by Chris Waldron
“Wouldn’t you rather lead a movement of free-thinkers who sometimes disagree than a bunch of drones who take their orders from George Soros?” — J D Vance at TPUSA rally (December 21, 2025)
Vance made this wild claim to address the fractured MAGA movement as the keynote speaker at the recent Turning Point USA’s “Americafest” event. It’s almost as if he is denying the MAGA cult exists and fealty to Donald Trump is more important than following the Constitution. He continued to ignore the Constitution by declaring that “America has been and will always be a Christian nation” where “you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.”
A major schism in among the party faithful has developed over the release of the Epstein files. Despite passing a law that required their release by midnight on December 19th, the so-called Party of Law and Order is openly dragging its feet on their release. Instead, they are only allowing the public to view heavily redacted pieces of the files which, not surprisingly, paint former President Clinton in an unfavorable light while making little mention of Donald Trump.
The DOJ even took down an image of Trump that was visible in a desk drawer in Jeffrey Epstein’s office. Trump’s former lawyer and current Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche defended this action saying the photo was removed because an image of one of Epstein’s victims was visible in the background.
Evan though the law as written requires that the DOJ give a thorough explanation for each of the redactions, none has been forthcoming. Instead they try to explain it away by claiming the redactions were to protect the identities of Epstein’s victims. This defense rings hollow as multiple instances of a victim’s identity were found and many of the photos released had nothing to do with the investigation.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson released members of the House a day early to begin their two-week Christmas recess. This after just retuning from a five-week hiatus during the government shutdown. This was undoubtedly done to avoid answering any question regarding the impending Epstein files release.
In a blatant act of censorship, new CBS “news” executive, and MAGA flunky, Bari Weiss, pulled a 60 Minutes story about the infamous CECOT prison just a day and a half before it was set to be broadcast. Weiss cited the need to get a response from the White House before the story could be aired effectively giving the Trump administration the ability to kill stories it didn’t like by refusing to cooperate and citing this instance as precedent.
Weiss became more involved with news that was deemed political after Trump expressed outrage over 60 Minutes’ interview with former MAGA darling turned critic Majorie Taylor Greene.
And yet they have the hypocrisy to declare themselves to be transparent. This shouldn’t be a surprise. MAGA tends to disagree with anything trans.
C J (Chris) Waldron is a former public school educator in New York State and adjunct English professor in Conway, SC. He is co-author of Hijacked Nation, Donald Trump’s attack on America’s Greatness, published in three volumes and available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. He is a regular contributor to Lean to the Left and all of his articles are archived here.