Don’t Let Trump Distract you from the Epstein Matter…
...but don't let the Epstein matter distract you from everything else Trump is doing.
During the first Trump administration, it was not unusual for readers to state that a specific outrageous thing that Trump was doing was done to distract us from some other, even more outrageous thing that Trump was doing (and that the thing being distracted from was the real problem). There was a similar discourse on social media. Everything is a distraction! Don’t get pulled in! He just wants to control the news cycle! Muzzle velocity!
There is no doubt, by the way, that there is too much to keep track of (hence the occasional attempt to remind us to look right in front of our noses and/or to see what is going on in North Korea).
This overall dynamic has continued into the second Trump administration, although it has been refined of late to boil down to: don’t let X distract us from the Epstein Files!!
So, yes, it is wholly possible that any given activity by this administration is purposefully designed (or just a clever reaction by Trump’s lizard brain) to distract us from the Epstein matter. And I get that not every outrage is worth the same amount of attention (and some may be ultimately less outrageous than they appear at first glance).
As it pertains to Epstein I will note that, at a bare minimum, the following are incredibly problematic activities, if not gross interference into the legal process to the point of serious corruption: that Maureen Comey was fired, that Todd Blanche (now with the DOJ, but formerly one of Trump’s personal attorneys) interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell, and that Maxwell was subsequently transferred to a far more desirable prison (one that does not match her crimes).
Likewise, the following is simply bad.
- Via CNN: Bondi briefed Trump that his name was in Epstein files.
- Via Bloomberg: The FBI Redacted Trump’s Name in the Epstein Files.
Of course, we already know quite a bit about Trump and Epstein (e.g., via ABC News: The times Trump’s name appeared in the Epstein files the DOJ has already released). There are the photos, interviews, the birthday letter, etc. I would not be surprised, in the least, if Trump engaged in sexual relations with a minor. There is enough circumstantial evidence to make that a plausible charge.
Whether there is something additional that would be sufficient in the court of public opinion to do truly significant political damage is an open question. A criminal trial is not forthcoming. IANAL, but I am fairly sure that the statute of limitations would preclude prosecution (and given how poorly the US justice system was able to prosecute him for some pretty obvious crimes, I have little faith in that avenue even if a prosecution is possible). As such, the issue is public opinion and political power.
I would note that there is enough known about Trump and his terrible personal values when it comes to sex and his general treatment of women to have sunk any other politician. As such, I have hit a level of cynicism (and just plain empirical evidence) that makes me wonder what kind of revelation it would take for there to be real damage to the man or his administration.
Remember, this is the guy who somehow managed to have his son admit, on Twitter, that yes, yes, I did meet with Russians to try and get dirt on Hillary Clinton, and yet claims with a straight face that to accuse him of getting help from the Russians is just crazy talk! He was caught trying to leverage Ukraine for dirt on Joe Biden, and while it led to his impeachment, what difference did it make? He basically supported an insurrection, and his copartisans (briefly) blamed him for it, and yet they couldn’t pull the trigger on banning him from future public office.
(I could go on and on and on, I would note).
So, maybe I am the kind of Charlie Brown who finally learned not to try to kick the football, but the notion that some revelation is going to finally bring him down does not motivate me all that much. Keep in mind, he is term-limited, and he is old. And while I actually do agree, there is a non-zero chance that he will try and run for a third term (and I am even at the point wherein I can at least game out the current SCOTUS might let him), he is towards the end, not the beginning, of his power and the damage he can do.
This is not to say that I think we should ignore the Epstein matter and that I especially think that political opponents and media figures should press the point as far as they can.
Indeed, there is a scenario in which some Epstein-related revelation might do serious damage to the MAGA movement. By the same token, the more likely scenario in my mind is that some Epstein-related revelation will, yet again, demonstrate how good human beings are at rationalization.
I lay all of that out to say, however, don’t let Epstein be a distraction for all the truly bad things that the administration is doing.
Don’t get so caught up in the vortex of bullshit such that it becomes easy to want to look passed the damage to the global and domestic economies.
It may be, just to pick the most recent example, that the militarization of DC is just for show. But that doesn’t make it harmless. Or, to go to yesterday, maybe meeting with Putin is meant to change the subject.
But, whether he is acting as he is in the streets of DC, it doesn’t make those actions unimportant any more than his elevating Putin from his status as international pariah, while at the same time perhaps betraying Ukraine, doesn’t matter because, at least in part, the goal is for Trump to recapture the media narrative.
So, I’m making three points.
One is that are a lot of things that require our attention, exhausting though it may be,
A second is that I would not put as much stock in an Epstein revelation resulting in that final, magic moment wherein Trump is crushed. Don’t allow yourself to be like the QAnon types who think that the Epstein List was going to take down all the Democrats and their allies.
Third, just because something might be being done as a means of distraction doesn’t make the distraction unimportant. If your kid sets fire to the backyard to distract you from the fact that he put a dent in your car doesn’t mean you don’t have to put the fire out.
