Democrats should avoid the substance of the Epstein controversy and focus on a single point: If his supporters feel Trump is insulting and disrespecting them, they’re right. The best thing that could come from this episode is if they begin to question the other “hoaxes” and “fake news” Trump has sold them on.
Yes, he does think you’re stupid. He always has.
That’s the only Democratic/liberal message that seems useful to me here. Trump ran on a promise to release the Epstein Files. It was key to promoting his image as the man who would finally stand up to the the Deep State and end the ability of privileged elites to do whatever they want with impunity. His Justice Department repeatedly teased his base with the notion that major revelations were coming soon. The holy grail of the Epstein conspiracy theory — the client list, the names of the powerful men who allegedly abused Epstein’s harem of underage girls — was on Pam Bondi’s desk, awaiting her review.
And then: Never mind. There never was a client list. Epstein’s death in prison was just the suicide that authorities had always claimed. Nothing suspicious about it. Nothing to reveal. Just: Move on everybody. Go back to talking about tax cuts or mass deportation or Joe Biden’s dementia. (A good summary of the contradictions between these official announcements and DOJ’s previous statements is in Senator Durbin’s letter to Attorney General Bondi.)
Trump has seemed surprised, offended, and then angry when his supporters did not do as they were told. The whole Epstein conspiracy theory, he now claims, was concocted by Democrats. It’s a “hoax” that only “stupid” and “foolish” Republicans fall into.
This time, though, the base isn’t falling into line. Two weeks have gone by, and still MAGA World is roiled by the controversy. Trump has tried to placate them by having Pam Bondi ask a judge to release the grand jury files from the Maxwell trial, but that’s unlikely to satisfy anyone: It will take time, the judge will likely say no, and even if he said yes, the information presented to the grand jury was aimed at Epstein and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently in jail. If a client list exists, it wouldn’t be there.
The Trump administration has much more extensive information now, and could release it quickly. It just chooses not to.
This MAGA infighting seems like a godsend to Democrats, but it’s a tricky gift to open. Democrats have never bought into the Epstein conspiracy theory, which was rooted in the idea that Epstein’s fabled client list would be full of high-ranking Democrats and the liberal Hollywood elite. (It’s related to the Pizzagate theory that connected Hillary Clinton to a network that trafficked missing children for sexual exploitation.)
One thing Democrats lack these days, at least among the voters who shifted from Biden in 2020 to Trump in 2024, is authenticity. Championing the Epstein theory won’t help, because Democrats can’t do it authentically. (I know I can’t.)
I can’t even authentically call for DOJ to release its files. There’s a reason Merrick Garland never did: DOJ has terrifying investigative power, and a corresponding responsibility not to abuse that power. DOJ policy is to release the information it collects only in indictments and trials. It releases information to prosecute crimes, not to defame people that it can’t prove a case against.
That would be a terrible policy to reverse, especially in the Trump era. DOJ exists to enforce the law, not to keep the public informed.
Congressional investigation, though, is an avenue to inform the public. It would be entirely appropriate for a congressional committee to inquire about the strange contradictions in the administration’s public statements, or for Congress to appoint a commission to inquire.
But that’s as far as I think Democrats should go: Call for investigating the contradictions, not for investigating the conspiracy theory itself. If Republicans are willing to take the lead on a deeper investigation, fine. But that’s not for us to do.
One thing we can do, though, is validate the outrage felt among the MAGA rank-and-file: Yes, he does think you’re stupid. He thinks he can tell you up is down and you’ll start repeating it. He’s been doing it for years. Maybe this is a moment for you to re-evaluate many things.
That’s the point I think Democrats, liberals, and anybody else trying to turn the tide of fascism should emphasize. Not some Epstein conspiracy theory of our own. Not even the demand for DOJ to release the files. It seems obvious Trump has something to hide here, but I wouldn’t even dwell on that.
But Trump has always counted on his ability to influence the thinking of his followers. He has been uncanny in knowing how to wave a red flag, change the subject, or make himself the victim. This time, though, his Jedi mind tricks aren’t working. Even the magic word “hoax” is failing to make his followers go glassy-eyed and get back in line. All over MAGA, people are thinking about the Epstein Files and thinking, “I don’t care what he said. Those are the droids I’m looking for.”
But if members of his cult have briefly stepped outside his mind control, encourage them to stay there. If you don’t believe him when he says the Epstein stuff is a “hoax”, maybe you should re-examine all the other “hoaxes” he has claimed, from climate change to the well-established facts that Biden won the 2020 election and Russia interfered in Trump’s favor in 2016.
Most MAGA folks won’t do this re-examination, because are in fact the sheep Trump believes they are. But a few will. Jess Piper, who lives in Trump country, argues that they will never be converted into Democratic voters, and she’s probably right. But if they just lose their enthusiasm and decide to sit out future elections, that could make a difference.
The Weekly Sift 
Comments
Doug,
I know nothing about the Epstein files – what’s in them, who to believe, etc. One thing I DO know beyond a reasonable doubt is that if there was nothing in the files that would cause DJT great harm, he would not be so passionately trying to prevent their release.
