Republicans continue to face off against their own voters, who are angry over the passage of the 2026 budget known as the "Big, Beautiful Bill" and Donald Trump's refusal to release the files over the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.

Speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace, political analyst and expert John Heilemann had little sympathy for lawmakers facing off against those back home in their congressional districts.

He began by explaining that the GOP's goal was to adjourn from Congress, hoping the Epstein scandal would die down over the August recess.

"Unfortunately, the reason this issue is potent is that this is not an issue. As we've said a hundred times, that was driven by media coverage. This is an issue that was driven by the conspiracy theory, right?" said Heilemann. "And it was organic. It was coming up from the bottom."

"So, the fact that there haven't been as many Epstein headlines in the last couple of weeks has nothing to do with the way that people who care about this issue care about this issue. They cared about it when the media wasn't covering it, and in fact, thought that was part of the conspiracy. And they care about it now. And that's what a lot of these Republicans are hearing when they got back home, which is, 'Oh, god, this isn't a safe harbor.'"

Meanwhile, he noted, there are still no answers from Donald Trump on what they should do.

"What are we going to do? Where are we going to go? Try somewhere offshore, guys. Maybe the Bahamas, but not anywhere, anywhere in any MAGA districts in America right now," quipped Heilemann.

See the clip below or at the link here.

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