The House of Representatives will vote on declassifying the Epstein dossier on Tuesday. For the first time, a US President gave in to pressure from his own ranks and supported the vote. But the affair was just one of the reasons tensions within the MAGA movement expanded.
This Tuesday, the long-running affair surrounding the crimes of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein took another turn. A vote to release all the files is expected to take place in the US House of Representatives. Widespread approval of the law is expected – especially after US President Donald Trump suddenly changed his stance on Sunday and suddenly recommended approval to Republicans in the US Congress in an upcoming vote. “Republicans in the House of Representatives should vote to release the Epstein files because we have nothing to hide,” the US President said on his Truth Social platform.
The breaking news filling the late night news far outweighs the many unanswered questions about the crimes of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in his New York prison cell in 2019. The dispute over the transparent processing of charges against the man, who was one of America’s top celebrities among his acquaintances in Manhattan and West Palm Beach, is just one of the trench battles in the MAGA movement.
In addition to the confrontation between Trump and his former loyal supporters regarding the handling of the Epstein case, there are at least three other conflicts: Granting H1-B visas to skilled foreign workers, mostly with technology companies. Dealing with Israel and anti-Semitic attacks by the ultra-right wing MAGA. And Trump’s “America First” foreign policy, currently taking the form of massive military maneuvers off the coast of Venezuela.
The fact that powerful MAGA representatives are increasingly coming to the fore or even challenging the president not only illustrates friction within a movement that is ideologically vast and extends to the extreme right wing. It also reveals that Trump will inevitably lose power in his second term as time passes and his supporters prepare for the future.
Dispute over Epstein files
Washington politics has been following Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene’s transformation with amazement since the weekend. Greene was considered MAGA’s “poster girl” for years. Loud, provocative and openly nationalistic, representatives from Georgia have demanded unconditional loyalty to Trump for years. Before being elected to Congress in 2020, he even debated the covert option of executing Democrats Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Hillary Clinton on ultra-right social media channels.
In an interview with CNN on Sunday, which is close to the Democratic Party, he appeared to have refined himself. “I want to humbly apologize for engaging in this toxic policy; it is terrible for our country,” Greene said. “It’s something I think about a lot, especially since Charlie Kirk was murdered.”
Trump previously called Greene a “traitor,” and the representative said her life and limb were under threat. “The most hurtful thing (Trump) said, which is completely untrue, was that he called me a traitor, and that was so wrong,” Greene said. “Those are words that could turn people against me and endanger my life.”
Greene represents a group of Republicans in the US Congress who have long called for all Epstein documents to be released against Trump’s wishes. At the start of the week, alleged victims of the financier’s death published another video calling for “finally bringing light to the darkness.” Five US administrations have done nothing to fully investigate crimes against “more than a thousand girls.”
But Trump didn’t want to touch the topic until the end. Last weekend, he even summoned Greene’s party colleague, Lauren Boebert, to the White House “Situation Room” for a chat. Boebert also said she would prefer disclosure. The fact that Trump has now conceded shows that the US President knows he will not win this fight with MAGA.
Anti-Semitism controversy
But Trump didn’t just make major changes regarding the Epstein dossier. His recent comments about right-wing talk show host Tucker Carlson also caused a stir. Carlson caused a lot of controversy in the MAGA camp because he allowed activist Nick Fuentes, known for neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic comments, to give a two-hour interview in late October.
Fuentes spoke, among other things, about “the enormous challenges posed by organized Judaism in America” and that “the entire political system is based on women never being held accountable for their decisions.” Right-wing radical groups also announced that “white people here have a special heritage as Americans.”
Carlson made no attempt to confront the guest about his racist and misogynistic slogans. Instead, he offered Fuentes a platform with millions of viewers in the US. Trump didn’t get involved until nearly four weeks later. “You can’t tell (Tucker Carlson) who he can interview,” the president said while blessing Fuentes with such a large audience. At the same time, Trump admitted to knowing “almost nothing” about Fuentes. In fact, Trump met the right-wing radical figure while having dinner at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in November 2022.
On the one hand, this incident illustrates the growing division within MAGA regarding the issue of Israel and Gaza. Criticism of Trump has intensified because, according to some Republicans, he has not set any political or financial limits on Israel’s actions in Gaza, instead focusing on the issue of the high cost of living in the US. At the same time, racist and anti-Semitic groups like Fuentes were allowed to exert greater influence in the MAGA world, which angered the movement’s large pro-Israel faction.
Ted Cruz, a Trump loyalist and senator from Texas, is already using the topic for his own election campaign. “When voices in our movement represent dangerous and misguided ideas, we cannot turn a blind eye,” Cruz said recently, who sided with Israel. According to media reports, Cruz is said to be considering running in 2028.
Visa issue divides MAGA
In mid-September, Trump suddenly ordered that the 85,000 “H1B” visas issued annually to skilled workers would now cost $100,000. A surprise especially for the technology industry, which employs the best experts around the world. By doing this, the president fulfilled one of the most important demands of the MAGA base: that good-paying jobs go to U.S. citizens.
This is one of Vice President J.D. Vance’s favorite topics: Rather than bringing in foreign workers, the government should focus on “supporting domestic skilled workers,” Vance told Fox News over the weekend. Higher wages for domestic workers are good for America, MAGA favorites insist.
Trump, on the other hand, has repeatedly emphasized that he supports the skilled worker visa program. The US “must bring foreign talent to the country,” the US President said recently. A rift for MAGA, where wealthy tech investors have also found a place alongside orthodox “America First” fans.
“America First” instead of foreign missions
The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford has been off the coast of Venezuela since Sunday, with 5,000 troops and dozens of fighter jets on board. Eight US warships are already in the area. On Monday, Trump did not rule out a military strike against Nicolas Maduro’s regime.
At the same time, Trump spends a lot of time with foreign guests. Last week he received interim Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa, and this week he received Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky, and he traveled to NATO meetings and to Asia.
This sparked an outcry within the MAGA movement, which protested that prices had not fallen despite Trump’s campaign promises. “Now is the time to double and triple the pressure on President Trump’s agenda,” his former adviser Steve Bannon said after the November 5 election, which Democrats clearly won. The president should focus on the high cost of living, Bannon said.
“I would love to see endless meetings in the White House about domestic policy and not about foreign policy and with heads of state from other countries,” Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene complained a few days ago.
