A promise to expose a corrupt elite has turned into a perceived cover up, and the powerful online influencers who helped elect Donald Trump are now in open revolt.
“Cover-up.” That’s the word ricocheting through the manosphere, echoing across X feeds and podcast episodes after the Trump administration released the so-called Epstein files, and declared the case closed.
The backlash was instant and fierce. These were Donald Trump’s most vocal defenders in the 2024 campaign: tradcons, alpha bros, influencers, and masculine revivalists who painted Trump as a bulwark against the liberal elite and the “woke” takeover of America. They helped deliver young, disaffected male voters to Trump’s camp by casting him as the last masculine figure standing between order and chaos.
But now, many of them are openly accusing Trump’s administration of betraying the very cause they rallied behind.
On July 7, the Justice Department, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi, published its long-awaited report on Jeffrey Epstein. It concluded that Epstein was not murdered, that there was no client list, and that no prominent individuals would be charged. This announcement effectively shut down years of conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein’s death and alleged sex-trafficking network, a narrative that had become sacred ground for many on the far right.
The report landed like a bomb in the manosphere.
Matt Walsh, one of the most influential traditional conservatives online, came back from a social media hiatus to unleash a firestorm. “I’ve come back from vacation to learn that Epstein apparently wasn’t an international child sex trafficker,” he posted on X on July 12. His thread—sharp, sarcastic, and furious—went viral, accusing the administration of gaslighting its base and retreating from a moral crusade it had once endorsed.