Ron
Ron Cordes 101 Bryce Lane # 520 King of Prussia PA 19406 781-275-5258 (Cell) ron@cordes.blog
Great advice! Focus on the rift between Trump and his zombie followers, not the content of the Epstein files.
However, I think it is legitimate to expect, at some point, to see Gislane Maxwell on the witness stand, even in closed court proceedings, telling a judge and jury everything she knows about the participation of maybe dozens of millionaires in the systematic sexual abuse of as many as 200 young girls.
And from Maxwell’s testimony, we should see numerous follow-on arrests of the evil men who committed these heinous sex crimes. At that point, there won’t be any need to see a client list.
I think as Democrats, it’s legitimate for us to insist that this AG get on with the legal case against Maxwell and explain why it is taking so long to get her into a court room, testifying.
Maxwell is currently appealing her case, hence the apparent lack of progress.
What I don’t get is the unforced error. There was no need for the “move along, nothing to see here” statement after egging on the conspiracy theorists for the past 6 years. All Trump had to do is say “we’re preparing a huge case, the biggest case anyone has ever seen” and he could have stalled until after the midterms, if not longer. This isn’t so much his base not mindlessly accepting what he tells them, this is Trump completely misreading what his base wanted. And like everything else, the problem is completely of his own creation. It would be ironic if this turns out to be his Watergate after so many far more substantive scandals.
Protestant “dogmatism” redresses Catholic “dogmatism”. Both tits on a boar hog useless.
C.S. Lewis’s “The Great Divorce” – a narrative that presents a fictional journey from a gray, dreary town (representing Hell through this metaphor) to a vibrant, beautiful heaven, where the characters confront their own choices and the nature of their desires. On par with the Aslan lion metaphor which depicts the Easter resurrection from the dead story.
The “Great Divorce” theme focuses upon pride. Many of the characters in this metaphor cling to their “sins”. A guilt trip that dates back to the apostle Pauls’ “Original Sin” narishkeit. A lot of Goyim reject the NT guilt trip ideology. The entire Xtian theology of Heaven and Hell, pie in the sky religious theological speculations. The Talmud teaches a person who speculates on matters which the Human mind cannot conceive or grasp … better that such persons’ never born.
To make literal declarations like “All in hell want to be there”, simply perverting a children story as depicting actual reality – what complete and utter nonsense! The theological creed Xtian belief systems qualify as examples of the metaphor story of residents of hell who made conscious choices that reflect their fervent beliefs in some pie in the sky Nicene theology of the Trinity.
Torah has no concept of “Free Will” as Calvin solemnly declared. John Calvin’s “dogma” of Free Will emphasizes the sovereignty of some undefined god. His theology promotes the notion that this undefined Universal god has predetermined who will be saved and who will be damned. This perverse dogmatism defines the key component of Reformed Protestant theology.
However, Calvin did acknowledge the concept of human responsibility and moral choice within the framework of his Universal god’s sovereignty. Mighty White of him to grant his Universal god these powers; such as grace – essential for salvation.
Interesting – Moshe’s Torah and the Oral Torah-Talmud defines the middah of grace as the dedication – through swearing a Torah oath – of some unspecified tohor middah, as the k’vanna of the tohor midda of Grace. For example the tohor middah of mercy which learns from the commandment to obliterate every man woman and child of Canaan, or to the commandment to slaughter the youth – stubborn and rebellious son, or the commandment to make eternal war upon the assimilated mix multitude of Jews who lack fear of Elohim, known as Amalek. Commonly known today as antisemitism etc. Clearly Calvin’s Protestant dogmatism, like Catholic dogmatism, upon this foundation stands the theology espoused by C.S. Lewis likewise rejects Oral Torah common law precedents, some of which – listed above, as the means to interpret the k’vanna of both tohor middot of grace and mercy!
As a liberal, it’s hard not to be frustrated these days. I wish there were a better political alternative that supported our values than Democrats. Democrats remind me of Jaguar in the 1960’s. They may be pretty cars and look nice, but they’re lemons. That’s how I feel about Democrats. They talk a good game, but they’re totally incompetent at pushing back against Trump (if you evaluate them, as I do, based on results and not intentions).
They are incompetent at pushing back because they never intended to succeed in the first place. Democrats are beholden to the same monied interests that the Republicans are and bring us to the same places (or one step short of that and we call it a win).
If anyone knows of specific organizations that are working on getting money out of politics, I’d be interested in getting links. (post them here)
The last few weeks of Trump melting down have brought us about as close as we can get to an answer for “who killed Epstein?”
It was Trump. Duh. Trump was the president who controlled the federal prison Epstein was held in, and was very obviously molesting kids with Epstein. Trump had Epstein killed to keep him from talking. I was pretty sure of this before, but it’s nice to have some confirmation. Still doesn’t explain the specifics of how Epstein “belonged to intelligence,” but one step at a time I guess.
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