By Katherine Mayfield For The Earl Angle Newsletter
Key Takeaways: The Epstein Files & QAnon's 2025 Crisis
Trump Distanced Himself: Facing new Epstein file scrutiny, Trump publicly dismissed supporters demanding the files, calling them "stupid people."
QAnon's Core Belief Shattered: Trump's rejection directly contradicted the central QAnon prophecy that he would expose and dismantle elite pedophile rings, triggering widespread disillusionment.
Internal QAnon Chaos Erupted: The movement fractured, with intense infighting between those abandoning the conspiracy, those doubling down, and those shifting blame away from Trump.
Trump Campaign Panicked: His team scrambled to contain the damage, fearing a loss of a core, highly motivated voter bloc crucial to his 2024 campaign efforts.
Media Frenzy Intensified: Major outlets like CBS News, The Guardian, and CNN highlighted the stark contradiction, amplifying the crisis.
Focus Shifted to Trump's Links: The fallout refocused attention on Trump's own past social connections to Epstein, raising uncomfortable questions he tried to deflect.
Long-Term Damage Uncertain: The immediate panic was clear, but the lasting impact on Trump's political base and the QAnon movement remained a major unknown.
How Trump and QAnon Got Tangled Up Before 2025
It weren't just some fringe thing, QAnon. For years, this whole belief system grew real big online, whisperin' about secret cabals and kids bein' hurt. The absolute centerpiece? Donald Trump. Followers truly believed he was the chosen warrior, secretly battlin' the deep state and gonna lock up all these evil elites involved in pedophile rings. They called it "The Storm." Every tweet he sent, every hint he dropped, they analyzed it like scripture, proof he was playin' 4D chess against the enemies. Research groups like PRRI documented how millions bought into this, seein' Trump as their savior. His refusal to clearly denounce them, plus some winky comments, just fueled the fire. They were his digital army, convinced he'd deliver justice, specially concernin' figures like Jeffrey Epstein. That expectation, that unshakeable faith, set the stage for what happened later. It was a pressure cooker waitin' to blow if that belief got tested, ya know? And tested it sure got.
The Epstein Files Drops Like a Bomb
When them new Epstein documents finally came out mid-2025, it weren't the big bang revelation QAnon expected. Instead of clear names and convictions, it was more messy details, flight logs, testimonies painting a picture of Epstein's gross world and the powerful people who floated around it. Names got mentioned, connections hinted at, but no single "gotcha" moment. For the media, like The Guardian, it was a feast, diggin' into every association. But for QAnon? They saw it as just the start. They were sure Trump was holdin' back the real damning stuff, the stuff that would prove the whole cabal. Their online spaces exploded with demands: "Release the rest!", "Where's the list, Trump?", "It's time for The Storm!" They bombarded his campaign, his social media (or whatever platform he was usin' that week), convinced he just needed that final push to unleash the truth they'd waited years for. The pressure was immense and really public. Everyone was watchin' to see how he'd respond to his own people demanding action on the very thing they believed he was sent to fix. They felt it was finally happenin'.
Trump Calls His Supporters "Stupid People" Over the Files
So how'd Trump handle the pressure from his most devoted believers demandin' he drop the Epstein files? He basically smacked 'em down. Hard. At some event, probly distracted by somethin' else like usual, he got asked about the calls to release everything. His response? Dismissive. Contemptuous, even. He reportedly said somethin' like, "These people asking for the Epstein files, they're just stupid people. They don't get it." Sites like Meidas News caught the quote and it spread like wildfire. It weren't just ignorin' 'em; it was insultin' their intelligence, callin' them dumb for believin' the very thing his own vague hints had encouraged. He tried brushin' it off, sayin' he didn't really know Epstein well, despite plenty of old photos and quotes showin' they ran in similar circles years back, stuff CBS News had covered before. He just wanted the whole Epstein mess to go away, 'specially when it risked shinin' a light back on his past. Protectin' himself came first, even if it meant throwin' his biggest fans under the bus. The betrayal was raw and completely public. He showed 'em exactly what he thought of their devotion.
QAnon's World Shatters: The Great Betrayal of 2025
The reaction inside QAnon circles? Pure chaos. Total meltdown. Imagine buildin' your whole worldview, your hope for savin' the children, on one guy... and then he calls you stupid for askin' him to do the thing he was supposed to do. For many believers, it was like the sky fell in. Online forums and chat groups exploded. You had:
The Devastated: Posts pourin' in like, "I can't believe he said that. We trusted him. What was it all for?" Genuine heartbreak and confusion.