Note that the photo I chose for this post underscores that we have a distraction machine well-versed in Kafaybe in charge of our government. He is a clown, to be sure, but he is a dangerous one, and he is more than capable of setting fires to distract us from other fires.
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It’s not about what’s in the Epstein files. I seriously don’t expect any major revelations, and the real scandal should be the leniency with which this particular sex offender was treated.
It’s about the facts that El Taco is infuriated by any mention of his sex offender bestie, and that the continuing secrecy about the files, including the infamous list that may not even exist, disillusions and demoralizes many of his deplorables.
To make matters worse, it’s anyone’s guess who’s driving different actions taken by the current regime. Foreign policy seems to be in chaos, with different people making decisions in different areas, and even doubt who ultimately made the decisions. Trump may be in control, but that amounts sometimes to just yanking the leash of someone who has done something counter to his current whim. (An exception is making kissyface with Putin, which is always a priority.)
But that doesn’t make anything that’s happening not for real. Occupying DC isn’t a distraction. It’s the genuine authoritarian desire of some critical people in the current regime, including Trump himself. Whether that is the priority at any current moment depends on a mercurial mixture of bodily humors (Diet Coke, cheeseburgers, fried chicken, and bile) that defies exact prediction.
I think this is the key to giving at least some attention to all of it and mitigating the exhaustion. When you allow yourself to think this will actually damage Trump or his enablers, then you invest emotionally in a potential outcome you would value. When the damage inevitably doesn’t come, the loss of this value you thought was in your grasp is tiresome and demoralizing.
Better I think to pay attention to the various scandals through a mocking lens – much like the late night comedians do or as the South Park guys have done recently. There is some psychic relief in the absurdity of it all for oneself and I believe the relentless ridicule does piss The Donald off. It gets under the skin of his cultists as well.
Maybe it won’t remove Trump and his administration from power, but it constrains how much fun Trump could have as would-be king. That’s a win.
Fascism as farce for the win?
fwiw, I suspect there are no clearly incriminating “Epstein files”.
Epstein appears to have operated a rather classic multi-layered enticement operation.
On the top level, “charitable activity” and “public interest science” etc.
Which some people were stupid enough to fall for, not having themselves or their security and/or PR bods done the necessary.
Then once the “possibles” are in, just one step at a time …
The connect to “dear Ghislaine” should have been an obvious red flag to anyone cluefull.
Never mind some cursory digging into Epstein himself, even before his first brushes with the law.
The “files”, imho, will just show loads of folks just meeting Epstein.
The real dirt will have been been secured well away from any external access.
Dear Ghislaine might well have been able, at some point, to provide those links.
But they will now have been erased and overwritten to hell and gone.
This line of investigation is extremely unlikely to turn up anything actionable, imuho.
There are professionals engaged in this, or you can paint me green and call me a gherkin.
And they are not going to leave legally actionable information lying about unless they desire to do so.
@Kingdaddy:
I have no idea what Rubio contributes to our foreign policy, but am willing to listen and learn. Something we do know for a fact because of the administration’s deplorable operations security is that Stephen Miller, joined by Hegseth, provided the final green light for a military strike against Houthi targets in Yemen.
Keep in mind that a substantial amount of his support comes from Q Anon and Q Tinged freaks, who believe that there is a globalist pedophile ring that Trump is fighting, and will bring down any day now. (This may or may not include adrenochrome farms on mars, or pizza parlors)
The only good thing about these people is that they do not like global pedophile rings. (They’re also probably a good source of protein, should we need to eat them, so I guess that’s two things)
The libertarians might make the ephobophile-not-a-pedophile argument, and there’s a segment of the religious base that favors child marriage, but revelations — and even the appearance of a coverup — can wear down that Q base and shatter the coalition.
I don’t know if anything else can.
Not a problem.
Trump is constantly throwing … excrement … against the wall in an ongoing attempt to distract us from whatever he threw against the wall previously. Luckily for me, I can simultaneously multi-task pretty well:
I can follow his deal-no-deal Tariff ‘negotiation’ strategy,
I can follow his White Washing of historical exhibits in the various Smithsonian Museums,
I can follow his slow motion selling out of Ukraine,
I can follow his 1936 Style ICE raids, replete with masked ‘agents’ and renditioning excursions,
I can follow his takeover of the ’28 Olympic Games, and Kennedy Center honors ceremonies,
I can follow his frantic distractions concerning the Tump-Epstein friendship,
… and so much more … oh, and …
I will follow upcoming quest to bribe a Nobel Committee Member for a Peace Prize award
Yes, Trump makes it hard for us to keep track of all of this, OTH … none of it is easy to ignore.
@Gustopher: The problem is, I think, that QAnon types have already demonstrated an utter lack of intellectual capacity, and so some kind of rationalization would not shock me. They would just claim the Deep State is even deeper than suspected and that Trump was framed. All of which would require more authoritarianism, not less.
The religious types proved their capacity to rationalize a decade ago, so I have little hope there.
Libertarians aren’t much better, at least the ones who are currently already sticking with the least libertarian administration of my (or probably anybody’s) lifetime.