SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
Ever since the Justice Department and FBI announced they would not release any more files on the Epstein case, President Trump and his administration have been eager to move on, and they've been raising lots of other topics. His spy chief, Tulsi Gabbard, released documents Friday that she says shows the Obama administration's, quote, "treasonous conspiracy" to undermine Trump's 2016 election win. Then on Monday, the Trump administration released nearly a quarter million documents related to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. And in a series of recent social media posts, Trump has talked about changing the names of sports teams, jailing political enemies and more. But are Trump's supporters showing signs of moving on from the Epstein files?
We've invited the chief Washington correspondent for Puck News, Leigh Ann Caldwell, to weigh in. Leigh Ann, good morning.
LEIGH ANN CALDWELL: Good morning, Sacha.
PFEIFFER: It is quite normal for presidential administrations to try to manage bad press. How would you assess how the Trump administration is trying to manage this bad press?
CALDWELL: Well, that's right. No administration likes bad press, but President Trump has been an expert throughout his political career at managing bad press. It's one of the things he's actually quite good at. And what he's doing now is trying to move on from this Epstein saga and change the subject. So there's an element of distraction that is happening here. There's also an element of deflecting and blaming others. And there's also an element of attacking as well, finding kind of this common, quote, "enemy" that can unite his MAGA base, his supporters. And he's doing that by, of course, as all the things that you laid out, that he's trying to change the subject. He is attacking the media and The Wall Street Journal, something that is usually really successful for President Trump in changing the subject. And he's also blaming people who the MAGA base can unite around, such as James Comey, the former FBI director, President Obama, the, quote, "radical left." But this time, it seems to not be working as well for him.
PFEIFFER: And why? Why is this one sticking more than past problems usually have?
CALDWELL: Well, it seems to be so complicated for President Trump because he is trying to manage his base. He's trying to manage his supporters, and they are the ones who are not changing the subject with him. They are the ones who are still demanding answers from the president himself. And that's what's different here. Usually, they turn just as President Trump turns. When President Trump changes the subject, they change the subject. And that's why it's different. It's - he's trying to manage the people who support him the most, and when that doesn't work, that becomes more difficult for him.
PFEIFFER: And could that be because he ran as an antiestablishment candidate? Now he finds himself part of the establishment, someone from the inside. Is it more tricky now to speak to your base who still identifies outsiders when you are now an insider?
CALDWELL: Absolutely. That's always the difficulty of someone, a candidate, who runs as an antiestablishment, as the outsider. And of course, Donald Trump, President Trump, was so excellent at that. That is why he was able to assemble this coalition of supporters who are usually disenfranchised from politics, who don't usually vote. They felt that the institutions were failing them, that the government was failing, that the government wasn't being truthful. And President Trump, not just on Epstein but so many issues, promised not only in his last campaign but his previous two campaigns as well - promised to be the person who would break through all of that and do things differently than previous administrations and previous government entities. And what is so disconcerting to them and so disappointing to these people is that Donald Trump, President Trump, in this case, seems to be doing the exact thing that he promised he would not.
PFEIFFER: And sorry to only give you about 20 seconds to answer this, but does the public care about this, even if this is dominating cable news headlines?
CALDWELL: That's the interesting part. Will this have any electoral impact in the 2026 midterm elections? Every Republican and most Democrat I talk to say probably not. No one is going to vote on this, but it does damage President Trump's brand, and President Trump does not want that. This is a legacy thing for him, too.
PFEIFFER: That is Leigh Ann Caldwell, who writes for Puck News. Leigh Ann, thank you.
CALDWELL: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
