A week ago, at a White House Cabinet meeting, Donald Trump tried to take control over the public conversation surrounding Jeffrey Epstein. The president, speaking just one day after his Justice Department released a controversial memo dismissing the entire mess out of hand, deemed the scandal over and irrelevant.

That didn’t work. On the contrary, his effort to put the debacle behind him only seemed to make matters worse. In the days that followed, Trump tried a variety of familiar tactics, including concocting a new conspiracy theory about the conspiracy theory. This didn’t work, either.

And so, just over the last day or so, the president rolled out a new tactic: He has begun lashing out at his own supporters for caring about a story he ordered them not to care about.

In brief comments to reporters late on Tuesday afternoon, Trump said only “bad people” want to keep the controversy going — an assessment that appeared to include many on the right who continue to focus attention on the matter. The next morning, as NBC News reported, the Republican president went considerably further.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday disowned his supporters who have called for the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, chiding them as ‘weaklings’ who ‘bought into this bulls—.’ The lengthy post on Truth Social represents the clearest split from the faction of his MAGA base that has questioned the Justice Department’s handling of the case.

As part of a 243-word online tirade, which included odd but obligatory references to Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton and Trump’s Russia scandal, the president condemned the Epstein controversy as a “SCAM” and a “Hoax” created by his Democratic enemies, while admonishing his “PAST supporters” who take the story seriously.

Trump proceeded to talk about how impressed he is with himself, before condemning those concerned with the Epstein matter as “weaklings,” concluding: “I don’t want their support anymore!”

A few hours later, at a White House event, he kept this going, chastising “stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans.”

If recent history is any guide, these comments will not be well received by those asking questions about the Epstein controversy, especially in MAGA world, and the presidential meltdown will not have its intended effect.

But as Trump tries to bully the political world into submission, there is a follow-up question I’d love to hear the president answer: If the whole Epstein story is an elaborate “scam” and “hoax” cooked up by Democrats, why was it embraced by so many members of his own team — including Vice President JD Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy FBI Director Don Bongino? Is it the president’s contention that they’re all “stupid,” too?

For that matter, if Democrats somehow managed to fabricate the Epstein files — an outlandish and ridiculous idea, to be sure — wouldn’t they have released the materials? And wouldn’t they have included Trump in the files to make him look bad?

Or would it make more sense to assume that the files do make the Republican president look bad?