Hardcore Trump Sycophants Jumping Ship Over Iran And Epstein?

10 Apr 2026 · 27 min · 8 chapters

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In short

Katie Fang and the host discuss MAGA infighting after Trump’s Iran-related posts, calls for the 25th Amendment, and renewed attention to Epstein allegations; they also argue this signals a broader right-wing media power shift toward younger “credible” figures.

Guests

Katie Fang, YouTube host of the Katie Fang News Channel.

Guest background

Independent media commentator and YouTube journalist focused on political news and right-wing media ecosystems.

Key claims

Trump lashes out at Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones; their “turn” is framed as financial survival (“financial Darwinism”) as they fear Trump’s escalation (including “wiping out” civilizations). The episode links JD Vance’s Hungary trip to Viktor Orban’s media control model and warns of future silencing of opposition. It also claims Trump’s wife publicly supported Epstein victims appearing before Congress.

Notable examples

Candace Owens retweeting “put grandpa up in a home”; Alex Jones saying he doesn’t support Trump’s “wiping out whole civilizations”; New York Times coverage of “ultra MAGA” users criticizing Trump over Iran; references to Elon Musk and “files” about Epstein.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

Tap a time to open that second in VO

Republican Cannibalism Discussion

0:41 to 2:14

Exploration of the internal conflicts within the Republican party regarding Trump.

“Katie, we need to dive right into the Republican cannibalism because it is delicious.”

Trump's Targeted Attacks

2:14 to 5:04

Discussion on Trump's responses and attacks on figures like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens.

“Because they would rip his ass to shreds.”

Financial Darwinism and Political Strategy

5:04 to 9:46

Analysis of Trump's influence and the self-preservation tactics of right-wing influencers.

“I've known he was batshit, morally corrupt, needed to go to a nursing home, straight jacket, padded cell forever.”

Media Control and Political Power

9:46 to 14:08

Discussion on media control, the influence of oligarchs, and the comparison with Viktor Orban.

“Now, Katie, Pumps and I talk about this all the time, like the triple Trumpers, they will just rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic with this guy.”

Disillusionment Among MAGA Supporters

14:08 to 17:26

Explore the growing frustration of Trump supporters regarding military actions and perceived betrayal.

“oligarchs, the industry titans that were like, will you please, you have all the fuck you money in the world.”

The Diminishing Influence of MAGA

17:26 to 20:49

Discuss the decline of MAGA and the rise of new factions that could be more dangerous.

“He's now picked a fight in the no more endless wars faction camp, right?”

Impeachment and Democratic Response

20:49 to 24:25

Review the calls for impeachment and the reactions from the Democratic Party to current events.

“to run for president of the United States.”

The State of American Politics

24:25 to 27:36

Analyze the current state of American politics and the urgent need for accountability and action.

“They're doing the exact same thing right now in southern Lebanon.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00The new outpatient center in Schaumburg has positively impacted my entire family. Lurie Children's new outpatient center in Schaumburg is making life a little easier for families in the northwest suburbs. My kids are in such good hands and our travel time is cut in half. This all-in-one location offers a full range of pediatric services, all from the number one ranked children's hospital in Illinois. Make an appointment at luriechildrens.org slash Schaumburg. Lurie Children's, all for your one.

0:34Today, I'm joined by my good friend, Katie Fang, host of the Katie Fang News Channel on YouTube. Katie, we need to dive right into the Republican cannibalism because it is delicious. I mean, it's an unexpected boon, right? Who would have thought? Okay, so the MAGA conspiracy theorists this week start calling for the 25th Amendment. They are outflanking Democrats in their calls for removing this maniacal, homicidal, compulsive lying piece of shit president that we have. And, you know, Trump doesn't like it when people call him out. He gets his feelings hurt. So he takes to lie social, Katie, and he puts up the following.