The Deniers: "Deepfake! Media lies! He meant something else! They're twisting his words!" Clingin' to the belief any way they could.
The Blame-Shifters: "It's not Trump! It's the advisors! The RINOs blocking him! He wants to release it but they won't let him!" Findin' anyone else to blame.
The Doublers-Down: A smaller, angrier group: "See! This proves the cabal has compromised him! We need to fight HARDER!" The conspiracy just mutated.
The Walk-Aways: People just quietly leavin' groups, deletin' accounts, feelin' humiliated and used. Radio silence.
The movement fractured instantly. The shared belief that bound 'em together – Trump as the savior – was cracked wide open. The panic wasn't just sadness; it was the terror of your whole reality collapsin'. What do you believe now? Who do you trust? The infighting got vicious. It wasn't just a disagreement; it felt like the end of their world. Years of devotion, down the drain with one careless insult. The term "Great Betrayal" started trendin' in their spaces almost immediately. The faith was broken.
Trump's Team Hits Panic Mode
Back at Trump HQ, the mood was pure panic. Like, "oh crap, we just nuked our base" panic. His advisors knew exactly how crucial that QAnon faction was. These weren't just regular voters; they were the true believers, the ones showin' up to every rally, spreadin' the word online non-stop, donatin' money, defendin' him with crazy passion. Losing even a chunk of 'em was a disaster for his 2024 hopes. So what'd they do? Damage control on overdrive.
The Walk-Back Shuffle: Junior aides and surrogates hit the friendly media circuits, tryin' to "clarify." "He didn't mean all supporters! Just those bein' unreasonable!" or "He's frustrated by the media obsession, not the people!"
Distraction Overload: Trump himself started rantin' about other stuff fast. Suddenly he's talkin' non-stop about energy policy at some AI summit, or hypin' up a Club World Cup final – anythin' to change the subject from Epstein and his pissed-off fans. Maybe even tellin' a tall tale about his uncle and the Unabomber to grab weird headlines.
Silence the Leaks?: The abrupt firin' of someone like Maurene Comey at the DOJ, while maybe coincidence timing-wise, fed into that "cleaning house" vibe his base used to love, maybe hopin' to signal action elsewhere. Anything to shift focus.
Mobilize the Rest: Doublin' down on rallies for the remaining loyalists, stokin' other culture war fires to keep them energized and loud, tryin' to drown out the QAnon cries of betrayal.
It was pure triage. They knew they couldn't undo the insult, so they tried buryin' it under noise, half-baked excuses, and rallyin' the troops who hadn't abandoned ship yet. The fear was palpable – had they just crippled the campaign's engine?
How the Media Covered the QAnon Implosion
The press had a field day, obviously. This wasn't just political gossip; it was a massive crack in a powerful online movement playin' out live. Every angle got covered:
The Direct Contradiction: Outlets like CBS News hammered the point: Trump finally speaks clearly on Epstein... to insult the believers who thought he was their champion. They replayed the "stupid people" clip constantly.
QAnon's Identity Crisis: PRRI's research suddenly became super relevant again, with analysts usin' it to explain why Trump's words caused such seismic shock within the movement. They documented the schisms happenin' online.
Trump's Epstein Links Resurface: Publications like The Guardian didn't just report the fallout; they dug back up all the old photos, quotes, and connections between Trump and Epstein, framin' Trump's dismissal as hypocritical or self-serving. "Why wouldn't he want the full truth out?" became the implied question.
The Campaign Chaos Angle: The focus wasn't just on QAnon's pain; it was on Trump's team scramblin'. Reports highlighted the frantic walk-backs and the obvious strategic panic, framin' it as a major self-inflicted wound.
The "Told You So" Factor: Many commentators openly pointed out the irony: a movement built on blind faith in a figure known for transactional relationships was ultimately betrayed by that same self-interest.
The coverage wasn't sympathetic to QAnon, but it wasn't just mockery either. It analyzed the genuine crisis of faith and its potential political consequences, usin' the moment to re-examine both Trump's history with Epstein and the fragile nature of the QAnon phenomenon. It amplified the crisis tenfold.
