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<\/picture><\/div>U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy speaks during a ceremony honoring the emergency services that battled the Hawthorne brush fire last fall, on May 2, 2025, in Newington.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/span>Jim Michaud\/Hearst Connecticut Media<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n During President Trump\u2019s first term, a bizarre \u2013 in some ways, almost incomprehensible \u2013 conspiracy theory emerged among the fringes of the political right.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The \u201cQAnon\u201d theory, as it was known, held that Mr. Trump was secretly engaged in a war against an underground network of powerful, politically connected pedophiles. Supposedly, an inside source, the anonymous \u201cQ,\u201d would transmit messages online updating believers about the effort to stop these abusers, who were also accused of cannibalizing their victims.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The theory became mainstream \u2013 in the liberal mainstream press. The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, and virtually every other household name in media spilled ink explaining the unhinged theory to their audiences. Reading the coverage, one could understandably come away with the idea that these paranoid delusions were taking over right-wing politics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But by the second half of 2020, as Mr. Trump\u2019s first term was coming to a close, Pew Research Center found that only 39% of Republicans<\/a> were familiar with QAnon, compared with 55% of Democrats. Among the Republicans who had been exposed to it, a plurality said it was either \u201csomewhat bad\u201d or \u201cvery bad\u201d for the country. Few elected Republicans at the national level gave credence to QAnon; the most prominent proponent was former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who has since left politics and become a strident critic of Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But a new version of QAnon-style conspiracy theorizing surrounding Jeffrey Epstein has become a mainstream rallying cry against the president, and it\u2019s caused members of the Democratic establishment in Washington to find common cause with fringe, anti-Trump Republicans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n After the release of the so-called Epstein files, Rep. Massie and his Democratic colleague, Rep. Ro Khanna of California, said \u201cthey spotted at least six names of individuals \u2018likely incriminated\u2019 by their inclusion in the Epstein files after the two reviewed an unredacted tranche of the documents,\u201d The Hill reported<\/a>, adding that Rep. Massie said, \u201cThere\u2019s millions of files, right? And in a couple of hours, we found six men whose names have been redacted, who are implicated in the way that the files are presented.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n At least four of those men were innocent private citizens whom The Guardian reported<\/a> had \u201cno ties to Epstein.\u201d The Department of Justice told The Guardian Reps. Thomas and Massie “forced the unmasking of completely random people selected years ago for an FBI lineup\u201d who \u201chave NOTHING to do with Epstein or Maxwell.\u201d Rep. Khanna acknowledged the mistake. Rep. Massie did not.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Rep. Massie \u2013 who is also known for being a one of the most vocal antisemites<\/a> on Capitol Hill \u2013 doesn\u2019t have many friends in the Republican Party these days. Mr. Trump has been his chief critic. It shouldn\u2019t have come as a surprise that he lost Kentucky\u2019s Republican primary this month and will soon be out of Congress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n