Phelim McAleer: Release of Epstein emails backfire on Democrats as Donald Trump emerges stronger
Democrats are learning the hard way that taking down Donald Trump is nearly impossible. Every attempt has backfired spectacularly, often catapulting his popularity to new heights.
The four fake indictments in 2023-2024 – spanning classified documents, election interference in Georgia and DC, and New York hush money payments – were billed as knockout blows. Instead, they rallied his base, framing Trump as a persecuted underdog and boosting his poll numbers.
Two assassination attempts in 2024 amplified this resilience: the July rally shooting in Butler, PA, where a bullet grazed his ear, sparked a 2-5 point national lead surge over Biden; the thwarted September plot at his Florida golf course further solidified his image as unbreakable.
As Trump continues his second term in 2025, these fiascos underscore that efforts to derail him only make him stronger.
This pattern repeats itself in the recent release of Jeffrey Epstein's emails, igniting a political firestorm where initial Democratic efforts to implicate Trump backfired spectacularly. On November 12, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee selectively released a batch of emails from Epstein's estate, highlighting references to Trump in what appeared to be a campaign to tie him to the child abuser.
These included a 2011 message from Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell, his fixer who procured victims for him. In the email Epstein said a victim, whose name the Democrats obscured, “spent hours at my house with [Trump]”, and Epstein added that Trump had "never once been mentioned" in allegations. This was framed by Democrats as circumstantial evidence of complicity and a coverup. However the move quickly backfired after it was revealed the redacted victim's name was the recently deceased Virginia Giuffre who went to huge lengths to exonerate Trump in her book, stating he never acted inappropriately toward her.
Republicans swiftly retaliated, releasing an additional 20,000 pages of documents from the Epstein estate on the same day, exposing far deeper connections between Epstein and prominent Democrats. This broader tranche painted a picture of Epstein's influence permeating left-leaning circles, dwarfing Trump's limited, non-criminal associations.
Among the revelations: Bill Clinton's extensive ties, including 26 flights on Epstein's plane according to flight logs, with questions lingering about destinations and activities. No comparable flight records implicate Trump.
Larry Summers, a key advisor under Clinton and Obama, featured in emails from 2013-2019, seeking Epstein's romantic advice on a "mentee", musing on gender IQ differences (eg, "half the IQ in world was possessed by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of population"), and arranging Harvard donations from Epstein and favours. Summers says he will be stepping back from public commitments, saying he is "deeply ashamed of my actions", though no criminal links surfaced.
Even more startling, texts showed Epstein advising Democratic Representative Stacey Plaskett in real-time during the 2019 House hearing with Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer turned enemy. Epstein messaged Plaskett on questions to grill Cohen, aiming to damage Trump – eg, referencing "RONA - keeper of the secrets" (Rhona Graff, Trump's assistant). Plaskett reportedly received Epstein's input mid-hearing, raising ethics concerns about a convicted sex offender influencing congressional proceedings. This underscores Epstein's tentacles in Democratic strategy, far beyond any Trump proximity.
The documents also expose shoddy journalism from anti-Trump author Michael Wolff, who emailed Epstein advice on manipulating Trump narratives for personal gain. In exchanges, Wolff suggested letting Trump "hang himself" by denying plane or house visits, creating "valuable PR and political currency" for Epstein – potentially to blackmail or curry favour if Trump won. A 2019 email from Epstein to Wolff claimed Trump "knew about the girls" but this was decades after Trump had banned Epstein from his golf course because of his unsavoury behaviour. Suddenly when he became president, Epstein claimed without proof to have known of wrongdoing but never produced any evidence.
This was part of a pattern.
No evidence tied Trump to any of Epstein's crimes, and this was despite the fact that Joe Biden’s administration had the files for four years and never produced one damaging document.
Ultimately, the Epstein saga is revealing clumsy partisan weaponisation – with Democrats releasing tampered documents that have boomeranged, exposing their close ties to one of the nation’s most degenerate individuals.
l Phelim McAleer is a Tyrone-born producer/journalist based in Los Angeles