It’s not every day you see a former president behind the wheel of a white Ford Bronco —unless, of course, you’re scrolling President Donald Trump’s Truth Social feed.
In his latest attempt to hijack the headlines, Trump posted a doctored meme of Barack Obama as O.J. Simpson in the infamous slow-speed chase, with himself and a cartoonishly edited JD Vance in hot pursuit. Predictably, the internet erupted.
While many of Trump’s supporters found the meme amusing, those outside MAGA saw it as offensive, childish, and an attempt to deflect from the difficult questions emerging about him and Jeffrey Epstein. Critics quickly condemned the post, which bore the watermark of a pro-Trump account, @grandoldmemes.
“Utterly disgusting, deranged, and perverted psycho Trump shares fake image of President Obama, portraying him as double-murderer O.J. Simpson fleeing justice,” one user said.
“Very Presidential, Sir (clown),” another person added.
“I like that he used the meme version of JD Vance, but… Release the files, Donald,” someone else chimed in, accusing the president of yet another deflection.
The post landed amid the continuing firestorm over last week’s Wall Street Journal report disclosing that Attorney General Pam Bondi privately informed Trump in May that his name appears numerous times in the sealed Epstein files.
Days before that revelation, the same outlet reported that Trump had once sent Jeffrey Epstein a 50th birthday greeting — complete with a drawing of a naked woman for his birthday book. Trump vehemently denied issuing the letter and filed a massive defamation suit against Journal owner Rupert Murdoch the next day. Since then, Trump’s name surfaced on a contributor’s list for the book, while at least one source claims to have a copy available to hand over to federal investigators if called for.
Trump continues to deny his authorship and has flooded the zone with fresh attacks on Obama, calling him a “traitor” and “criminal,” while falsely claiming that Obama tried to launch a coup against him. This is despite the fact that Obama graciously accepted Trump’s victory and even welcomed Trump to the White House with open arms before his term began to honor the transition of power.
Legal experts say Trump’s efforts to now paint Obama as a criminal are groundless. A recent Supreme Court ruling granted presidents broad immunity for official acts taken while in office—a protection that also extends to former presidents. Any suggestion that Obama could be charged with treason, they say, holds no legal weight.
Still, Trump leaned into the tactic for more than a week, reviving what critics call his signature style: using manufactured controversies to crowd out scandals of his own.
This past week, Trump’s political dilemma ensnared Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who stood at a podium and accused Obama of orchestrating a “treasonous conspiracy,” claiming the former president used phony intelligence on Russia to undermine Trump’s 2016 election win.
In response, the Justice Department established a new “Strike Force” tasked with digging into Gabbard’s revelations and weighing what legal moves — if any — might come next.
However, Gabbard’s claims were almost immediately debunked as “misleading,” according to FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that monitors the factual accuracy of statements made by politicians, bureaucrats, and special-interest groups.
A close analysis of the documents found Gabbard’s assessment hinged on fundamental misreadings of the intelligence reports, leading to the conclusion she had conflated the findings of two separate intelligence assessments. One report focused on Russia’s failure to compromise vote-counting infrastructure, and the other documented a well-established influence campaign by Russia aimed at swaying public opinion in Trump’s favor.
Multiple investigations — including those led by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and even Trump-appointed Special Counsel John Durham — have consistently affirmed the 2017 intelligence community’s assessment of Russian interference, while finding no evidence of vote manipulation or Obama-era misconduct.
Despite Gabbard’s bold assertions and her call for prosecutions, there is no credible evidence that the intelligence assessments contradict any of the earlier findings on the matter. Experts agree that while the Steele dossier — an opposition research document prepared by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele in 2016 — was flawed and the FBI made missteps in its early investigation, the broader conclusion — that Russia interfered to benefit Trump — remains intact and well-documented.
In recent days, as Gabbard’s allegations struggled to gain traction in the press, Trump shifted gears and found a new narrative — this time using the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling as cover for Obama’s “crimes.” Trump claims the decision, which was handed down in a case involving his own alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election, now shields Obama from prosecution.
“He owes me, Obama owes me big,” Trump said Friday while speaking to reporters outside the White House before departing on a trip to Scotland.
In Trump’s telling, the ruling handed Obama a legal lifeline: “It probably helps him a lot, probably helps him a lot the immunity ruling.” Though he accused Obama of committing “criminal acts,” Trump added that “he has immunity,” suggesting that the very precedent set to benefit him had also spared one of his political enemies — at least for now.
Meanwhile, the nation’s capital has become a virtual hall of mirrors amid Trump’s schemes. One minute, the president is posting memes of Obama as O.J. Simpson. The next, he’s waving off questions about Epstein while suggesting the real story is former President Bill Clinton’s relationship to Epstein.
The machinery of government now seems to run on conspiracy theories, with policy taking a backseat to plot twists. Summer recess wasn’t just about beating the heat; Speaker Mike Johnson slammed the gavel early last week to dodge a vote on the Epstein files.
And with the current president launching bogus accusations against him, Obama, normally a ghost in the political discourse, had to rouse himself just to swat away Trump’s latest fever dream.
“Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response,” the July 22 statement said. “But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.”
In the same statement, Obama’s office pointed out that then-Sen. Marco Rubio, now in Trump’s cabinet as Secretary of State, accepted the conclusions of the Russia investigation back in 2020.
“Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes,” Obama’s office said in a statement. “These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.”
Former veteran CIA officer Susan Miller also called out Gabbard and the White House for “lying again.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s connection to Epstein, which has long drawn scrutiny, is once again at the center of attention — especially as Trump has yet to release FBI records tied to the deceased financier.
Trump and Epstein were close friends throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, often seen mingling at parties in Palm Beach and Manhattan. Trump once described Epstein as a “terrific guy” who liked women “on the younger side.” Despite distancing himself from Epstein after a supposed 2004 falling-out, flight records show Trump traveled at least once on Epstein’s private jet.
The demand for transparency has grown louder, particularly within Trump’s own base. Critics have pointed out that Trump has the authority to declassify and release the Epstein files at any time, but hasn’t.
Epstein, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges involving underage girls, served just 13 months in jail as part of a lenient plea deal. His case resurfaced in 2019 with federal charges of sex trafficking, but he died by suicide in jail while awaiting trial. Despite the gravity of Epstein’s crimes and Trump’s long friendship with him, Trump has largely skated around public accountability.
Six months into his second term, the Epstein issue continues to loom large. Analysts say Trump’s meme spree is just his latest attempt to steer the national conversation away from a matter that keeps gaining traction.
Whether the meme distracts anyone long enough remains to be seen. But with each new outburst and each unanswered question, pressure continues to mount on Trump to come clean — and stop hiding behind the wheel of another deflection.
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