MAGA’s Reaction to the Epstein Files Reveals Total Moral Collapse
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MAGA’s Reaction to the Epstein Files Reveals Total Moral Collapse
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Politics
/ February 20, 2026
MAGA’s Reaction to the Epstein Files Reveals Total Moral Collapse
The right’s moral charade was always going to be undone by the Trump of it all.
Kali Holloway
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President Donald Trump speaks with the media after a visit to the Fort Bragg Army base on February 13, 2026 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
(Nathan Howard / Getty Images)
I’m not sure we’re terrified enough about the American right scrapping even its own scant moral boundaries.
Every segment of the Trump-backing rightwing — America First nationalists, Trump loyalists and rank-and-file MAGA activists — has unsubscribed from the idea that there is any such thing as right and wrong, much less that wrongdoing should result in consequences. In effect, there is no behavior Trump’s GOP sees as too wrong to vote for. In late July 2025, almost half of Republicans said they would keep voting for Trump even if he “was officially implicated in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking activities.” Crime is legal, where rightwingers are concerned, however heinous the crime is.
At least, for themselves. The right still has morals for days when it comes to Black folks, immigrants and trans people. Its moral code has always been selective and conditional; rigorously enforced and mercilessly punitive toward “outsiders” and “others,” but generally indifferent to even the worst acts by those on the right side of whiteness and power. Wilhoit’s Law — coined by music composer Frank Wilhoit in a now-famous 2018 comment on a political science blog — neatly captures this truth. “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition — there must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” Now it’s ditching even its in-group protections.
The right’s reaction to the Epstein files disclosures is the clearest evidence of this. For the better part of a decade, conservatives lurched from one pedophile-focused moral panic to the next, proclaiming themselves the true saviors of children. They didn’t mean all children, of course; these are the same people who gifted a white woman with $750,000 just for calling a 5-year-old autistic Black boy the n-word. Their concern was always reserved for the white children they saw as fully human. They insisted pedophiles were hiding in pizza parlor basements; obsessed over Q drops and waved signs calling us to “#SavetheChildren” and “Stop Child Trafficking”; and pushed anti-LGBT “groomer” hysteria alongside anti-drag bills. Roughly half of Trump voters said they believed elected Democrats were running child sex rings in …
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MAGA’s Reaction to the Epstein Files Reveals Total Moral Collapse
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Current Issue
Politics
/ February 20, 2026
MAGA’s Reaction to the Epstein Files Reveals Total Moral Collapse
The right’s moral charade was always going to be undone by the Trump of it all.
Kali Holloway
Share
Copy Link
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Ad Policy
President Donald Trump speaks with the media after a visit to the Fort Bragg Army base on February 13, 2026 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
(Nathan Howard / Getty Images)
I’m not sure we’re terrified enough about the American right scrapping even its own scant moral boundaries.
Every segment of the Trump-backing rightwing — America First nationalists, Trump loyalists and rank-and-file MAGA activists — has unsubscribed from the idea that there is any such thing as right and wrong, much less that wrongdoing should result in consequences. In effect, there is no behavior Trump’s GOP sees as too wrong to vote for. In late July 2025, almost half of Republicans said they would keep voting for Trump even if he “was officially implicated in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking activities.” Crime is legal, where rightwingers are concerned, however heinous the crime is.
At least, for themselves. The right still has morals for days when it comes to Black folks, immigrants and trans people. Its moral code has always been selective and conditional; rigorously enforced and mercilessly punitive toward “outsiders” and “others,” but generally indifferent to even the worst acts by those on the right side of whiteness and power. Wilhoit’s Law — coined by music composer Frank Wilhoit in a now-famous 2018 comment on a political science blog — neatly captures this truth. “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition — there must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” Now it’s ditching even its in-group protections.
The right’s reaction to the Epstein files disclosures is the clearest evidence of this. For the better part of a decade, conservatives lurched from one pedophile-focused moral panic to the next, proclaiming themselves the true saviors of children. They didn’t mean all children, of course; these are the same people who gifted a white woman with $750,000 just for calling a 5-year-old autistic Black boy the n-word. Their concern was always reserved for the white children they saw as fully human. They insisted pedophiles were hiding in pizza parlor basements; obsessed over Q drops and waved signs calling us to “#SavetheChildren” and “Stop Child Trafficking”; and pushed anti-LGBT “groomer” hysteria alongside anti-drag bills. Roughly half of Trump voters said they believed elected Democrats were running child sex rings in …
MAGA’s Reaction to the Epstein Files Reveals Total Moral Collapse
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MAGA’s Reaction to the Epstein Files Reveals Total Moral Collapse
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Current Issue
Politics
/ February 20, 2026
MAGA’s Reaction to the Epstein Files Reveals Total Moral Collapse
The right’s moral charade was always going to be undone by the Trump of it all.
Kali Holloway
Share
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Email
Ad Policy
President Donald Trump speaks with the media after a visit to the Fort Bragg Army base on February 13, 2026 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
(Nathan Howard / Getty Images)
I’m not sure we’re terrified enough about the American right scrapping even its own scant moral boundaries.
Every segment of the Trump-backing rightwing — America First nationalists, Trump loyalists and rank-and-file MAGA activists — has unsubscribed from the idea that there is any such thing as right and wrong, much less that wrongdoing should result in consequences. In effect, there is no behavior Trump’s GOP sees as too wrong to vote for. In late July 2025, almost half of Republicans said they would keep voting for Trump even if he “was officially implicated in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking activities.” Crime is legal, where rightwingers are concerned, however heinous the crime is.
At least, for themselves. The right still has morals for days when it comes to Black folks, immigrants and trans people. Its moral code has always been selective and conditional; rigorously enforced and mercilessly punitive toward “outsiders” and “others,” but generally indifferent to even the worst acts by those on the right side of whiteness and power. Wilhoit’s Law — coined by music composer Frank Wilhoit in a now-famous 2018 comment on a political science blog — neatly captures this truth. “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition — there must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” Now it’s ditching even its in-group protections.
The right’s reaction to the Epstein files disclosures is the clearest evidence of this. For the better part of a decade, conservatives lurched from one pedophile-focused moral panic to the next, proclaiming themselves the true saviors of children. They didn’t mean all children, of course; these are the same people who gifted a white woman with $750,000 just for calling a 5-year-old autistic Black boy the n-word. Their concern was always reserved for the white children they saw as fully human. They insisted pedophiles were hiding in pizza parlor basements; obsessed over Q drops and waved signs calling us to “#SavetheChildren” and “Stop Child Trafficking”; and pushed anti-LGBT “groomer” hysteria alongside anti-drag bills. Roughly half of Trump voters said they believed elected Democrats were running child sex rings in …
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