President Donald Trump supporters who genuinely believed he would release all the government files about child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, and who keep pushing for answers, deserve bipartisan support.

I appreciate the demands from his base that Trump release more details surrounding the investigation into Epstein’s multiple sex crimes and potential clients. Still, I don’t understand how his supporters ever came to believe he was on the side of the victims.

These are the publicly known facts about the Epstein scandal, as recapped in a recent AP timeline:

More than 20 years ago, in March of 2005, police in Palm Beach, Florida, began investigating Epstein after the family of a 14-year-old girl reported she was sexually abused at his mansion. Multiple underage girls later told police that Epstein sexually trafficked and abused them.

Palm Beach state attorney Barry Krischer made some strange decisions at the time. Despite police signing paperwork to charge Epstein with several counts of unlawful sex with a minor, Krischer called a grand jury, which only indicted him with a single count of soliciting prostitution.

The FBI began its own investigation.

Again, another public official made unusual decisions involving Epstein. Despite federal prosecutors preparing charges, the U.S. attorney in Miami, Alexander Acosta, made a secret deal in 2008 that allowed Epstein to avoid federal prosecution. Why would he do such a thing? Acosta is the same guy Trump would pick years later to head the U.S. Department of Labor.

The Epstein scandal could have ended decades ago if it weren’t for the dogged reporting of Julie K. Brown, an investigative reporter at the Miami Herald. This local journalist deserves the credit for reigniting public interest in the Epstein case a decade after the Acosta deal, which she did by documenting stories from 80 of his victims and by describing the wealthy, powerful network around Epstein. The men known to be in this orbit include presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, the U.K.'s Prince Andrew and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

Other than Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s girlfriend, no one else has been charged or convicted of crimes connected to him.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate still voted for Acosta to become Trump’s labor secretary. Once his connection to the Epstein scandal made headlines again, Acosta resigned; Trump praised him and expressed regret at his resignation.

Trump has publicly said he and Epstein were friends and multiple photos document this friendship.

“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Trump told New York magazine in 2002. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

This was during the time period in which dozens of young girls allege they were victimized and trafficked by Epstein. Trump also appears multiple times in Epstein’s private jet flight log, and his name is circled in Epstein’s “little black book.” The Wall Street Journal recently revealed that Trump allegedly gave Epstein a birthday card with a drawing of a naked woman that said, “may every day be another wonderful secret.”

Trump denies that he sent the card and sued the Wall Street Journal.

Epstein died in jail in 2019 while Trump was president. Officials say he committed suicide. He was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Who knows what details he may have revealed in a trial or who else might have been implicated?

Earlier this month, Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo declaring there was no further incriminating evidence to release about Epstein’s crimes or death. From then on, she and Trump have faced intense backlash from some of his most vocal supporters.

Trump, with a long history of allegations of sexual crimes and a jury finding him liable for sexual abuse, called the continued furor over Epstein a “hoax” and “boring.”

Given the public history, I wonder what made his supporters believe Trump wanted full transparency and accountability for those involved in Epstein’s crimes. He has a long, close association with Epstein, and those files could very well contain revelations that damage Trump himself. In fact, Bondi told Trump in May that his name appears in the Epstein files, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Some of those who voted for Trump may not care if he committed sexual crimes against young teenage girls. Some of those who have voted for Bill Clinton may feel the same way.

But there’s still a contingent of us who believe character matters in the people who lead our nation. We don’t want a predator-in-chief in the White House.

It’s hard to admit when we’ve been duped. But that anger and disappointment can be channeled into a greater purpose.

The righteous anger of Trump supporters could help bring justice to all those who enabled or participated in Epstein’s crimes.

That’s something everyone, of all political persuasions, should get behind.

During one of the scariest times of my life, when my husband was hospitalized with COVID early in the pandemic, I sat on a concrete bench outside the hospital -- watching him through a wall of windows as he sat in a packed waiting room, laboring to breathe.

No one other than the sick were allowed inside. No one knew if the loved ones we dropped off would make it out alive. I can vividly recall my devastation and fear.

Then, something happened that I will never forget.

One of my oldest friends in St. Louis drove up -- even though I told her not to come, even though she had not been meeting up with anyone during the pandemic. She double-masked and sat several feet away from me on that bench.

“I couldn’t bear the thought of you sitting out here alone,” she said.

When she left, another friend -- a physician dealing with the overwhelming load of patients at her hospital -- used her precious little time off and also showed up. Another friend called and said she was on her way. By that time, my husband had been taken back to a room, and I needed to go home to our children.

Never in my life will I forget how those friends made me feel in my darkest moments. I felt less alone. I remember my gratitude for those who dropped off food at my door or sent DoorDash gift cards, especially since I was also sick.

Even though I have always prioritized helping others who are going through difficult times -- taking them food, for instance, and attending funerals when I can -- this experience made me realize how receiving others’ compassion, care and empathy profoundly affects us. It also reinforced that reaching out and showing up after a crisis can be just as valuable as being there in the moment.

For those of us who spend any amount of time online, the ever-present cruelty in people’s comments and the silence of others in the face of horrific abuses can make you question our collective humanity. I’ve found myself wanting to keep a distance from those who demonstrate callousness or indifference to the suffering of others. I limit my exposure to the nastiness online because it feels corrosive to my spirit.

