Trump’s ‘warrior’ myth crumbles — and MAGA faith is cracking with it: NYT column

President Donald Trump has always occupied an air of infallibility within the MAGA party, but that illusion appears to be quickly fading, according to New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg.

When Trump entered the political arena in 2015, he sought to position himself as a "warrior against sex trafficking" and the dark arts of Democratic politics, Goldberg argued in an op-ed published Monday. But the Jeffrey Epstein files cover-up scandal that has plagued the Trump administration for more than a week has not only burst the bubble surrounding Trump, but it is also potentially destroying the party.

The bubble that once surrounded Trump was largely built on the cognitive dissonance of his base, Goldberg argued. That cognitive dissonance is what allowed them to believe that Trump, a convicted felon and sexual predator, had the character to take on the forces of evil that lurked inside the federal government.

"I’ve always seen the fantasy of Trump as a warrior against sex trafficking as a way for his followers to manage their cognitive dissonance about his obvious personal degeneracy," Goldberg wrote. "To believe that they are on the side of light while championing a man of such low character, Trump’s acolytes have had to conjure an enemy of vast and titanic evil, and invent a version of Trump that never existed."

Now that Trump appears to be hiding the Epstein files from his base, the fantasy of Trump being a warrior for good seems to be fading. That puts many of the MAGA loyalists in a predicament where they need to choose between Trump himself and the narrative of Trump.

"The problem for Trump is that some of his followers need to choose between their commitment to him, and to the narrative that justified his rise," Goldberg wrote.