How To Burst the MAGA Bubble*
The case of the Jeffrey Epstein list has caused disillusionment with Trump among the most fanatical conspiracy theorists. They must be carefully defused.
“It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled,” Mark Twain observed in his 1906 autobiography. Apparently when he was younger, his reputation benefited from a misunderstanding about a heroic act that never happened. Over time, “the glory built upon a lie soon [became] a most unpleasant incumbrance.” But when he tried to right the wrong 35 years later, his mother refused to believe it. It’s much better to be the mother of a reluctant hero than that of a fraud. The lesson is that once people accept a lie, it becomes part of one’s identity. And no one is willing to change that identity for another much less attractive or glorious one. But this summer, the resistance of Trump’s supporters has begun to wane.
We know that people who have been deceived defend themselves from cognitive dissonance by digging even deeper into the original lie. They rationalize, as Hannah Arendt would say. They say that the lie serves a great cause. That everyone lies, but the con artist does it for a greater purpose. They say the cause is too high to be shared or understood by the people and that it justifies all the atrocity. It generates a closed-loop, magical realism and self-referential logic. It creates a story is that replaces reality with metaphor.
The battle is no longer waged by the left and the right, progressives and conservatives, the red team and the blue team. It’s a cosmic battle between good and evil where there are only angels and demons, upright citizens who battle the corrupt elite, and a hero who works to save the world in a veiled, inconspicuous manner, pretending to be something they’re not. Only the deceived know who it really is. Inevitably, a community forms. Those who know can only talk to others who know because the rest are blind or evil. A conspiracy theory is born.
Why this conspiracy and not another? Why Jeffrey Epstein’s list and not the raids against immigrants or the “One Big Beautiful Bill”? Because Epstein was proof that there really is a global elite of pedophiles who control governments, the media and business and operate above the law. The Pizzagate basement never existed, but Epstein is real. And if Donald Trump isn’t the secret hero who came to power to destroy the elite of criminal pedophiles, then he must be part of it. Not an angel, but a demon, and possibly the worst. Then all of the sacrifices that have been made in his name have been in support of evil. On top of that, Trump responded like a cartoon villain on Truth Social, saying that his past supporters “bought into this bullshit, hook, line and sinker.” He also said, “Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats’ work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!” Trump proclaims, like the evil protagonist in the Elia Kazan classic, “A Face in the Crowd.”
It's hard to admit when you’ve been tricked. It’s a time of great vulnerability. An “I-told-you-so” campaign would send them back to la-la land. But they have demonstrated what Arendt called the “public happiness” of engaging in political action with others. They are an important political community in the U.S. I wonder if there’s a leader capable of capitalizing on that energy and channeling it into the real world in a productive way.
*Editor’s note: The full Spanish version of this article is available with a paid subscription.
“It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled,” Mark Twain observed in his 1906 autobiography. Apparently when he was younger, his reputation benefited from a misunderstanding about a heroic act that never happened. Over time, “the glory built upon a lie soon [became] a most unpleasant incumbrance.” But when he tried to right the wrong 35 years later, his mother refused to believe it. It’s much better to be the mother of a reluctant hero than that of a fraud. The lesson is that once people accept a lie, it becomes part of one’s identity. And no one is willing to change that identity for another much less attractive or glorious one. But this summer, the resistance of Trump’s supporters has begun to wane.
We know that people who have been deceived defend themselves from cognitive dissonance by digging even deeper into the original lie. They rationalize, as Hannah Arendt would say. They say that the lie serves a great cause. That everyone lies, but the con artist does it for a greater purpose. They say the cause is too high to be shared or understood by the people and that it justifies all the atrocity. It generates a closed-loop, magical realism and self-referential logic. It creates a story is that replaces reality with metaphor.
The battle is no longer waged by the left and the right, progressives and conservatives, the red team and the blue team. It’s a cosmic battle between good and evil where there are only angels and demons, upright citizens who battle the corrupt elite, and a hero who works to save the world in a veiled, inconspicuous manner, pretending to be something they’re not. Only the deceived know who it really is. Inevitably, a community forms. Those who know can only talk to others who know because the rest are blind or evil. A conspiracy theory is born.
Why this conspiracy and not another? Why Jeffrey Epstein’s list and not the raids against immigrants or the “One Big Beautiful Bill”? Because Epstein was proof that there really is a global elite of pedophiles who control governments, the media and business and operate above the law. The Pizzagate basement never existed, but Epstein is real. And if Donald Trump isn’t the secret hero who came to power to destroy the elite of criminal pedophiles, then he must be part of it. Not an angel, but a demon, and possibly the worst. Then all of the sacrifices that have been made in his name have been in support of evil. On top of that, Trump responded like a cartoon villain on Truth Social, saying that his past supporters “bought into this bullshit, hook, line and sinker.” He also said, “Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats’ work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!” Trump proclaims, like the evil protagonist in the Elia Kazan classic, “A Face in the Crowd.”
It's hard to admit when you’ve been tricked. It’s a time of great vulnerability. An “I-told-you-so” campaign would send them back to la-la land. But they have demonstrated what Arendt called the “public happiness” of engaging in political action with others. They are an important political community in the U.S. I wonder if there’s a leader capable of capitalizing on that energy and channeling it into the real world in a productive way.
*Editor’s note: The full Spanish version of this article is available with a paid subscription.
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