1:21I know why Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones have all been fighting me for years, especially by the fact that they think it was wonderful for Iran, the number one state sponsor of terror, to have a nuclear weapon because they have one thing in common, low IQs. They're stupid people. They know it. Their families know it. And everyone else knows it too. Katie, what do you take of that? I mean, it's like a nanny nanny boo boo kind of energy coming from this fucking toddler. It is so predictable. It's now boring, right? I mean, it's still worth it to see the civil war, but it's so predictable that he is so small in all the ways that matter that he's going to lash out and retaliate.

2:13But here's the thing. he's picking a battle with the worst, worst people because I, if I had to, and I don't like having to be put in a position like this, but if I had to pick a side, I would pick Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens any day of the week, including Alex Jones. Why? Because they would rip his ass to shreds. And the problem for Donald Trump is he also knows that their collective influence far surpasses his wildest dreams. And so that's the reason why this is one of the dumbest fucking things you could do, because he's definitely stepping into it and he's not gonna be able to get himself out of it.

2:56Yeah. And they're, they're young. You know, Donald Trump has dementia. He's not a spring chicken. These people have a lot of longevity. Here's Candace Owen. She's responded to this and she highlights some of the stuff that he says that I read. Something else that I excluded from this long ranting thing is nobody cares about them. They're nut jobs, troublemakers, and will say anything necessary for some quote free and cheap publicity. Candace Owens, the America's most popular crazy person, retweets this and says, it may be time to put grandpa up in a home. Damn. Look, and I, it's so funny because I'm sure like you, you get a little bit of shit sometimes from people about, you know, why would you even try to platform or listen to any of these people?

3:43We're not platforming them. Let's be clear. I agree that we are in this shithole position because of their endorsements and support of him. But I also believe that we have to take the ammunition where we can get it that has value like this. They're not being invited to Thanksgiving dinner, but I would pay money to watch the cage match between Candace Owens and Donald Trump. And you know, what's interesting too is it further along in Trump's small rambling dementia laden novella that he posts puts up on lie social, as you call it, he really does take targeted shots at each of them, especially Candace Owens.

4:26Cause as we know, all of them like to thrive in the conspiracy ecosystem, Candace, especially. And the grift is very real for them in that conspiracy ecosystem. And so Trump takes very targeted shots at them. And so for somebody like Candace and Tucker, Meghan and Alex Jones, their livelihood depends on their ability to push back and minimize Trump's ability to bring them down. And so again, he's picked the wrong battle. And in this instance, I would put my money on the younger, more vibrant, smarter crew on the other side. Yeah. And this is not, listener and Katie, this is not like these people all of a sudden had an aha moment.

5:09I've known he was batshit, morally corrupt, needed to go to a nursing home, straight jacket, padded cell forever. This is financial Darwinism. That's all these people are doing this for because they know if he nukes Iran, if he continues to break democracy, and the manner and the trajectory that he is, all of these YouTube shows gone. When they start going after Don Lemon, they're going to start going after others and they know they won't be safe either. So this is not some moral clarity. This isn't, oh my God, Donald Trump betrayed MAGA. This is, oh shit, he really is going there and we need to take him out or we're going to be dead ass broke.

5:52And here's Alex Jones response to this video. This is a video of him in his car. Play the clip. He loves it. But at the end of the day, I just feel sorry for him and pray that God touched his heart and soul and free him from the demonic influences that he's under. I mean, it's just that simple. This is a nightmare. We know the Democrats, the left are absolutely terrible. But when Trump's calling for wiping out whole civilizations and acting like a Super villain. I have to come out and say I don't support it. It's that simple. So again, Trump's own wife came out at an unannounced press conference today and said the Epstein crimes are real and that she wants the victims to be in front of Congress to cover up to the end.

6:31That's the opposite of what Trump's saying. Looks to me like she's breaking with Trump because she knows the ship's sinking. It's found out the truth. Elon left eight months ago saying he's in the files to cover up. I never saw any evidence of it, but he's acting like he's guilty. We know protecting howard ludnick who said he didn't know i've seen to go to the island he did so all i can say is this is terrible day and it's a nightmare for america and the world but i'm going to tell the truth report on the facts no matter what it is yeah alex jones is going to tell the truth and report on the facts listener all right katie at least at least he had the car parked i mean i had to look at him the other day on my channel and he was driving it was tuesday it was genocide tuesday He was driving the damn car and talking into the camera.

