allies, appointing Alexander Acosta and later removing the prosecutor who pursued Epstein.
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