It is obvious by now that President Donald Trump's inept handling of the Epstein files issue is doing real damage not only to the administration, but to the Republican Party and the wider conservative movement. As such, those involved are now scrambling to change course while right-wing activists are issuing dire warnings and calls for administration officials to be fired.
Over the weekend, the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins closed out his "This Week On The Hill" program by warning the Trump administration that the Epstein files are on the verge of becoming a "political disaster."
"Have you ever comforted yourself or someone else with the old adage, 'The storm will blow over'? Most storms do. Unless they don’t. Then it’s not a storm, it’s a disaster," Perkins said.
"The only way to prevent this political storm from becoming a political disaster is transparency," Perkins advised. "Whatever the files contain, or don't contain, the perception of a cover-up is eroding what little public trust remains in government. And that erosion isn't limited to this administration; it's corroding confidence in our government as a whole, which is why it should concern all of us. We would do well to remember Watergate. It wasn't the break-in that brought down a presidency; it was the cover-up. That scandal shattered confidence in the Oval Office for a generation, and it diminished America as a whole. The lesson remains painfully relevant today."
On Monday night's episode of the Christian nationalist program "FlashPoint," right-wing activist Mark Meckler of Convention of the States openly declared that he has lost patience with the Trump administration's handling of the issue and called for Attorney General Pam Bondi to be fired.
"I am completely out of patience," Meckler declared. "I think Pam Bondi is too weak for the job, and I think she's proven herself to be too weak for the job. And I would say not just too weak; I'm going to be blunt: I think she's been completely incompetent. The way that she mishandled the Epstein files is the reason we're dealing with the Epstein files today."
"She made a mockery of the Justice Department, of the Attorney General's office in regard to how she handled that," he continued. "She never apologized for that. She never owned that. I don't blame [FBI Director] Kash Patel or [FBI Deputy Director] Dan Bongino. She's their boss and she created this situation. She's created a bad situation for the president. I think it's been mishandled from the beginning on down, and I think it's time for her to go. I think we need somebody who is a lot more professional—I'm just going to say it—a lot smarter and a lot more aggressive in handling these cases and that won't make, frankly, stupid mistakes."
