“Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?” President Trump replied in a reporter during a cabinet meeting. “This type has been talked about for years … I mean, I can't believe that you are asking a question about Epstein at a time like this, where we are having some of the greatest success and also a tragedy with what happened in Texas. It simply seems like a desecration.”
It is difficult not to laugh at the disaster that the Trump administration has made with the Epstein Files fiasco. Do not worry, I will not walk too far in the “merits” of the controversy. Even so, a very brief summary could be useful.
Epstein, the famous financial consultant and sordid of sex trafficking to the rich and famous committed suicide in jail during the first Trump. And since then, the widespread Maga Universe, often incited by Trump himself, has convinced that Epstein was in the center of a vast network of sex, blackmail and intrigue minors. He had to have been killed to keep his “customer list,” insisted on many. When Trump returned to the White House and put Maga All-Stars Kash Patel and give a bongo at the top of the FBI, both great drivers of several theories related to Epstein, the understandable expectation was that it was finally revealed. At first, Atty. General Pam Bondi said he had Epstein's list of customers in his desk and that he would reveal everything soon.
Then, last week, administration officials announced that they could not find evidence to support conspiracy theories. Bondi said he turned off on the customer list. The world of Maga went crazy. Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly smelled blood in the water. Screams of cover -ups and insinuations or accusations that Trump must be on the proliferated list. Bongino may be thinking of giving up. Kash Patel is begging friendly journalists to take him in his word. And Trump is trying to embarrass everyone without talking about the type.
Now, don't melinterpret. I think there are all kinds of legitimate and interesting! – Questions to ask about Epstein customers, about how he earned money (billionaire Leon Black said he paid Epstein $ 170 million for “fiscal advice”, that is a lot of advice) and, yes, about Trump's relationship with Epstein (and Bill Clinton).
And given how Trump launched and sustained his political career releasing the unfounded conspiracy theories, including birtherism, the “manipulated” elections of 2020 and many others, it is difficult to gather any sympathy for the Mar-A-Lago Macbeth, since Epstein's ghost affects him as a more lavish bench. In fact, what is delicious of the entire show is that it is not worth motivating anyone, apart from the minor victims of Epstein. Patel, Bongino, Bondi and the inhabitants of Maga Media are caught in a situation of not winning: support Trump and his “cover -up” of his favorite conspiracy theory or alienate Trump when he refuses to drop him.
That so many people refuse to launch the issue can be the most important thing about this episode. Trump has a long story of trying to dictate what he tells as a legitimate question or subject. Lately he has become more strident. When a local journalist asked about the lack of early warning for the recent floods of Texas, broken“Only a very evil person would ask a question like that.” They have told journalists that never Ask him if he “comes out” in his rates schemes.
The main intention, as always, is to intimidate reporters. But what often gives weight to intimidation is the fact that Trump's own people – From the influencers of social networks to Fox News hosts: their signals will continue and bother, harass, make fun or criticize the main reporters who ask the president unwanted questions. The fact that Epstein's Fiasco divides those same people could be a sign of Trump's reductive influence within his own coalition. The fact that the division is larger and stronger in the Epstein archives than in any other topic, including Israel, Ukraine, rates, medicaid cuts, debt and deficit, or Trump Shady's innumerable businesses, only increases the Schadenfreude.
If you are covering your own gloomy participation with Epstein, that, of course, would turn the dial into 11. But assuming that we know as much as always, it really doesn't matter politically who is right about Epstein or why Trump wants people to stop talking about him. The relevant fact is that he has made clear what he wants, and many of his own henchmen and facilitators think he is interested in not giving it to him.
X: @jonahdispch
