One Hundred Years After Mein Kampf, Trump's Base Burns Their Own Red MAGA Hats Instead of Other People's Books
How the Epstein Files Fractured the MAGA Movement
A century ago today, Adolf Hitler published the first volume of Mein Kampf. He would have been surprised to see his dark legacy in today's America, where Trump supporters are burning their MAGA hats in viral videos with millions of views. They are furious over what they see as their leader's betrayal on the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Far-right influencer Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist and Holocaust denier, declared: "We need to burn our MAGA hats, I think that's a solution. That's the only language Trump will understand. He needs to be abandoned at this point."
Oh, irony: fascism used to burn the books of others, but in today's version, they're burning their leader's hats.
The fracture runs deeper than hat burnings. At a conservative conference in Tampa this weekend, thousands of Trump supporters gathered, and all they wanted to talk about was the "Epstein files," the very files Trump now dismisses as a "hoax." Steve Bannon warned that the Trump administration could "lose 10% of the MAGA movement" due to the base's anger over the Epstein saga, potentially costing Republicans 40 House seats.
The Birthday Letter That Broke MAGA
The latest explosion came from yesterday's Wall Street Journal report about Trump's 2003 birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein, featuring a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman with Trump's signature positioned below her waist. The letter included a fictional conversation in which Trump tells Epstein, "We have certain things in common, Jeffrey," and concludes with "Happy Birthday, and may every day be another wonderful secret."
Trump denied writing the letter, calling it "a fake thing" and threatening to sue the Journal. But his followers aren't buying it. In one viral video with over 27 million views, a former supporter questioned Trump's relationship with Epstein and captioned it: "Just burnt my MAGA hat."
The Fascist Playbook's Fatal Flaw
For years, MAGA leaders promised their followers that sending Trump back to the White House would expose a shadowy cabal of elites connected to Epstein. Attorney General Pam Bondi herself told Fox News in February that the Epstein client list was "sitting on my desk right now." The FBI released a memo this month concluding that Epstein died by suicide and that there was no evidence of a "secret client list."
The base feels betrayed because they believed their own conspiracy theories. Trump has attacked his own supporters as "weaklings" for demanding the release of the Epstein files, claiming they have fallen "hook, line, and sinker" for a Democrat narrative. He told them to "not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about."
This is fascism's inevitable self-destruction, and that's a beautiful thing to watch.
When a movement builds its foundation on lies and conspiracy theories, those lies eventually collide with reality. The true believers who took the conspiracies seriously now find themselves betrayed by leaders who were simply using those conspiracies as tools for power.
History's Warning
Hitler's Mein Kampf laid out the blueprint: identify enemies, create conspiracies, demand absolute loyalty, and purge anyone who questions the narrative. But fascist movements always consume themselves. They demand such purity that even their most devoted followers eventually fail the loyalty test.
The situation has set up an unprecedented loyalty test between Trump and the movement he created. MAGA supporters are choosing between their conspiracy theories and their leader, and many are choosing the conspiracies.
Here in Europe, we know a thing or two about how quickly democratic institutions can crumble, and I find both hope and terror in these red-hat burnings. Hope, because it shows that even the most devoted followers have limits. Terror because it reveals how deeply conspiracy thinking has penetrated American politics.
The Self-Consuming Machine
The fascist playbook promises to expose enemies and deliver justice. But when the moment comes to deliver, the leaders discover they were never interested in justice, only in power. The followers, having believed the promises, revolt against the leaders who made them.
Remember that fascism's greatest enemy has always been itself. The true believers eventually realize they've been betrayed by the very people who promised to save them.
Now that MAGA is fracturing before our eyes, I hope American democracy can survive the chaos as this movement tears itself apart. The hat burnings tell us that even the most devoted followers have breaking points when promises collide with reality.
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"Now that MAGA is fracturing before our eyes, I hope American democracy can survive the chaos as this movement tears itself apart. The hat burnings tell us that even the most devoted followers have breaking points when promises collide with reality."
The Democratic National Committee and the Party need to run with this opportunity, however, as is their history, they fail in taking advantage when these moments present themselves. Making calls and holding my breath.
I do hope this begins the unravelling, but I fear the damage done to legislative budgetary priorities, not all of which have been adopted in deference to Trump. 2026 can’t arrive too soon. Thank you for hope nonetheless, as always.