Files and Tribulations
The story about releasing the Epstein files is like Trump’s version of Frankenstein’s monster. He created it, but he can’t figure out how to kill it. NYT (Gift Article): After Trump Split, Epstein Said He Could ‘Take Him Down.’ “By turns gossipy, scathing and scheming, the messages show influential people pressing Mr. Epstein for insight into Mr. Trump, and Mr. Epstein casting himself as the ultimate Trump translator, someone who knew him intimately and was ‘the one able to take him down.'” Will Epstein achieve after his death what he didn’t achieve during his life? At this point, it’s hard for close observers to believe any scandal could take Trump down. You may be wondering, Wait, Are the Epstein Files Real Now? “Trump was meant to courageously release all of the available evidence for public scrutiny. Instead, this scandal has turned out to implicate him personally. (This is a risk inherent in building a personality cult around one of the worst human beings in the United States—almost any moral violation you pick will, statistically, have a high likelihood of appearing somewhere on his résumé.)” But this never-ending, particularly bleak Epstein scandal is different than the never-ending (and ongoing) other scandals. As Karen Tumulty explains in WaPo (Gift Article): “The MAGA base has had little trouble looking the other way when it comes to Donald Trump’s trampling of norms and ethical standards: the coarseness; the indictments; the retribution against his enemies; the self-enrichment while in office; the unprecedented claims of executive power. His administration’s handling of information regarding the horrific crimes of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is different. Bringing to light what lies within the Justice Department’s so-called Epstein files is the most persistent issue to have driven a deep wedge into the president’s base — to the point where some who embrace the MAGA label have even been willing to make common cause with Democrats.”
+ Consider that a relatively tiny scandal within this scandal might have been enough to ruin former top officeholders. This week, in an effort to halt the release of more Epstein files, Trump Ramped Up Pressure on G.O.P. One of those efforts included the summoning of “Representative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican who has signed the petition, to a meeting in the White House Situation Room with Attorney General Pam Bondi and the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, to discuss her demand to release the files.” The once independent FBI and the once independent Justice Department are now acting as Trump’s personal fixers, pressuring an elected official to do his bidding in a room often reserved for high-level military planning (and one where, interestingly, no phones or other recording devices are permitted). That fact that this aspect of the story is just one more detail that will get lost in the scandalous ether is another reminder of how quickly our institutional framework has devolved.
+ Epstein Bantered Regularly With Larry Summers. Often scandals that Trump survives ends up costing mere mortals, bigly. Meanwhile, the spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure in these emails is brutal. Instead of buying an island, Epstein should have purchased a subscription to Grammarly.
