Predating Trump’s first term, the fringe right had conspiracy theories about elite child trafficking rings and those increasingly became part of the Republican mainstream as they proved a useful rallying point against Clinton (targeting her husband) and as an explanation for what motivated the “deep state” bogeyman used to explain every failure. That’s long enough ago that there are Republican members of Congress who rose to that level by beating more moderate Republican incumbents.
Trying to reverse that is a political minefield after they spent a decade and many millions of dollars pumping up the idea that there’s a massive conspiracy among the political elites. They spent basically Biden’s entire presidency saying he was helping the coverup to boost Trump’s election, but I think his people were hoping enough people would lose interest and they could quietly drop it with some stunt like Bondi’s empty binders. This is the first time they’re more or less publicly recognizing that Trump doesn’t entirely control the MAGA agenda.
Trying to reverse that is a political minefield after they spent a decade and many millions of dollars pumping up the idea that there’s a massive conspiracy among the political elites. They spent basically Biden’s entire presidency saying he was helping the coverup to boost Trump’s election, but I think his people were hoping enough people would lose interest and they could quietly drop it with some stunt like Bondi’s empty binders. This is the first time they’re more or less publicly recognizing that Trump doesn’t entirely control the MAGA agenda.