Trump’s ‘next-level’ freak-out over WSJ report ‘doesn’t pass the smell test:’ Insider

President Donald Trump’s “emotional reaction” to the bombshell report from the Wall Street Journal has reached heights never seen before during either of his two terms, argued former advisor to House Speaker John Boehner, Maura Gillespie, who called the president’s response to his increasingly frustrated base “visceral” and “next level.”

The Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report this week revealing new details about Trump’s relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, alleged to have operated a blackmail operation targeting powerful individuals. Trump’s response has been fierce, immediately launching a $10 billion lawsuit against the publication, and insulting many of his own supporters as "stupid" who continue to promote theories around Epstein.

“I thought it was interesting with the Wall Street Journal (report), his reaction to it was so visceral; to me, it doesn't pass the smell test,” Gillespie said, speaking on MSNBC.

“Something doesn't feel right here, and his reaction to this, his emotional reaction to this feels next level. Normally, his base just acquiesces and says let's find a common enemy and fight against that, (but) right now, they feel as though they're being lied to, and he does not know how to address it.”

Since the Justice Department closed further investigation into Epstein last week, Trump has employed a number of tactics to move his base past curiosity around the disgraced financier; he’s tried to highlight his administration's accomplishments on immigration, he’s called theories about Epstein a Democratic “hoax,” and he’s insulted his own supporters who won’t drop the matter as “weaklings” and “stupid.”

None have worked, however, with Gillespie noting how Trump’s inability to quell his base’s outrage as “so out of character.”

“I think he's losing the plot a little bit himself,” she said. “I do think it is belittling his supporters' intelligence by pretending that he can just wave a piece of red meat over here and distract them when they're pretty set on getting the transparency he campaigned on and promised them.”

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