Opinion Trump and Bondi: There’s no Epstein client list. Why does it feel like betrayal? | Opinion

United States Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks at a roundtable discussion hosted by President Donald Trump with members of the Fraternal Order of Police at the White House in Washington on June 5. Sipa USA

President Donald Trump has spent years telling Americans to trust no one — not the media, government or the so-called “deep state.” And now they don’t.

For years, this narrative helped him deflect blame, discredit institutions and command loyalty. But now, that same distrust is coming home to roost. His supporters are turning their suspicion toward him.

Earlier this year, Attorney General Pam Bondi promised to release Jeffrey Epstein’s client list. But when the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a memo last week stating no such list exists, Bondi changed her tune — and Trump backed her up.

The appearance that the Trump administration is defending Epstein or shielding those connected to him has crossed a line for his supporters. Suddenly, Trump’s base was asking why the man who promised to expose everything was now telling them to look the other way.

For many of his supporters, this is a bridge too far. This was bound to happen. I’m just surprised it took this long.

When you spend years sowing distrust, people will believe you. Trump, once the outsider claiming to wage war on the deep state, is now the head of it. When he tells his followers to trust the system, they don’t believe him. Why should they? He taught them not to.

The DOJ memo has the MAGA movement confronting a truth it cannot dismiss: The emperor has no clothes. It’s a reckoning, and Trump is learning there are consequences.

For years, Trump climbed the political ranks, spinning felonies as witch hunts, saying the 2020 election was rigged, and whitewashing Jan. 6. I waited for his supporters to call him out on the lies. But it didn’t happen.

His supporters turned a blind eye to his 34 felonies, they justified his “locker-room talk” and backed his election denialism claims — any one of these things would’ve ended most politicians’ careers.

Now serving as the 47th president, he’s at the top — and there’s nowhere to go.

This is what happens when you rise to political power peddling conspiracy theories. Best case: Your theories get debunked. Worst case: Your supporters turn on you. When your political trade is built on fraud, collapse is inevitable. Trump should be held accountable for the damage he’s done to our institutions.

But this isn’t just a political crisis — it’s a moral one.

I’m not here to predict Trump’s downfall. This is a moment for deep self-reflection. There is an opportunity to reject conspiracy theories that are fueled by populism and return to conservative ideals. But redemption requires contrition.

The rage and populism that fueled this moment was understandable — the elites have failed the working class and our institutions have become self-serving. Looking back, the rise of Trumpism was predictable.

If we truly want to make America great, then we must recommit — not to a person, but to our country and its founding principles. Not as a slogan, but through the hard work of building a better country. No red hats or catchphrases will fix America. It begins with honesty. If you’ve bought into conspiracy theories, I understand. Trump’s motives were never about America, even if yours were.

Only through that reckoning can we remember what America is meant to be. It cannot be an inhumane society built on conspiracy theories.

What began as a tactical distrust is growing into institutional rejection. And even though Trump and Bondi swear they are telling the truth, it’s being treated as betrayal.

We don’t have to agree on every policy. But we must agree that the conspiracy theorist has been exposed. If you still can’t acknowledge the emperor has no clothes, you’re not committed to America — you’re committed to a false illusion, something that never was and never will be.

Democracy cannot function if our understanding of reality is no longer shared and institutions are universally dismissed. As the old saying goes, “There is never a wrong time to do the right thing.” That time is now.

Mary Anna Mancuso is a member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board. Her email: mmancuso@miamiherald.com