President Donald Trump's superpower as a public figure has long included the ability to deflect, evade and deny, but the Republican's well-honed methods of changing the subject when a question puts him in a politically awkward position are no longer working as the White House tries to deal with growing discontent among his usually loyal base over convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.
Trump has berated reporters, feigned ignorance and offered diversionary topics in an attempt to quell questions about Epstein and the doubts that continue to swirl around the disgraced financier's case years after his death in prison in 2019. Demands for answers have only increased are intensifying.
"For a president and an administration that are very good at controlling the narrative, this is one of the times they have a harder time," said Republican strategist Erin Maguire, a former Trump campaign spokeswoman.
Unlike the political crises that dogged Trump's first term - including two impeachments and an investigation into alleged collusion with Russia during the campaign - the people now pushing for more transparency in the Epstein case are mostly his supporters, not political opponents.
Trump has been feeding his base with conspiracy theories for years, including the false claim that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Trump advisers have also fueled conspiracies about Epstein, only to dismiss them as irrelevant after taking office.
This has not gone down well with the president’s right-wing electorate, which has long believed the government is covering up Epstein’s connections to the rich and powerful.
“Donald Trump has been running a propaganda-based Ponzi scheme for nearly a decade, and now it’s finally catching up with him,” said Jeff Duncan, a former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia and a Trump critic. “The far-right faction is entrenched. They’re determined to get this information out.”
The White House has dismissed reports of Trump’s ties to Epstein as “fake news,” although it acknowledged that his name appears in documents related to the case. Trump and Epstein were friends for years before their falling out.
"The only people who can't get away from this story are the media and the Democrats," said White House spokesman Harrison Fields.
Before leaving for Scotland on Friday, the president again called for attention to be focused elsewhere.
"People really need to focus on how well the country is doing," Trump told reporters, complaining that attention was not being focused on other people in Epstein's circle. "They're not talking about them, they're talking about me. I have nothing to do with this guy.
The Art of Diversion
In recent weeks, Trump has been using his usual diversionary tactics.
He berated a reporter who asked him about Epstein in the White House Cabinet Room. In the Oval Office, he said he wasn’t following the issue closely. And, with the help of Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, he launched an explosive treason charge against Obama for his handling of intelligence in 2016 about Russian interference in the U.S. election.
On Thursday, Trump took his “distraction tour” to at the Federal Reserve, where he clashed with Chairman Jerome Powell over construction spending and pushed for lower interest rates.
This, according to Republican strategist Brad Todd, is more effective than focusing on Obama and 2016, which voters have already "looked over" by re-electing Trump.
"Looking back (to "Russian interference" - ed. note) with Tulsi Gabbard, I don't think is a good strategy," Todd said, noting that the visit to the Federal Reserve puts the issue of economic accessibility and opposition to institutions in Washington at the forefront. "If I were him, I would go to the Fed every day until they cut rates."
Democrats smell weakness
Democrats are taking advantage of Trump's attempts to dodge the issue, sensing political weakness and internal divisions in the Republican Party that they can exploit, especially at a time when their own positions are weakened by recent election losses.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll this month found that most Americans believe the Trump administration is withholding information about Epstein — an opportunity for Democratic pressure.
Trump supporters, as well as many Democrats, are pushing for the release of government documents related to the case that the Justice Department initially promised to release.
"Yesterday was another example of the Trump team trying to throw as much stuff at the wall as possible, just to distract from the Epstein files," said Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner in a post on X on Thursday about Gabbard's accusations against Obama.
The Trump machine is running at full speed
Trump allies see the efforts to change the subject as part of the usual "full throttle" strategy.
"They always go 100 mph. "Every department, every secretary, everyone is out there flooding the space with news," says strategist Erin Maguire.
Trump has been through tougher times, and despite the frustration over the records, his conservative base remains largely satisfied with his handling of immigration and the economy. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in July found that 56 percent of Republicans support the administration's raids of immigrant workplaces, 24 percent oppose them, and 20 percent are unsure.
Sociologist Frank Luntz notes that Trump has already faced convictions and other charges, yet he still won reelection last year.
"We've been in this situation before - and he's gotten away with it every time," Luntz said.