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Putting some daylight between Donald Trump and his most loyal supporters has been nearly impossible. To them, he is something akin to the Second Coming, and, because so many of them live in right-wing (mis)information bubbles, they never hear or see anything that makes the president appear in an unfavorable light (and if they do, it’s easy to dismiss it as “fake news”).

In the long run, the cultish devotion to Trump may turn out to be a challenge for Republicans. For now, however, it is mainly a problem for Democrats, who have been unable to identify and exploit any cracks in the MAGA base, even though many of its members are working class Americans who will get hurt by the GOP’s policies.

That all changed this week.

For the first time in forever, they have a genuine opportunity to drive a wedge between Trump and his base.

And, improbably, it comes courtesy of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who was awaiting his trial for sex trafficking minors when he died in prison.

The president and his administration have badly fumbled the issue… on the campaign trail, earlier this year, and especially in the past few days.

Before the election, Trump promised that he would make public files related to Epstein’s crimes, his clients, and his death.

Then, Attorney General Pam Bondi not only teased their release but also indicated that there might be some revelations.

However, in recent weeks, they have changed their tune.

This culminated in a memo in which the Department of Justice essentially declared the case to be closed, that Epstein died by suicide, and that nobody else would be charged.

Trump then made it worse by telling his supporters to let it go — twice.

It’s a rare misstep for a president who is very much in tune with what his base wants and how to communicate with MAGA nation.

On the one hand, Trump seems to have failed to grasp how strongly his base feels about his former pal.

That’s a stunning error.

The belief that a cabal of powerful figures (Democrats, of course), in concert with the “deep state” is operating a child sex trafficking ring is at the heart of the QAnon movement, and the QAnon movement is at the heart of MAGA.

In other words, there are millions of Trump voters, and perhaps tens of millions, for whom this is the central issue.

In addition, the president and others, like Bondi, are so used to being able to lie to their supporters without any kind of pushback that they once again said what they thought the MAGA base wanted to hear, i.e., claims that the truth about Epstein, who else was involved in his crimes, and who was responsible for his death in prison, would be revealed.

Now, however, Trump is telling them to move on, which is obviously not going to happen.

And the last thing the president wants is for his conspiracy-minded supporters to start looking into his relationship with Epstein and statements he has made about him and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s confidante, who was convicted of child sex trafficking.

Because that, coupled with the administration’s actions of the past week, could be devastating for Trump.

It wouldn’t be a stretch for his supporters to believe that he is now a participant in the coverup, and that’s the opportunity for Democrats.

However, they have to proceed with care.

For them, it is crucial to take everything connected to Epstein seriously — including Trump’s supporters. It can’t just be some gloating memes or tongue-in-cheek petitions to Republican committee chairmen to get to the bottom of why the administration is trying to cover this up.

Those kinds of stunts might play well with Democratic voters who look down on MAGA, but they will achieve nothing else.

Of course, there is another, more important, reason to take Epstein’s crimes seriously: What he did was really bad, and the truth of who is involved and what happened has not yet been uncovered.

If Democrats are making an honest effort to get to the bottom of this sordid saga, they can make inroads with millions of people inclined to hate them.

That doesn’t mean that MAGA voters will start voting for Democrats, but this is an issue that can pierce their bubble, get them to look at Trump more critically, and share those findings with others in the right-wing echo chamber.

The coming days will be really important.

Trump is going to try to distract his base in some way, and it is crucial for Democrats to earnestly call him out on that, demand answers, and point out when Republicans are stonewalling Epstein-related revelations.

And they can’t be smug about it.

If they can manage that, then, perhaps for the first time, they can create and exploit some fissures in a MAGA coalition that, so far, seemed impenetrable.