Trump melts down after lewd letter to Jeffrey Epstein is made public

President Donald Trump is in the midst of a temper tantrum after the Wall Street Journal on Thursday night published the contents of a lewd birthday note he sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. The note included a doodle of a naked woman and concluded, "Happy Birthday—and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

Trump has so far written four unhinged Truth Social posts trying to deny that he ever wrote the note to Epstein, who was charged with child sex trafficking in 2019 but allegedly committed suicide in prison before he faced trial. Before that, Epstein was convicted in 2008 for soliciting prostitution of a minor.

Epstein counted as his friends a number of powerful men, including Trump. In 2002, Trump raved about their friends to New York magazine. “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” Trump said. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

After the Wall Street Journal’s report went live, Trump claimed online that the birthday note is "FAKE" and threatened to sue the news outlet for publishing the note's contents.

Then he claimed the note could not be real, writing in another batshit-crazy Truth Social post that the note is "not the way I talk."

"Also, I don’t draw pictures. I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper," Trump wrote.

However, Trump does draw pictures. A number of his doodles of the New York City skyline have been auctioned off for charity—including one that sold for $29,000 and another that sold for $16,000 in 2017.

Trump also posted about the Epstein files, which his administration says don't exist, despite the fact that many who now serve in his administration had said they should be released.

To try to appease his base, which is tearing itself apart as it reckons with the fact that Trump may be part of a cover-up of the Epstein scandal, Trump said late on Thursday that he ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to release “all pertinent Grand Jury testimony” about Epstein. Legal experts say, however, that this would likely not include lists of the powerful people purported to be in the files.

Then Trump tried a new line of defense about why the Epstein files—which he long said he would release—don't exist.

"If there was a 'smoking gun' on Epstein, why didn’t the Dems, who controlled the ‘files’ for four years, and had [former Attorney General Merrick] Garland and [former FBI Director James] Comey in charge, use it? BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING!!!" Trump wrote.

Meanwhile, GOP lawmakers are working overtime to protect and defend their Dear Leader.

House Republican leadership is blocking the House from voting on a bill that would order the release of the Epstein files. Instead, Republican leaders put a toothless, nonbinding resolution on the floor that says the administration should release the files.

"Republicans spent all day writing a glorified press release to cover for a child sex abuser. What they ended up writing is a phony, non-binding resolution that does nothing," Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts said. “I moved to make it real and release the Epstein files. Every Republican voted no. Again.”

"Congress thinks you’re stupid. The rules committee passed a NON-BINDING Epstein resolution, hoping folks will accept it as real. It forces the release of NOTHING," Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky—who is trying to force a vote on a bill that would legally obligate the Trump administration to release the files—wrote in a post on X.

Meanwhile, other Republicans are playing cover for Trump. 

Rep. Randy Fine, Republican of Florida, is irate about the WSJ report, saying he is introducing legislation to end House subscriptions to the newspaper. And Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida posted a joke doodle of a naked woman to try to claim the WSJ story was fake news. 

And House Speaker Mike Johnson went on CNBC to claim that everything is fine and that Trump’s approval rating has never been higher, even though that’s patently false and his approval rating has been tanking.
“His approval ratings are skyrocketing. CNN had a story a day or two ago—he was at a 90% approval rating! There's never been a president that high,” Johnson said in a comment so absurdly false it rivals the kind of propaganda the lady in the pink dress spews about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.