Colliding Conspiracies - How Trump Is Undermining Himself in the Capital

Donald Trump has once again plunged Washington into a vortex of speculation, suspicion, and bizarre conspiracy theories - but this time, the ghosts he summoned seem to be catching up with him. Ever since his name officially appeared in the unsealed Jeffrey Epstein files, the president has been scrambling to divert public attention with a whole cascade of new claims - from Barack Obama's alleged treason to magically signed documents from the White House. Trump, whose political career was built on the systematic dismantling of institutional trust, is now fighting against a system that has long become his own. On social media, on conservative channels, and even within government circles, conspiracy theories are now clashing - some launched by him, others directed against him. And few are as explosive as the one concerning his former closeness to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

When it was revealed on Friday that House Speaker Mike Johnson abruptly sent the House of Representatives into summer recess - precisely at the moment when a hearing on Epstein's network was due - even Trump-loyal Republicans suspected a cover-up. The Democrats, for their part, are now throwing themselves headlong into the topic they had largely ignored for years, sensing political capital. Meanwhile, the president is leaving a bizarre trail of distraction behind him at his golf club in Scotland: He declares that the media should rather talk about Bill Clinton than about him. He accuses James Comey, Barack Obama, and the Biden administration of having "invented" the Epstein files in the first place. And he spreads digitally manipulated images in which Obama is either arrested or chased in a white Bronco like O. J. Simpson - once unthinkable, now everyday.

The obsession with conspiracies has a long tradition in American history, but never before has it been official government policy. Trump uses them not just as rhetorical tools, but as a kind of job application question for his administration: Anyone who does not believe he "won" in 2020 has little chance. He released hundreds of thousands of pages on JFK and MLK, speculated about missing gold at Fort Knox - and lets his own intelligence chief, Tulsi Gabbard, publicly declare that Obama had orchestrated a "multi-year coup attempt." This is a form of governance detached from facts. While foreign policy, inflation, and arms deliveries fade into the background, the logic of suspicion dominates the agenda. That Roy Black, one of Epstein's former lawyers, dies in the middle of the escalation, is for many just more fuel for the fire. Even Macron is not spared: He and his wife are suing right-wing commentator Candace Owens for defamation - she had claimed that Brigitte Macron is a man.

But despite all the distractions, the central point remains: Trump was friends with Epstein for years before they broke ties. What his name in the files truly means remains unclear - but his own reaction speaks volumes. The president, who once claimed that Osama bin Laden was still alive and that the Navy SEALs had been sacrificed, now clings to new narratives to drown out the old one. But this time, the echo is louder than the spin. What once fueled his political rise has now become a liability: The conspiracies that once nurtured Trump are now devouring his own Washington cosmos. And the country is watching - somewhere between fascination, fatigue, and growing unease.

Sex, Power, and Shadow Boxing - Trump's Melania Moment in the Shadow of the Epstein Files

In Washington, it is not political concepts that are competing right now, but conspiracy theories. They grow like vines over talk shows, penetrate party headquarters, erode institutions - and one man, as so often, is sitting right at the center: Donald Trump. The president is facing a storm of headlines since his name appeared in connection with the newly released Epstein files. And as the pressure mounts, the white noise shifts toward Barack Obama, alleged treason, supposedly manipulated CIA dossiers, and a heavily sedated Hillary Clinton. But the truly explosive sentence comes quietly - in a podcast with Michael Wolff, Trump biographer and seasoned observer of power: "The first time Trump and Melania had sex was on Epstein's jet."

t's a sentence that hits. One that goes viral, that is shared, edited, spread as fact. A sentence that has it all: sex, scandal, the rich, airplanes, Epstein. Only one thing it lacks: context. Because when we add our own research material - especially the complete audio recordings of Wolff, which we also possess, like many others in investigative journalism - a different picture emerges. Yes, Epstein was part of the fashion world in which Melania moved. Yes, Paolo Zampolli, founder of the modeling agency ID Models and close Epstein confidant, was the one who introduced Melania to Trump in 1998. And yes, she appeared in an environment permeated by Ghislaine Maxwell, modeling gigs, and the gazes of old men. But: The alleged first sexual encounter on the "Lolita Express" - as provocative as it sounds - according to our research, took place only after they had officially met.

Of course, much remains unclear. What happened on the jet can only be attested to by the two of them - and Epstein. And it is no one else's business. But it makes a difference whether something is possible or whether it is proven. And in that difference lies the essence of what investigative journalism must achieve: distinguishing between truth and mystique. Between documented statement and media affect. Between clarification and spectacle. A spectacle that goes so far as to claim that Melania and Donald Trump met on Epstein's plane and not at the Kit Kat Club.

Michael Wolff's books and tapes often walk this line, and often fall below it - between intimate, unserious observation and glittering tales from 1001 Nights. When he says that Melania was "very involved" in Epstein's circle, one has to ask: involved in what? In meetings? In connections? In knowledge? The sentence remains vague, and perhaps that is its purpose. It is the same method Trump himself has been using for years - insinuations instead of evidence, suggestion instead of analysis. Because the goal is often not truth, but effect.

When we bring in our research material, the statement being circulated is not just vague - it is simply false. It is possible that Donald Trump seduced Melania on the plane under the blue sky - but according to our records, that was only after they had met. But one must distinguish between truth and mystique. The big question is: What is the goal of such statements? Unfortunately, it is true that such stories sell quickly. But in investigative work, it is about the truth - the hard road of delivering it for free, because the world has already paid for the falsehoods. The claim that Melania was introduced to Trump through Epstein is not wrong - but it is no substitute for documented proof. It lives off the atmosphere, not the file. But anyone who walks the investigative path only delivers it - if at all - at the price of certainty. And that sometimes means: not at all. Because the world has already paid enough - for false stories, for powerful lies, for a spectacle no one could stop. Our job is at least to try to separate them: the fact from the reflex. The analysis from the affect. The responsibility from the hype.

Investigative journalism requires courage, conviction – and your support.