What Happens Next? Trump, QAnon, and the 2024 Race
Nobody really knows how this fully plays out, it's too fresh. But the paths seem kinda clear, messy though they are:
For QAnon:
A Smaller, Harder Core: The true die-hards, the "compromised Trump" theorists or the blame-shifters, will likely stick around, maybe gettin' even more extreme and paranoid. The movement shrinks but doesn't die.
The Walkaways: A significant number are probably gone for good. Humiliated, disillusioned. Where they go politically is anyone's guess – apathy? Third parties? They might just vanish from politics.
Rebranding Attempts: Some factions might try to spin off, findin' a new figurehead or focusin' solely on "Save the Children" stuff without the Trump baggage. But the unifying myth is busted.
For Trump:
Losing the Zealots: Even if he keeps some QAnon voters, he lost their fervor. The most energetic online warriors and door-knockers are diminished. That hurts ground game.
Energizing Opponents: Democrats will use this moment relentlessly – "Even his most loyal fans aren't safe from his insults!" It becomes a powerful attack ad soundbite.
Constant Distraction: The Epstein link won't go away. Every time it's brought up, so is his "stupid people" comment, remindin' voters of the betrayal.
Reliance on Other Groups: He'll have to work harder to gin up turnout with other parts of his base, maybe pushin' even more extreme rhetoric elsewhere. It makes his coalition shakier.
For the Election:
Margin of Error Erosion: In swing states, losing even a percentage point of highly motivated voters who might have stayed home otherwise could be decisive.
Narrative Shift: The story becomes less about Trump fighting the establishment and more about Trump fighting his own supporters. It's a bad look.
Epstein Stays in the News: Guaranteed. Opponents and media will keep connectin' dots, keepin' Trump's association and his dismissal of file-seekers alive.
The panic in July 2025 was real because the damage was real. Whether it's fatal to Trump's chances or just a bad stumble depends on how deep the disillusionment runs and how well he can paper over it with the rest of the base. But the trust with a key group is broken, and in politics, that energy is hard to replace. The fallout is far from over.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What exactly did Trump say about the people wanting the Epstein files? He reportedly called them "stupid people" and said "they don't get it," dismissin' their demands during a public appearance. This was widely reported, including by outlets like Meidas News.
Why was this such a big deal for QAnon followers? QAnon's core belief was that Trump was secretly fighting a global cabal of elite pedophiles and would eventually expose them ("The Storm"). Demandin' the Epstein files release was seen as part of that fight. Trump insultin' them for it shattered their belief that he was their champion, directly contradictin' years of prophecy.
Did all QAnon believers abandon Trump after this? No, the movement fractured. Some were devastated and left. Others denied he meant it or blamed advisors. Some doubled down, claimin' Trump was "compromised" and needed their help more than ever. But a significant portion definitely felt betrayed and disengaged.
How did Trump's team try to fix this? They went into damage control: surrogates tried walkin' back his comments, sayin' he only meant "unreasonable" people. Trump himself quickly pivoted to other topics (like energy or sports) to distract. They focused on rallying his remaining loyal supporters.
Could this actually hurt Trump's chances in the 2024 election? Potentially, yes. While not all QAnon believers will vote Democrat, losing their enthusiasm matters. They were highly motivated volunteers and online amplifiers. If even a portion stay home or are less active, it erodes his margin in key swing states. It also gives opponents a powerful attack line about him betraying his own supporters.
Did the Epstein files release actually implicate Trump? The specific 2025 document releases didn't provide a smoking gun against Trump. However, they did reignite scrutiny of his past social relationship with Epstein (parties, comments), which he has consistently downplayed. His main goal appeared to be distancing himself from the entire Epstein scandal, not fuelin' it.
The Fissure: On Betrayal and the American Unraveling
By Earl Cotten For The Earl Angle Newsletter
This is a story about covenants. About the fragile contracts we sign with our demons and deities. About what happens when the god you fashioned from Twitter threads and 4chan posts looks you in the eye—through the glare of a TelePrompTer, no less—and calls you stupid. The air in America smells of charred belief this summer. It smells of the cheap cologne of panic in marble hallways. It smells, faintly beneath the political rot, of something older: the sulfurous tang of a deal gone bad.
