This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.Donald Trump is not worried about the Jeffrey Epstein files. Please don’t put in the newspaper that he is worried. In a post yesterday evening, the president wrote: “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics.” He added that “the House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE! All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT.”Which point is that, exactly? Rather than any focused political message, Trump offered a meandering, repetitive list of 11 things, including the economy and affordability (“where we are winning BIG!” Trump wrote). Not long ago, this guy was considered one of the most gifted sloganeers in American political history.Endorsing the House vote is strange, given that Trump could simply release the files himself, but despite his attempts to downplay it, this is a big concession. Trump has given in only after his repeated attempts to derail the release have failed. In changing course, however, Trump opens himself up to new political risks—and shows why he’s such a terrible political ally for House Republicans.Until this weekend, the White House had spent the past few months doing everything it could to stifle conversation about the files. In February, it dramatically delivered huge binders of info to several influencers, which turned out to just be information that was previously public. When that didn’t quiet interest, the Justice Department announced in July that there was nothing to see here. Later that month, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted accomplice in sex crimes, who also assured him that there was nothing to see here. Shortly after that, she was inexplicably moved to a cushier federal prison. (Trump declined on Friday to rule out a pardon for Maxwell.)As recently as last week, the Trump administration was reportedly convening high-level meetings in the White House Situation Room—including with Blanche, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and FBI Director Kash Patel—to discuss the files. They reportedly summoned Republican Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who supports the files’ release, to discuss her position. The president also instructed the Justice Department to investigate Epstein’s ties to prominent Democrats, but this weak deflection only underscored his own close connections.Trump’s attempts to twist the arms of Republican representatives flopped—not just with his confirmed GOP frenemy Thomas Massie of Kentucky, but with those whose political identity is almost entirely derived from the MAGA movement and closeness to Trump, such as Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Trump attacked Greene on Friday, calling her “wacky” and promising to support a 2026 primary challenge in Georgia “if the right person runs.” Greene was once considered a possible Trump 2024 running mate; now she’s speaking out about how his rhetoric has inspired bomb and death threats against her. (To be fair, he’s reportedly done worse to an actual running mate.)Until evidence of Trump’s connections to Epstein became harder to avoid, some people in the administration viewed the Epstein files as a useful political attack—something to wink at but not take seriously. Like the long-awaited GOP replacement to the Affordable Care Act, juicy Epstein revelations were most politically beneficial if they never actually emerged. Thus, Bondi could say that she had the Epstein client list on her desk and then, months later, say that it never existed. Vice President J. D. Vance tweeted in 2021, “Remember when we learned that our wealthiest and most powerful people were connected to a guy who ran a literal child sex trafficking ring? And then that guy died mysteriously in a jail? And now we just don’t talk about it.” Now he just doesn’t talk about it.When Massie and Democratic Representative Ro Khanna started collecting signatures to force a vote on releasing the files, the White House may have assumed that its political allies didn’t really believe their own talking points about the Epstein files either. But Boebert, Greene, and Nancy Mace signed the petition and couldn’t be bullied to back down. Perhaps Greene, who once dabbled in QAnon, really did believe in a massive conspiracy of pedophiles in power; the Epstein emails don’t exactly quell those concerns. Maybe those who broke with Trump believe that their constituents want the files released. (Poll data show Americans as a whole do.) Whatever their motivations, Republicans who disobey Trump are taking a real political risk.Then again, so are Republicans who stick with him. Trump asked most rank-and-file Republicans to do him a favor by opposing the release. Massie pointed out last week that this could be an enduring black mark, telling CNN: “What are you gonna do in 2028 and 2030 when you’re in a debate either with a Republican or a Democrat and they say, ‘How can we trust you? You covered up for a pedophile back in 2025.’” Yet by changing his own position, Trump has now hung them out to dry.Trump being Trump, and politics being politics, this is likely not the last word. Rhetorical support and actual compliance are not the same thing, and Trump left himself some wiggle room by stipulating that he supports the Oversight Committee receiving “whatever they are legally entitled to.” But he does seem to be in a quandary. If he tries to prevent some information from being released, he will lend more credence to claims of a cover-up and extend a story he wishes to cut short. Yet Trump has presumably been so eager to block the release up until now for some reason, even if we can only speculate about what it is; what’s become public so far is already damaging for him, among others. Trump is a bad ally to members of Congress, but he may be hurting himself too.Related:Epstein returns at the worst time for Trump.The president who cried hoaxHere are three new stories from The Atlantic:The “easy way” to crush the mainstream mediaDavid Frum: How crypto could trigger the next financial crisisEllen Cushing: The matcha problemToday’s NewsA major immigration sweep occurred in Charlotte, North Carolina, over the weekend. Border Patrol agents arrested more than 130 people through yesterday, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The operation, dubbed “Charlotte’s Web,” continued today, and officials have not confirmed how long Border Patrol agents will be in the area.David Richardson resigned as the acting head of FEMA after roughly six months in the role, during which he received criticism over his absence during the early hours of the Texas floods.A federal magistrate judge said that possible errors by the lead prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, may have affected the grand-jury process in the Trump administration’s case against the former FBI Director James Comey. The judge ordered prosecutors to turn over grand-jury records to Comey’s defense team.DispatchesThe Wonder Reader: Isabel Fattal explores five stories that aren’t what they seem.Explore all of our newsletters here.Evening ReadIllustration by Matteo Giuseppe Pani / The Atlantic. Source: Nathaniel S. Butler / NBAE / Getty.Why Can’t I Just Watch Sports on Television?By Stephanie HayesIf you, like me, are a fan of the Knicks, you probably caught last night’s game against the Heat on Prime Video. But if you want to see them play Miami again on Monday, you’ll need the streaming service MSG+ (at least, if you’re living in New York and lack cable). That’ll get you a bunch of games this season, including their December matchup against the Spurs, but you’ll also need Peacock if you intend to watch them play the Pistons in January. Oh, and if you’re keen for some Christmas Day basketball, you’ll have to find a service that gets you ESPN or ABC. This is, to state what every sports fan knows in her heart to be true, unbelievably stupid.Read the full article.More From The AtlanticClint Smith: Tell students the truth about American history.Caity Weaver: Pennies are trash now.RFK Jr.’s cheer squad is getting restless.We’re thinking about young adulthood all wrong.The Nick Fuentes spiralClark Hoyt: Why Trump gets away with itCulture BreakIllustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Joseph Nettis / FPG / Archive Photos / Getty; Jeffrey Sylvester / FPG / Archive Photos / Getty.Read. Anika Jade Levy’s debut novel, Flat Earth, captures what it feels like to try to become an artist right now, Bekah Waalkes writes.Watch. Saturday Night Live’s memorable weekend sketch (streaming on Peacock) tackled what happens when embracing AI ends up disappointing Grandma, Michael Tedder writes.Play our daily crossword.Rafaela Jinich contributed to this newsletter.When you buy a book using a link in this newsletter, we receive a commission. 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