7:12And I was like, this asshole is going to kill somebody. But look, Alex Jones, just because they are far right nut jobs doesn't mean that they can't find some kernel of truth. What is it? Even a blind squirrel can find a nut, right? And so in this instance, they can repeat a truth bomb because there's nothing wrong with it, right? They lose no credibility, especially on the Epstein files issue. They don't lose credibility with their base by sitting there repeating a truth bomb. In this instance, though, I do believe that there is a legitimate, credible fear, even in the minds of those nutjobs like Candace and Meghan and Tucker and Alex and others, that there really is something materially wrong with Donald Trump.

7:58And I love that you called it financial Darwinism a few minutes ago because that's totally on point, right? I mean, they, but here's the thing. It's not so much Trump has used them. They have used Trump. And there does come a point in time where somebody outlives their usefulness and their utility, right? In a very Machiavellian way, they see that that gravy train is about to come to a screeching halt. Why? Because the man is truly fucking crazy. And he really should be put out to pasture. And so for them, they've now found that new channel of grift. And that's why they're so hot to trot, because now they're going to try to be a little bit on the line of kind of let's be credible.

8:39You know, let's go on that space, because that actually has a little bit of room to grow, because they're really they've tapped out the super crazy MAGA land stuff. They've tapped that out. I mean, they can find some new conspiracy theory, but I think they're trying to say, let's go into the credibility lane a little bit here. And let's try to pick up some new people. And they can very easily, incredibly lean back into the Epstein stuff because they are the people who initially were really, really beating this drum on all of this. Just they have all found out that there are actually more Republicans, particularly that work in Donald Trump's cabinet, involved in it.

9:16Now, are there Democrats in it? Of course there are. I mean, this was just, you know, a horrific sex ring. But it's not just the right wing MAGA influencers that are turning on Trump. Here is a screen grab here. I believe that. OK, here we go. This is New York Times. Once ultra MAGA Trump supporters fume about Iran on truth social, a growing chorus of disaffected Trump supporters is sounding off in the replies to his posts on the social media platform, he found it. Now, Katie, Pumps and I talk about this all the time, like the triple Trumpers, they will just rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic with this guy.

10:00I think that the five top conspiracy theorists turning on him because they don't get their news from Fox, the hardcore triple Trumpers, they are off in this right-wing media ecosystem. we're seeing real damage to the cult. And what's scary about this is Trump has so much power and autocrats, when they're cornered like this, they start the autocratic gamble and they start escalating much like a drug addict does to get a hit, to get a hit, to get a hit. And so I think that's what we're seeing with the genocidal post talking about wiping out an entire civilization. But I actually think probably in the next couple of weeks, the polling is going to come out.

10:46I think we're going to be hitting in the 20s on this guy. And there's something that I have been harping on all week, which has been the J.D. Vance election interference in Hungary's elections, right? That we have sent the vice president of the United States, not we per se, to Hungary to help an autocrat in Viktor Orban achieve his fifth consecutive term as prime minister. And one of the things that Orban did effectively and at the very beginning of his autocratic reign was he took over media. OK, he eliminated the independence of the media, the free press, which is very much a page out of the Orban playbook that Trump has been trying to do here with the consolidation and these big mergers and these big anti-competition things that we're seeing, including cracking down on journalists like Don Lemon and Georgia Fortin other.

11:33Right. Like this is kind of a part of the game. When you actually have the kind of wild, wild west of digital media that a lot of us are living in now, including Tucker, Megan, Alex, Nick Fuentes and others, when you have to now start trying to curb even that measure of free speech, because you know that is exactly where Trump is going. If Trump is not able to bring them back into the fold, then he's going to try to silence them like he does to all opposition in this country. And when he starts to do that, that's going to become even more him walking down the plank towards his own demise. Because you're right.

