Considering all the outrages that Donald Trump has committed undermining election results, ordering the indictments of his enemies, using the White House to line his pockets its ironic that his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein is proving to be his biggest political scandal. Trumps own behavior has helped fuel the controversy. Trumps flailing around the issue is a cartoon version of someone with something to hide, no matter how much he protests that he doesnt.Trump is reaping the whirlwind that he and his fellow Republicans sowed when they embraced and allowed belief in conspiracies to become a signature MAGA trait. In many ways, the right-wing conspiracies appealed to Trumps ego. He was cast as Americas savior from a cabal of elite who were engaged in child trafficking, a group that included everyone from Hillary Clinton to Tom Hanks. Ever transactional, Trump had no reason to dispute dangerous beliefs if they were going to get him votes. Related The administrations attack on trans military personnel is part of a frightening long-term agenda So there is a sense of deep satisfaction watching Trump squirm as the House gets ready to vote on releasing FBI files on Jeffrey Epstein. After all, for once, the conspiracy theory has facts behind it. Epsteinwasa sex trafficker of underage girls, and he did have connections across the top tier of society, including with the Clintons, but most of all with his one-time great pal, Trump.That said, there is a dark side to the expanding scandal involving Epstein. For the right-wing, which has been obsessed with child trafficking for years, the Epstein files would be proof that everything that they fear is true. That confirmation would encourage them to double down on their efforts many of which target the LGBTQ+ community. Dive deeper every day Join our newsletter for thought-provoking commentary that goes beyond the surface of LGBTQ+ issues Subscribe to our Newsletter today As fun as it is to speculate about Trumps comeuppance, you cant sever the rights obsession with Epstein from its ongoing attacks on groomers and child mutilation. It is all part of the same hysteria about children being harmed. Consider Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who has unexpectedly (and undeservedly) emerged as an independent for her willingness to buck Trump on Epstein and on health care. Greene is now all over the news, calling for the predators in the Epstein files to be brought to justice. Democrats think Greene is useful to them in the battle over the Epstein files, but theres no reason to think that she is any more reasonable than she was when she was first elected to Congress. Greene became radicalized by QAnon, with its focus on child sex trafficking, in 2017, and she hasnt given any sign that she tamped down her love of conspiracies since then. The woman now being lauded for standing up to Trump has a long history of slurring the LGBTQ+ community as pedophiles.Indeed, just last July, Greene was defending Trumps friendship with Epstein by saying Democratic support for LGBTQ+ rights was the real sex trafficking.And these same Democrats feigning outrage over pedophiles, defend drag queen story time, naked men dancing in front of children at pride parades, and mentally ill men in girls and womens bathrooms, Greene wrote on X. Democrats, spare us your fake outrage.Earlier this year, Greene called trans Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) a child predator and groomer, the kind of slur that Greene likes to throw around a lot. Greene is hardly the only Republican pushing for transparency around Epstein who engages in such vile language. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) has made a diet out of transphobia and once accused a political opponent, a pediatrician, of child abuse for supporting trans youth. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) talked about a law to ban health care for trans youth as child abuse.Its probably just a matter of time before the right wing starts talking about an imaginary nexus between Epstein and the LGBTQ+ community. For them, pedophilia inherently is linked to LGBTQ+ people, even when its committed by notorious heterosexuals like Epstein. As much as the Epstein scandal will tarnish Trump with the MAGA faithful, and perhaps even damage him, the overriding concern of the conspiracy theorists is sex trafficking of children, which they believe is happening to hundreds of thousands of children each year. And to them, drag queen reading hour and health care for trans youth are all part of the trafficking. They may even explain away Trumps outsized presence in the Epstein files. But they will never give up linking LGBTQ+ people to the calumny that they abuse children.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.