I: The Architecture of Delusion
They called it "The Storm," as if divine wrath could be scheduled like a cabinet meeting. The QAnon faithful had built their cosmology around a single axis: Donald Trump as the divinely appointed slayer of elite pedophiles. This was not fringe; it was the dark marrow inside the bone of MAGA. Millions believed with the fervor of tent-revival converts that Trump alone could purge the "deep state" cabal. They parsed his tweets like medieval monks illuminating scripture, finding coded promises in his capitalization errors. His refusal to denounce them wasn’t indifference; it was complicity wrapped in plausible deniability. He let them believe. Needed them to believe.
The Epstein case was their Jerusalem. Jeffrey Epstein’s island wasn’t just a crime scene; it was the inner sanctum of the cabal. His 2019 death in custody became the original sin—proof the deep state silenced him. Trump, they whispered, held the real files. The client list. The blackmail tapes. The keys to the kingdom of hell. When he promised release, they didn’t hear politics. They heard prophecy .
II: The Unraveling (Mid-July, 2025)
The document dump, when it came, was a dud. No smoking guns. No handcuffs for Hollywood kings or Democratic titans. Just the same sordid details—flight logs, testimony fragments—spread across media like The Guardian and Reuters .
For QAnon, this wasn’t failure; it was liturgy.
The absence of revelation was the revelation.
Trump, they reasoned, was saving the damning evidence.
He needed pressure. Their pressure.
They mobilized like a digital St. Crispin’s Day. Memes replaced pikes. Hashtags became battle cries: #ReleaseTheList #TheStormIsUponUs. They flooded Truth Social. They picketed rallies. They believed, truly believed, they were the vanguard forcing the final act. The tension was tautological, a snake eating its own desperation.
Then, the deflection. Not a whisper about files. Instead, footage of Trump praising Elon Musk’s grotesque chainsaw pantomime—a performance art piece of corporate butchery—played on loop. A metaphor made flesh for his gutting of USAID: 83% of programs slashed, staff reduced to skeletal crews while Myanmar earthquake victims lay buried in rubble and Sudanese children starved in famine zones . The dissonance was staggering: a chainsaw for the world’s poor, silence for the demons haunting his base.
III: The Betrayal (A Parking Lot in Ohio)
It happened where profound things seldom do: a rope line near a waiting SUV. A shouted question about the files. Trump paused, his face the familiar mask of bored irritation. Then the words, tossed like chicken bones to a seance:
“These people asking for the Epstein files—stupid people. They don’t get it.”
Stupid people. The digital recording, snapped up by Meidas Touch, went supernova . Not denial. Not strategy. Contempt. The covenant lay shattered on hot asphalt.
The Devastated: Forums flooded with posts like digital epitaphs: “I defended him for 8 years... and he calls us stupid?” The grief was palpable, raw as a nerve. These weren’t policy disagreements; these were divorces from reality itself.
The Deniers: Conspiracies metastasized instantly. Deepfake! AI voice clone! They clung to the narrative like shipwreck survivors to driftwood, rewriting the insult as deep-state manipulation.
The Blame-Shifters: Villains were conjured—RINOs, the “compromised” Attorney General Pam Bondi (once their heroine for brandishing empty binders of Epstein “evidence” ), anyone but the prophet himself.
The Doublers-Down: A darker turn: “He’s been compromised! The cabal got to him! This means we fight HARDER!” The savior narrative curdled into persecution mania.
The Ghosts: Accounts deleted. Groups abandoned. The silent exit of the truly broken.
The “Great Betrayal” wasn’t just a hashtag. It was the sound of a collective psyche fracturing. They hadn’t just backed a candidate; they’d built an identity within his shadow. Now the sun had gone out .
IV: The Panic Room (Mar-a-Lago/West Wing)
The backlash wasn’t poll-tested; it was visceral. At TPUSA’s Tampa summit, the air vibrated with rage. Podcaster Brandon Tatum voiced the heresy aloud: “They’re not telling us the truth.” The crowd roared “BONGINO!” over Bondi when pressed by Megyn Kelly. Jack Posobiec screamed for a “Jan 6-style committee” targeting the Epstein client list . This wasn’t dissent; it was mutiny.
Inside Trump’s orbit, the scramble was pure, uncut adrenaline:
The Walk-Back Waltz: Junior surrogates flooded OAN, Newsmax—He meant the fake news media! Not YOU, Patriots! A transparent pantomime that fooled no one.
