Rex Huppke: GOP suffers Trump-induced identity crisis on guns, Epstein

The Republican Party’s early messaging in advance of this year’s midterm elections seems to boil down roughly to: Work longer, don’t carry guns and, as Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche recently said of the many powerful men who appear in the Jeffrey Epstein files, “It is not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein.”

Way to go, guys! As a licensed political pundit, I’m here to tell you this is exactly what GOP voters want to hear, and you should run hard on those ideas.

The “work longer, you lazy sots” bit – I’m paraphrasing – came from Dr. Mehmet Oz, who, for some reason, is a government official we are forced to pretend is a serious person.

The administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Feb. 2 that Americans need to get healthier so they can work harder and pay down the nation’s debt: “If we could get the average American … to start working a year earlier, right out of high school, or work a year later – not retire – or work better during their lifetime because they’re healthy, it would generate about $3 trillion to the U.S. economy. That would more than remove the debt.”

Let me workshop that idea for Republicans so it’s a more digestible campaign pitch: “Hey poors! Get to the gym and eat better so billionaires can squeeze more money out of you, avoid tax increases and buy additional yachts.”

Next, we have the GOP’s sudden aversion to guns, after decades of never shutting up about how carrying as many guns as possible is the most important right any American has, and anyone who tries to infringe on that right is a commie lib-monster.

Former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, who is remarkably the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said Feb. 2: “I don’t care if you have a license in another district, and I don’t care if you’re a law-abiding gun owner somewhere else – you bring a gun into this district, count on going to jail.”

That’s quite a statement from a party that has treated the Second Amendment as more precious than schoolchildren. Less than 24 hours later, Pirro attempted to backtrack, even though the district does require a D.C.-specific concealed carry permit. She said she is “focused on individuals who are unlawfully carrying guns,” but her initial comment falls more in line with recent Trump administration remarks on firearms.

Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis man brutally gunned down by federal agents, was a licensed gun owner. He legally had a gun with him at the time of the shooting, but he was only holding a cellphone when he was killed.

President Donald Trump said he didn’t like that Pretti had a gun, and that “you can’t have guns, you can’t walk in with guns.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said, “I don’t know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said, “You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It’s that simple. You don’t have that right to break the law.”

Pretti wasn’t breaking any laws, and I could swear I’ve repeatedly seen Second Amendment enthusiasts carrying guns at protests, and in Target stores, and in Starbucks, and pretty much anywhere they darn well please.

But hey, I guess this is the new GOP – Trump’s GOP – and now Republicans hate guns. Cool. Very cool.

The proper midterm elections messaging on that subject would be: “Vote Republican – we’ll take away your stupid guns!”

I love it.

There are myriad other issues conservatives have changed their tune on, of course. Under Trump, they don’t seem to care much about laws or the Constitution – “GOP 2026: Laws are for dorks!”

Criticism of big government, executive overreach and the weaponization of the federal government has morphed into a full-on embrace of such things – “MAGA: Abide government orders or we’ll sue/shoot you!”

But undoubtedly the biggest right-wing pivot of all involves the Epstein files, a foundational element of the MAGA movement that many believed would expose a cabal of elites engaged in a grotesque pedophile ring.

The files the Trump administration has, kicking and screaming, released do seem to show overwhelming evidence that rich and powerful men actively engaged with Epstein even after he had been convicted of sex crimes in 2008.

But one name that appears a lot in the files is Donald Trump. Thus you have an entire political party pivoting away from condemnation of the monstrousness and criminality of Epstein and his circle of friends to the considerably softer: “It is not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein.”

I strongly suggest that elected Republicans adopt that line as their primary campaign message in the months leading up to the midterms. Because when you don’t follow laws, and you don’t respect working people and you change your tune the second something starts to make you look bad, you might as well tell people the truth and run with: “The 2026 Republican Party It is not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein! Now get back to work.”

Follow USA Today columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk.