Analyst warns Trump's obsession will prove 'fatal' to GOP: 'Coming back to bite them'

A CNN panel on Friday argued that President Donald Trump’s repeated references to Jeffrey Epstein over the Christmas holiday have spiraled into an obsession that is now hurting him with his own political base.

Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said during an appearance on CNN’s “The Arena” that Trump helped create a "culture of conspiracy" that is now consuming the MAGA leader.

“This all gets back to the kind of culture of conspiracy theory that has become so prevalent,” de Blasio said. “And no one created that more than Donald Trump and the MAGA movement in the last 10 years, and it is coming back to bite them real, real hard.”

De Blasio went on to tell the panel that the uproar over the Epstein files is no longer contained within partisan lines.

“A lot of folks in the MAGA world – I give them credit, actually – they’re not believing their own leaders anymore,” the former Democratic mayor said. He added that while distrust of institutions like the Justice Department remains high, “there is an intense interest to see what has been covered up for so long.”

“So, in a funny way, that obsession with conspiracy is now out of control for Donald Trump,” he said.

Conservative commentator S.E. Cupp agreed, arguing that Trump and his allies unleashed a force they can no longer manage.

“It's a faucet,” Cupp said. “When you turn on the faucet, you have to keep running the water, and you can't then tell your fans who you've conditioned to want more and more. Now it's time to turn off the faucet.”

Cupp said that figures across the MAGA world “turned the spigot on” and are now struggling with the consequences as damaging images and connections continue to resurface in the ongoing document dump.

De Blasio concluded Friday that “the MAGA base does not believe Trump on Epstein anymore.”

“And that is fatal for the midterms.”