The Distraction Machine: Trump himself lunged for shiny objects—rambling about energy dominance, boasting about a phantom “Club World Cup” bid, even dredging up a bizarre tale about his uncle and the Unabomber. Look over there, not at the wound.
Sacrificial Lambs?: The abrupt firing of Maurene Comey (DOJ) felt too convenient. A bone thrown to the mob? Or mere chaos?
Rallying the (Remaining) Troops: Ramp up the rallies. Scream louder about immigrants, wokeness, Ukraine. Bury the betrayal under decibels and dust .
They understood the stakes: QAnon wasn’t just votes. It was the engine of viral amplification, the foot soldiers of disinformation, the true believers whose fervor papered over policy voids. Losing them wasn’t losing a bloc; it was losing the cult’s core.
V: The Feast of Vultures (The Media Lens)
The press coverage wasn’t mere reporting; it was an autopsy performed live on cable news:
CBS, The Guardian, CNN: Played the “stupid people” clip on loop, juxtaposed with archival footage of Trump praising QAnon-adjacent believers as “great patriots.” The hypocrisy was the story.
The Resurfacing: Old photos of Trump and Epstein—parties in Palm Beach, the private plane, the quote: “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy... He likes beautiful women as much as I do”—flooded back. His dismissal now reeked of self-preservation, not strategic ambiguity .
The Schism Analyzed: Pollsters (PRRI) and extremism researchers (GWU’s Program on Extremism) mapped the fracture. Headlines declared: QAnon’s Prophecy Dies at Trump’s Hands.
Campaign Obituaries: The narrative shifted from “Trump the Fighter” to “Trump the Betrayer.” His team’s panic became its own storyline—evidence of a self-inflicted wound .
The media didn’t cause the crisis; they held a mirror to the smoking crater. They documented the hollowing out of faith.
VI: The Aftermath (A Nation of Ghost Towns and Harder Cores)
It is too soon for epitaphs, but the trajectories are visible:
For QAnon:
The Crystallized Core: A smaller, fiercer, more paranoid remnant will persist. Some pivot to pure “Save the Children” activism (shedding Trump’s taint). Others embrace the “compromised Trump” theory, morphing into something darker, more explicitly accelerationist or antisemitic—a path prefigured by QAnon’s roots in the “Jewish cabal” trope .
The Disillusioned: A silent exodus. These are the true casualties—not just of Trump’s insult, but of their own surrendered agency. Where do they go? Into apathy? Into the welcoming arms of other conspiracies? The digital ghost towns they leave behind are monuments to broken faith.
The Opportunists: New prophets will rise from the ashes. Ron Watkins may fade, but others will mine the veins of grievance .
For Trump:
The Enthusiasm Gap: He may retain QAnon votes, but he lost their fervor. The meme warriors, the local organizers, the small-dollar donors operating on messianic certainty—their energy is irreplaceable.
The Attack Ad Goldmine: “Stupid people.” Three words gift-wrapped for Biden/Harris. A permanent reminder of transactional cruelty.
The Epstein Anchor: His past with Epstein isn’t history; it’s a recurring nightmare. Every future document drop, every victim’s lawsuit, will resurface his dismissal and his insult.
The Coalition’s Cracks: Compensating requires doubling down on other factions—xenophobes, Christian nationalists, isolationists—making the coalition louder, leaner, and more unstable .
For America:
This is more than a campaign stumble. It is a case study in the weaponization of belief and the price of its abandonment. The QAnon faithful were victims and perpetrators. Trump exploited their deepest fears—the violated child, the omnipotent enemy—and then discarded them when their devotion became inconvenient. The tragedy isn’t just the betrayal; it’s the vast emptiness left in its wake, a psychic debt unpaid. What fills that void—nihilism, rage, or a desperate grasp for new meaning—will shape the next American unraveling.
The chainsaw’s roar that opened Trump’s term—Musk’s grotesque performance art—echoes now as metaphor. It wasn’t just foreign aid he gutted. It was the fragile faith of those who believed him their savior. He promised a storm. He delivered only the silence after the blade stops spinning, leaving behind the splintered wreckage of a million broken delusions, and the quiet, terrifying question: What do you do when the god you created calls you stupid? The answer, it seems, is written in the hollow eyes of true believers staring at blank screens, waiting for a sign that will never come. The storm, it turns out, was only ever wind.
Share this post