I’ve also been thinking about how to deal with empathy burnout or compassion fatigue in the face of too many sad and enraging stories in the news and on social media. How do we stay engaged when we are bombarded with bad news?

Serendipitously, a reader recently mailed me a copy of a book, “The Gift of Empathy: Helping Others Feel Valued, Cared For, and Understood” by Joel Bretscher and Kenneth Haugk. The latter is the founder and executive director of Stephen Ministries St. Louis, a nonprofit Christian educational organization focused on helping laypeople give compassion and care to those facing painful life challenges. In the book, they wrote: “When someone who is hurting tells another person about their struggles, they are most likely to get a fix-it solution, a pep talk, a platitude, a dismissive remark, a story about someone else’s suffering, or some other unhelpful response, when what they really want and need is empathy.”

The book offers simple advice on how to be a better listener, how to see the world from someone else’s perspective, feel what they might be feeling and express your understanding of those feelings to that person. It helped me realize that I am too quick to try to fix people’s problems -- I blame Eldest Child Syndrome -- rather than allowing myself to sit with the discomfort of hearing another person’s pain.

The book offers simple phrases that one can say, such as, “That sounds painful,” or “I’m sorry -- it’s hard to deal with that,” that can better convey empathy. It suggests asking questions that allow a person to share more about what they are feeling. It includes tips on how to experience another person’s feelings without taking them on as your own. This is key to preventing burnout.

When the world feels torn apart, one of the most powerful antidotes is to feel a connection with another person. Research shows that empathy is a learned trait, not something you are born with. I’m going to take the suggestions in this book and mindfully work on being more empathetic.

It’s a way to survive the cruelty of these times with our hearts intact.

At 20, Camden Cimorelli finally found a job he enjoyed: laying specialty flooring.

His father, Frank Cimorelli, a former pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, became cautiously hopeful that his son’s life was starting to turn around.

Cam had struggled with angry outbursts as a young boy after his parents’ divorce. They figured he was having trouble adjusting. But by the time he was 11 or 12, his parents knew something was seriously wrong. They took him to doctors for help. He was admitted to one of the best psychiatric hospitals in Milwaukee, where they lived. Doctors diagnosed him with ADHD.

When he was released a week later, he was no better. He didn’t like how the medicine made him feel. The family tried four or five different medications. Cam refused to open up to his therapist. His parents knew he wasn’t getting the help he needed.

“We felt so helpless the entire time,” Frank said. When Cam would spiral, they would take him back to the hospital, where they'd keep him a couple days and then send him home. He probably ended up at the hospital 10 times over the years, his father said.

Doctors never gave their son another diagnosis even though he sometimes experienced hallucinations and paranoid delusions. But he also had periods when he was more stable, like when he found the flooring job.

That was the happiest his father had ever seen him. Cam was a funny, smart, big-hearted young man. He was a loyal friend and had a way of charming others. He also loved talking to his grandfather about guns.

One day, he called his father excited about purchasing his first gun.

“My heart sunk,” Frank said. “I felt like his fate was sealed at that point that day.”

At 18, Cam could walk into a store in Wisconsin and legally buy a gun -- even with a documented history of psychiatric hospitalizations and suicide ideation. There was no red flag law to stop him, no place to share a doctor’s warning. The majority of states lack red flag laws. More than 27,000 people died by firearm suicide in 2023 -- about 58% of all gun deaths.

Cam was doing well -- even supervising a flooring crew -- until something in his brain switched again. Around age 23, the hallucinations, paranoia and angry outbursts came back. He was at his father’s home in December 2022 when he walked down to his bedroom with a hoodie balled up over his face.

“What’s going on?” Frank asked. Cam took the hoodie away. He held up thumb and index finger to make a gun gesture with his hand. Cam had shot himself under his chin. The impact blew out all his teeth and destroyed his jaw. Frank called 911.

“I didn’t know if he was going to die in my arms,” he said. “If politicians had to see his face that day and didn’t do anything about it, I'd have a whole lot of four-letter words to describe them. If that was their kid, and they saw that and went to work the next day and did nothing ...”

Cam was rushed into surgery. He had tested positive for COVID, so no one could go into the hospital with him. For 12 hours, his family had no idea what was happening.

By some miracle, Cam survived the suicide attempt. He spent the next several weeks in the hospital having multiple surgeries to reconstruct his jaw and face. When he was discharged, his parents took him straight to a psychiatric hospital.

They begged doctors to keep him for intensive inpatient treatment. He was there for five days, then the doctor called and said they were sending him home.

“We knew if he came home, we knew something bad was going to happen. We couldn’t help him or watch him 24/7,” Frank said.

Sure enough, 24 hours after coming home, Cam was dead.

The autopsy was inconclusive. Doctors suggested that an electrolyte imbalance might have caused death in his already weakened state.

Months later, when Frank finally went into Cam's room, he found little white things scattered around the floor. He started to clean them up and realized they were his son’s teeth.

Frank has spent the last year telling his son’s story to anyone who will listen -- on social media, at gun violence prevention events and in meetings with lawmakers. He says he’s not against the Second Amendment or anti-gun.

“I don’t worry about responsible gun owners,” he says. But he is furious that nothing stopped his son -- a young man who experienced repeated mental health crises -- from getting access to guns.

The medical system failed Cam. But the gun industry and NRA-funded lawmakers helped kill him.