Last weekend, DonaldTrump’s Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Ghislaine Maxwell in a federal prison. This is significant because Maxwell is now the central figure in the entire Jeffrey Epstein saga. Her lawyer says she answered “every single question” over two days of interviews and never invoked privilege. And now, in a dramatic escalation, she has offered to testify before Congress — but only if granted immunity and other major conditions, according to a list of demands sent to the House Oversight Committee yesterday.

The response from Trump’s coalition to Maxwell’s efforts to secure her freedom reveals something fascinating about its fault lines. Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk told his audience on Real America’s Voice that Maxwell was a “mixed bag” but believed she’d be motivated to tell the truth in exchange for immunity or protection. Her former lawyer Alan Dershowitz called her the “Rosetta Stone” of the case on Fox News, hoping she’d be offered freedom in exchange for testimony. Newsmax host Greg Kelly dismissed her conviction as a “rush to judgment”, and suggested “she just might be a victim.” Meanwhile, MAGA influencer Benny Johnson posted an Instagram video celebrating the Maxwell meetings, declaring that “this is what transparency looks like.”

These prominent media allies are laying the groundwork for something that would have been unthinkable just months ago. Trump himself seemed to be getting ahead of the story this week, claiming Epstein had “poached” young women from his Mar-a-Lago spas, including Virginia Giuffre, which he said was why he banned Epstein from the property.

Not everyone’s buying it, though. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has been openly suspicious about whether Maxwell’s cooperation might be motivated by a pardon. House Speaker Mike Johnson said that she should have “a life sentence at least” and that he would have “great pause” regarding any pardon. Right-wing activist Jack Posobiec said the administration should only cooperate if Maxwell revealed “absolutely everything”, including “receipts and names”.

What makes this so dangerous for Trump is that it hits at the core contradiction of his movement. Pardoning Maxwell will look exactly like the kind of backroom deal they claim to despise. For years, his supporters have painted themselves as outsiders fighting a cabal of wealthy predators who protect each other through money, blackmail, and political favors. The Epstein case became their proof, an actual conspiracy of the rich and powerful abusing children. And now their champion might let the co-conspirator walk free? The cognitive dissonance is staggering.

The polling reveals just how devastating this could be. A Quinnipiac survey earlier this month found that 63% of voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the Epstein files; more troubling for the President is that Republicans split nearly evenly on the matter, 40% approving versus 36% disapproving. That’s virtually unheard of for Trump, who typically commands overwhelming GOP support. A Fox News poll found only 13% of voters believe the administration has been transparent about Epstein, with 60% of Republicans saying the same. Meanwhile, 89% of Americans want all the files released. It’s rare to see such bipartisan support for any issue these days.

MAGA’s fault lines run deeper than just polling. The QAnon Shaman himself, Jacob Chansley, who was pardoned by Trump just months ago, turned on the President by calling him a “fraud” and suggesting that he was compromised by Epstein. The very supporters who cheered “lock her up” about Hillary Clinton would watch Trump release someone who actually went to trial.

The betrayal narrative writes itself, and the enthusiasm gap is already showing. While 72% of Democratic voters say they’re “extremely” motivated to vote in 2026, only 50% of Republicans feel the same — a 22-point chasm that’s among the biggest on record. Of course, the numbers show he won’t lose everybody with a Maxwell pardon, and Epstein’s partner-in-crime certainly has everything to gain. On top of that, Trump has proven that much of his base will forgive almost anything as long as the MAGA master floods the zone with other controversies, such as investigating Barack Obama for Russiagate, while he muddles through it.

But he might lose enough influential voices, with podcasters such as Joe Rogan condemning the “gaslighting”, to fracture his coalition. In a movement built on the promise of exposing elite corruption, pardoning Epstein’s co-conspirator could be a betrayal too far.

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Oliver Bateman is a historian and journalist based in Pittsburgh. He blogs, vlogs, and podcasts at his Substack, Oliver Bateman Does the Work

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