Donald Trump and his second term as president have been sinking for months into treacherous political quicksand known as the "Epstein files."

The more Trump struggled to free himself from the very scandal he courted as a presidential candidate, the more he became mired, slowly submerging in a quagmire of his own making.

Call it karma. Call it kismet.

But also call it an embarrassing loss for Trump, who has finally realized that struggling in quicksand just makes it worse. That realization was clearly prompted by a vote in the U.S. House on releasing the Epstein files, expected to happen on Nov. 18 despite Trump's many attempts to stop it.

Trump, in an angry Nov. 16 social media post, declared that Republicans in the U.S. House "should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide." He also complained that the scandal was a "hoax" – of course – used by Democrats to distract us all from what a great president he is.

And he declared "I DON'T CARE!" about releasing the Epstein files – the all-caps emphasis exposing his bogus attempt at expressing apathy.

But what was really telling from Trump's post was this line: "Some 'members' of the Republican Party are being 'used,' and we can't let that happen."

That's a shot at a trio of House members who are usually MAGA acolytes but are now bucking Trump on the Epstein files: Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Lauren Boebert of Colorado. They joined with U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican

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