12:08Ultra MAGA, they don't sit there and listen to Fox News like maybe, you know, Uncle Jim and Auntie Jane are doing, right? Like they're not the ones that are turning on Fox at 6 a.m. and turning it off at midnight, which is a lot of people. They are sitting there. And the thing about digital is you have to make a conscious decision to intentionally choose something. Yeah, the algorithm may pump something to you to recommend something for somebody to watch. But you are making the conscious decision to choose to select to listen to a specific voice. That is the power behind Tucker, Meghan, Candace and others.

12:42And that is really the danger to Trump and his stranglehold on what semblance and small measure of power he still has. And so, you know what? Great for us. Let him focus his ire on them while we continue to build up our numbers and our army here at Independent Media on the right side of history. And it just shows how intellectually shallow JD Vance and CPAC are to look to Hungary for inspiration because here's the fundamental difference. Viktor Orban can shut down media in Hungary because it's not global. It's not on the New York Stock Exchange. These companies that own it are not S &P 500 people that have billions and billions and billions of customers.

13:32So there's a point in all of this where the oligarchs suck and they bent the knee and they're making Trump participation trophies and going to making up peace prizes and, you know, these circle jerk show and tell things in the Oval Office, nauseating. But at the end of the day, these guys aren't loyal to Trump. They're loyal to their wealth. And if Trump tried to shut down YouTube or streams on Substack or streams on Twitter or streams on TikTok, there would be such an outcry that then the oligarchs, the industry titans that were like, will you please, you have all the fuck you money in the world.

14:13tell this guy to go fuck himself. If they tried to shut it down the way that Victor Orban has, Americans worship money above and beyond anything else. So it shows what a fool's errand it is to base a model for the world's largest economy on this teeny tiny country in Europe. And then here's some more reporting from that story that we just did about Ultra Maga. Thousands of users on social media platform, which Mr. Trump created in 2022, have responded to the president's drumbeat of posts with a mix of frustration, disbelief and outrage. They have written that they feel betrayed by expanding war in Iran and ashamed when Mr.

14:57Trump used an expletive on Easter to make demands of the Iranian government. Some were so perplexed by his military interventions that one declared They make zero sense. And then the final point here before I kick it back to you, the screen grabs. Here they are, three-time Trump voter, but you have gone off the deep end. Somebody said, a shame today that I voted for you in 2016, 2020, and 2024. Again, after God saved your life in Pennsylvania. And it goes on and on and on these ultra MAGA people posting on my social, we have to remember this media platform was born out of the fact that these oligarchs that he thinks are so loyal to him when the public didn't like Trump, they kicked him off their sites.

15:50So for Trump's regime, and particularly little smoky eye sociopath JD Vance to think that Hungary is going to be a model for this country is so intellectually stupid, I can hardly even respond to it. Well, and Trump needs the Orbans like he needs the Putins, like he needs the leader of North Korea, right? Like he needs, I've said that it's just a small group of very, very intellectually stunted men that have big armies that have powerful weapons, and they want to carve the globe up in specific chunks just for themselves. And so that is the reason why Vance had to go to help boost Orban because Orban is legitimately going to lose.

16:33It doesn't mean it's not going to stop him from trying to, you know, you know, declare some bullshit pipeline threat. So he has to dispatch the military and maybe stop elections. I mean, it's not going to stop Orban from doing all that autocratic insanity. But Vance and Trump understood that Orban needed a lift. Here's the thing on one One of the posts that you just put up at the very end of it, it said somebody put MAGA is no more. You can see it at the bottom right of the screen. MAGA is no more. And so the problem that Trump has is multifold and it's all a self-own. If he had just been doing something that maybe pisses off the Christians, and we got to put that in quotes, right?

