New data shows that even Trump's most loyal media allies aren't taking the bait

͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­

	Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more The Right Wing is winning the information wars. Trump, Fox News, and the rest are setting the terms of the political debate and drowning out the Democratic message. Message Box exists to help progressives fight back—with clear messaging, sharp analysis, and the tools to take on Trump, Fox News, and the rest. If you value this work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $7 a month. Sign up for a 30-day trial right now. Get 30 day free trial Trump is Attacking Obama to Distract from Epstein; It's Not Working New data shows that even Trump's most loyal media allies aren't taking the bait Dan Pfeiffer Aug 3   READ IN APP   A few weeks ago, Donald Trump made a laughably desperate attempt to distract from the Epstein scandal enveloping his presidency. Either by explicit or implicit direction, Trump had his Director of Intelligence concoct a report that accused President Obama and his aides of treason over the Russia investigation in Trump’s first term. The specific allegations undergirding the accusation are almost too confusing and ridiculous to enumerate, but they boil down to the idea that Obama and his aides cooked the intelligence that said Russia interfered in the election on Trump’s behalf. Even Trump must have known that most serious people would never take these allegations seriously. However, his goal wasn’t to persuade the New York Times or win over Trump-skeptical voters. It was to provide some red meat to the MAGA media and right-wing influencers so that they would have something other than Trump’s refusal to release the long-promised Epstein files. Throughout his nearly decade on the political scene, Trump has failed at most things, but he has had a 100 percent hit rate when it comes to getting the right-wing media to echo his messaging — until now. New data shows that his Obama treason gambit is a complete flop. No one has lower regard for the intelligence of their supporter than Trump and this time, it appears they see through his bullshit. Upgrade to paid Debunking the Idiocy Before getting into the data, it’s probably worth making a few points about why the Obama accusations are so obviously false. It feels dumb debunking these lies, but just in case your MAGA-curious uncle wants to bring this BS up at the family barbecue, here’s the pushback: A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation helmed by Secretary of State and Trump flunky Marco Rubio confirmed the accuracy of the intelligence assessment that Trump/Gabbard are saying was cooked up to hurt Trump Suppose Marco Rubio isn’t good enough for your uncle. John Durham, a Trump-appointed special counsel, looked at this very conclusion in Trump’s first term and found no evidence of a politically motivated plot. If you want even more detail, I would recommend this New York Times op ed from John Brennan and James Clapper, two top Obama intelligence officials. This New York Times story shows that the latest allegation from FBI Director Kash Patel was based on an email fabricated by Russia, which undermines the entire allegation. Okay, enough of that. The MAGA Media isn’t taking Trump’s Bait Most political observers generally consider Trump to be a master communicator. While Trump is great at getting attention, he isn’t so great at using it to his advantage. A trait evidenced by his inability to get his story straight on Jeffrey Epstein. Trump’s true superpower, to date, has been his ability to marshal an army of friendly media outlets and content creators to amplify his message. The right-wing media ecosystem that includes Fox News and the Daily Wire, as well as people like Charlie Kirk, Laura Loomer, and Benny Johnson, is incredibly powerful and much larger than its progressive counterpart. When all of Trump's allies are singing off the same song sheet, it can bend reality for his base and break through to the voters who pay less attention to politics. I can’t think of another time when Trump told them to jump and they didn’t ask “how high.” Trump has relentlessly pushed this false narrative. He brings up in every media appearance. He has posted AI-generated videos showing Obama getting arrested in the Oval Office and one where Obama is driving OJ Simpson’s infamous White Bronco. It’s not working. Three new studies show that Trump’s new Obama conspiracy theory is barely making a ripple. Kyle Tharp, a longtime Democratic strategist who writes the Chaotic Era newsletter, found that there has been a massive drop-off in right-wing accounts mentioning Obama. Resonate, a Democratic organization that tracks which stories are breaking through online, found something similar. According to a report in their What’s Resonating newsletter, on July 30th and 31st, Right Wing accounts posted more about Sydney Sweeny than Obama. Even Fox News, Trump’s most loyal media ally, has significantly reduced its Obama coverage according to Media Matters’ data. The fact that Trump hasn’t been able to get traction from his media allies on this story is a significant development. Upgrade to paid Why Trump is Failing Trump and the Republican party have some tools to put the Obama lies back in the news. The Department of Justice has appointed a “Strike Force” to look into the “allegations.” Congress is likely to do an investigation of their own, which could include public hearings. But for the time being, Trump is face planting. Here a few reasons why: The allegations are so obviously dumb and so clearly refuted by a mountain of evidence that even Trump’s most credulous media allies feel dumb following him down this rabbit hole after he broke his promise on the Epstein files. Usually Trump fired up his allies to change the subject from something of great interest to the traditional media and Trump’s opponents (“very fine people,” January 6th, trusting Putin over his own CIA, etc). This time he is trying to distract from something in the Epstein files that they care about. Even the Right Wing audience is bored of Russia-gate. The Russia investigation is nearly a decade old. These content creators like Trump, but their audiences given them power and money. If posts or videos about a certain subject don’t generate engagement, they will move onto a subject that will. The Obama stuff seems to be a dud even with the online MAGA base. Trump is a lame duck. His time on the political stage is coming to an end. Some of the MAGA media is starting to think about what their business and influence looks like in a post-Trump GOP. Maybe this is a just a blip that is specific to this story, but it’s also possible that Trump is beginning to lose his iron group over his media allies. Upgrade to paid Share You're currently a free subscriber to The Message Box. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. Upgrade to paid   Like Comment Restack   © 2025 Dan Pfeiffer 548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104 Unsubscribe