The "Epstein files" and Melania's "deepfake" testimony are attempts to hide Trump's violent misogyny

Pam Bondi is still pretending she's on the verge of a big reveal about the crimes of deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Last week, Donald Trump's new attorney general and a clutch of grifty MAGA "influencers" pretended they had unearthed a trove of information about Epstein that they falsely claimed had been concealed by the previous administration. Within hours after the influencers stood outside the White House and waved binders specially made for the occasion labeled "Epstein Files," it was revealed that the stunt was as empty as the reality TV deitrius that inspired it. QAnon-drunk MAGA social media users believed they were going to get stories about prominent Democrats and major Hollywood stars engaging in child sacrifice. When all they received was confirmation of what was already known about Epstein's decades of abusing teenage girls — which is hardly considered a real crime in Trump's GOP — they couldn't hide their disappointment, whining that the "Epstein Files" must be "fake."

Bondi, however, has not given up stringing these people along with false hopes that all their QAnon fantasies are about to be proved true. She and Trump's newly appointed FBI director, Kash Patel, had a showy exchange on X, in which both pretended they would soon produce "a comprehensive report" with "no cover-ups, no missing documents, and no stone left unturned." Earlier this week, Bondi declared she now had a "truckload" of documents, insinuating, no doubt falsely, that there are huge revelations to come. 

Most of the mainstream media ignored this, having recognized that Bondi is putting on a dog and pony show for the QAnon crowd, which believes in an international conspiracy of Democrats and Hollywood celebrities to molest and kill children, before consuming them in Satanic cannibalism rituals. But the right-wing press is still hyping Bondi's breathless promises. The timing of Bondi's transparent stunt is especially telling. All this is happening while misogynist influencer Andrew Tate, accused of sex trafficking and rape, has suddenly been released by the Romanian government to the United States, where he can hide from charges in both Romania and Great Britain for his alleged sex crimes. 

As the Financial Times reported last week, the Trump administration sent Richard Grenell to speak to Romanian officials about releasing Tate and his similarly charged brother, Tristan Tate, which Romania has confirmed. (They claim there was no "pressure," but come on.) Donald Trump Jr. is Tate's friend. Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, calls herself a "big fan" of the man who was recorded taunting an alleged victim with, "The more you didn’t like it, the more I enjoyed it."

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It's not a surprise that Trump embraces a man who says "I love raping" and who bragged about how he controls women with "bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her by the neck." Trump himself is on tape crowing about how he likes to "grab them by" the genitals, and was found liable by a civil jury for sexually assaulting journalist E. Jean Carroll. As Michelle Goldberg wrote recently in the New York Times, Trump regards past accusations of sexual abuse as a resume-polisher for jobs in his administration, believing abuse highlights his values of "power, aggression, hierarchy and leader-worship." A staggering number of Trump's appointees and his shadow president, Elon Musk, have been accused of sexual abuse. 

But it's also true that it's still politically dangerous to be openly pro-rape. Even in hardcore MAGA circles, many people like to believe they are opposed to "legitimate" rape, as Todd Akin, a Missouri Republican who lost a Senate race in 2010, infamously said. Akin lost, but Trump's successes show that Republican voters crave permission to blame the vast majority of rapes on the victim, while telling themselves it's OK because they would find "exceptions" for victims who are "truly" innocent.

That's why QAnon exists. Trump voters don't like it when people correctly point out that they backed a man who bragged about committing sexual assault and who was found by a civil jury to have acted on that boast. It's not fun, being the bad guy! So a lot of them construct this elaborate fantasy where Trump isn't a sexual predator, but a hero secretly fighting the "real" sexual predators. And the crimes they make up in their heads are so grotesque — child sexual abuse, cannibalism, murder — that it makes real accusations against Trump seem minor in comparison. Trump is redeemed through this myth that he's taking on imaginary villains far worse than he is, and therefore, supporters can believe they are redeemed for backing him. 

That explains why Bondi is wasting more breath pretending she's about to release some shocking revelations about Epstein, who is helpfully dead, making it easier to manipulate his image for whatever ends the Trump administration needs. It's likely also why Melania Trump was deployed Monday to speak at a roundtable about a Senate bill meant to curb the spread of non-consensual nudes and AI "deepfake" sexual imagery online. No one outside the MAGA cult would mistake the First Lady for an advocate of justice for sexual abuse victims, but even within the context of her dishonest posturing, it was telling how she limited her definition of "victim." 

"It's heartbreaking to witness young teens, especially girls, grappling with the overwhelming challenges posed by malicious online content, like deepfakes," the third Mrs. Trump testified. Not only did she limit her scope to "children," but she also focused on fake content, generated by AI. Adult women targeted this way rated no real concern. Neither did anyone, underage or not, who had posed for real nude photos, only to see them be released against their will. 

This is a typical shell game that conservatives play. It allows them to claim opposition to sexual abuse, while turning a blind eye to most of it. Limiting concern only to victims who can be cast as "pure" and "virginal" makes it easier to write off all other victims as "asking for it." That's especially helpful for those who want moral absolution for voting for Trump, despite his disturbing history and open support for other men accused of abuse. The teen girl who had AI-generated fake nudes on the internet is a worthy victim. Adult women who drink alcohol, allow themselves to be alone with men, or who aren't virgins can be written off as fair game. 

Melania Trump's testimony doesn't just give cover for her husband's ugly views on sexual violence. As Will Oremus of the Washington Post reports, while her vision of who counts as a victim is highly constrained, the bill's scope is not. "Anyone that knows how to exploit the system can have any image they do not like removed, not just intimate images," legal expert Matt Lane told him. Every lawyer Oremus spoke to, including one who has advocated for other bills to remove non-consensual sexual imagery, agreed: The bill is so broadly written that it could be used by politicians and corporations to censor content that isn't sexual, but that they don't want the public to see. Both Elon Musk and Donald Trump are repeatedly threatening "a long prison sentence" for journalists who publish true but embarrassing information about them. This bill could give them a weapon to censor unsavory images, such as Musk's "salute" at an inauguration rally that looked to everyone with functioning eyeballs like the standard "seig heil." 

But mostly, Melania Trump and Pam Bondi are working overtime to muddy the waters over where the Trump administration stands on the issue of sexual violence. Going after dead rapists and deepfakes creates the illusion of "doing something" about sexual abuse, while shielding real-life abusers from consequences. Meanwhile, the administration's real-world actions, such as advocating for Tate's release or gutting Title IX protections at colleges and universities, send a signal to actual predators and abusers that they should go for it, with the full confidence that the Trump administration has their back.