17:13Because MAGA are not real Christians. If he had just done something to piss off the Christians, maybe the expletive on Easter Sunday, maybe he would have had some grace given to him by the balance of MAGA world. But he's so dumb. He's picked a fight in Christianity. He's now picked a fight in the no more endless wars faction camp, right? He's picked a fight in the economic camp, which is my gas is crazy. I can't afford health care. And I really need my mammy needs her fucking Medicaid, right? Like they he has picked a fight in so many different lanes. This man is incapable of being able to defend or be on the offensive on a multi-front war.

17:50Literally, we've seen that just happen now in Iran with this ceasefire that wasn't a ceasefire that's put us in a worse position than February 28th when he launched the war. And so, again, it's a cell phone, though, right? No sympathy, no worries. The only thing I have is I have always said one drop of American blood shed in these capacities, whether it's a war, Venezuela, maybe even Cuba eventually, whatever. is one drop too many. And you know, I don't want to see us suffer in any way. But in a lot of ways, though, we just have to let I mean, we can scream about it, right, and point out the horrific things that are happening in the craziness.

18:30But in a lot of ways, he's doing it to himself. It was literally the inevitability of allowing this man to be able to back in office, knowing that he was incapable of being competent, sane and doing anything that wasn't for his own self benefit. Yeah, and I think it's important to point out that you never hear about the tea party anymore. You never hear about anymore because the tea party turned into MAGA. So while MAGA may be dead, you we all have to keep an eye on Tucker Carlson, we have to keep an eye on Nick Fuentes, and we have to keep an eye on the Candace Owens, and we have to keep an eye on JD Vance.

19:04Because what the tea party incubated was worse. MAGA was worse than the tea party. And then what MAGA is going to incubate is going to be even worse. And so it is important. I think a lot of times left-leaning spaces kind of ignore, oh, those are French voices. We're not going to listen to them. Well, that hasn't helped us. We need to keep our eye on and play what they're playing and call out the hypocrisy and call out the fact, don't buy into this bullshit that all of a sudden they have moral clarity. Don't buy into the bullshit that Tucker Carlson cares so much about Palestinian children when he doesn't give a shit about immigrant children in the United States.

19:43Don't buy into this crap. These people will throw you under the bus in 1.5 seconds. They are just taking this same playbook and repackaging it. And what will come out of MAGA, whether it is a president, JD Vance, which I hope it's not, or not, let me say this listener before you forget, a nominee, JD Vance, a nominee, Tucker Carlson, they will be worse than Trump. This will have evolved into something worse because trump has normalized stuff to a point that then they're going to like any sort of crazy diabolical addict it'll make it worse but let me show you this poll katie and get your take on this most americans want congress to impeach president trump with one in seven republicans backing it according to recent polling from newsweek katie i mean first of all, I'm so glad you used the title nominee, Tucker Carlson.

20:38I was just at an event with somebody who knows Tucker very, very well and said, all of this posturing is him preparing to run for president of the United States. So we need to look at this new healthy, in terms of the right things being said, but for the wrong intentions, chorus of voices we're hearing as a splinter cell, right? It's a splinter cell off of MAGA. And our Overton window, our window of normalcy has shifted so far off the screen, it's in another fucking country, I like to say, that when you do have somebody who shifts back just the slightest bit to the normal side of the world, they're still so far off center that it's unconscionable, right?

21:28Like, I don't have to remind people what they ascribe to and what they think about women, minorities, immigrants, right? LGBTQ community. I don't have to remind you what they think, but they just look so much more palatable because they're not as far off on ultra MAGA land, but you're right. So this is almost like a splintering off from MAGA, trying to, again, regain some credibility because they are going to position somebody like Tucker, who is an anti-Semite, who is anti-everything, frankly, for a position him as like, well, look, he seems to be the more reasonable candidate. So maybe that's the reason why he's so attractive.

22:04As for impeachment, I have said, and I understand people that you need a certain number of votes in the Republican controlled Senate and House. I get it. But I have said, these are not mutually exclusive impeachment and 25th Amendment removal. I don't have a problem with it. None. I do have a problem with J.D. Vance becoming president, acting president, presuming for the 25th Amendment. But sure, let's impeach the shit out of him. I don't have a problem with this. I understand that there is a numbers game that is happening right now. But shouldn't that also motivate people when they're having these conversations and listening to you and I talk?

22:39Shouldn't that motivate them to go and vote in November to change that numbers game. I'm not sure why we wouldn't talk about impeachment and section four, 25th amendment removal. Yeah. I take on a lot of water on online and in, you know, in the podcast that I do, because I'm very concerned about the democratic establishment being completely out of step with where the base of voters are right now. Sure. And Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene, when they are outflanking in a 30 to 60 second clip, the democratic leaders on Israel, because like Candace Owens or Alex Jones in a 30 second, 60 second clip or in an isolated tweet can say something that's true.

23:23An independent voter who doesn't monitor the news like us psychos would be like, oh, Marjorie Taylor Greene sure has come around. Oh, Tucker Carlson says that we're spending all this tax money to kill kids in Palestine. I don't want to do that. Tucker Carlson says that all of our tax dollars that are supposed to be funding our schools or blowing up schools in the Middle East. And he showed these pictures of these kids suffering. I don't want to do that. I'm really kind of liking Tucker. So when you see these demagogues outflanking Democrats right now, the Democratic leadership is not listening to their base.

23:58I think that approval for support for Israel and Democratic Party is in the Some polls even show single digits. Support nationwide for aid to Israel is lowest it's ever been. And I think it's going to get lower and lower because Benjamin Netanyahu knows the shot clock is running. He knows it's running. So he has a plan for greater Israel. And his plan is genocide Gaza. They're doing the exact same thing right now in southern Lebanon. continue to dog walk Trump into this war in Iran and that shot clock is running. And there's still this tendency at the DNC and in the democratic establishment to not tell people what you're seeing is immoral and we shouldn't be paying for it.

24:52And we are not going to be the party that does. We stand against antisemitism. We stand against Islamophobia. We We stand against transphobia and that is our party position. But instead, it's all this mealy mouth bullshit. And they're allowing themselves to get outflanked by very dangerous bigots that are reading these polls, that understand where the base is, that are making these power moves. And I am terrified of what comes after Trump. I posted on social, where's Congress? That's all I said, right? Right. Because but for a handful of some Democrats, the fact that the president of the United States can threaten genocide and that is not enough to light a fire under your ass to go and take care of business, even if you are in the minority when it comes to the numbers game.

25:42I don't know what to tell you. Right. I found more outrage at the local cafe down the street from where I live about what was happening earlier this week than I saw in D.C. And I don't want to hear that they're on recess and I don't want to hear that they're on vacation. You know what? If that's not enough to make you feel the desire and the fire to come back and to stand your ground and to take a stand on what is happening right now, then I'm not quite sure how you can say that you represent your constituents. How you can say that you represent the people in America. Because this was the craziest week I think we've had in I don't know how many years.

26:20And that's such a low bar. And that makes me so worried. And one thing I said on Tuesday night, because I have this new live show on my on my YouTube channel, and everything was happening live before that eight o 'clock deadline, right? And literally, right after the live show was this declaration of this bullshit ceasefire. And I said, Are we going to wake up tomorrow morning and it's business as usual and politics as usual on Wednesday morning? Because if we are, there's something fatally wrong with us as a country. Katie Fang, I completely agree with you. I love collabing with you. Listener, go subscribe to Katie Fang on YouTube, on social, support independent media.

26:58As you can see, she is a firecracker fighting a good fight and not afraid to throw an F-bomb or two, which is the direct path to the epicenter of my heart. Katie Fang, thank you so much. It's like my sister, my sister here, right? Listen, my profane sister, but you know what, our hearts are in the right places. And I always like to say to people, you may not like, you may not like the words I'm using, but you should appreciate the message because I do care. And it's for the fight. It really is. It's in the defense truly of our democracy. And I know that you're in that fight with me as are all of your listeners.

27:30And so I'm very grateful for the privilege of this time with you always. Always. Thanks, Katie.

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