This week we all came a couple steps closer to finally taking a look at what has become the biggest political MacGuffin of the year: the Epstein files. The long-delayed swearing-in of Arizona Rep. Adelita Grijalva allowed the pro-disclosure group in the House to finally reach the magic number of yes votes in their election. petition for dismissal an order for their release; After this, opposition in the House of Representatives essentially collapsed, and the Senate used its power of “take and pass” to ratify the lower house's decision in advance. The bill now heads to President Trump's desk. He is expected to sign it into law and then try to use its contents to wage a merciless war about democrats.
All this may end in nothing. There is no reason to believe that the Trump Justice Department, which essentially acts as own private legal adviser— will treat these materials judiciously. Frankly, you shouldn't be surprised if there's little convincing about them. There can be no doubt about Epstein's guilt; the rest is just suspicion. Conservatives grimly warned their liberal counterparts: “Be careful what you wish for; what if a bunch of crusty old democrats are involved?”
To which I say: “Don’t threaten me with a good time.” As I watched the Epstein story unfold in the media—through the cries of legislators and the stream of tasteless emails thrown at the press—I couldn't ignore that it was all one big pile of rot in the center of polite society. My TNR colleague Matt Ford, expressed similar feelings In a recent article, he admitted that the most desperate thing about the Epstein case was that the whole idea of civic virtue seemed to have been killed, and in its place a culture of elite impunity had emerged.
For my part, I'm less concerned about whether some Democratic Party luminary will catch Epstein and more concerned about whether Democrats will miss an opportunity to attack these corrupt mechanisms and the presidential administration that has made them their North Star. This iron is especially hot at the moment. A fresh Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday showed Trump's approval rating has fallen. startling new lowswith respondents particularly “dissatisfied with his handling of the high cost of living and the investigation into late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.”
Epstein and the economy are the twin albatrosses around Trump's neck. The question, however, is whether Democrats have the courage and common sense to use both paths to destroy Trump. This may not seem like a problem, but Democrats seem to be pathologically averse to multitasking, which explains why they make the importance of food prices their priority to the exclusion of all other issues. This approach is so monomaniacal that at various times over the past year, Democratic lawmakers have cited other issues as “distractions— up to and including Trump's violent paramilitaries.
Let's give the Democrats credit: their case for accessibility passed the election tests earlier this month. And the administration is scared: Trump and his allies an attempt to argue for poor accessibility their own. It took a long time, but Democrats suddenly set the tone in Washington.
That the Epstein case simultaneously wounded Trump is a fortunate coincidence for Democrats looking for a master key to unlock the larger argument about the harm Trump has done to our republic: ICE thugs on our street, the demolition of the Trump White House, the high cost of living, the administration's various decisions to harm people during quarantine, all those weird ghouls occupying executive branch positions that once went to qualified government employees, and the eternal stench oligarchic swamp water Pervasive social life – all these issues affecting the lives and livelihoods of ordinary people lie at the heart of elite impunity.
There are no distractions, no opportunities to weigh; It's all the same story: as with Epstein, powerful plutocratic interests have found their man in Trump, and together they are leading the country to destruction for the sake of their own amusement and self-enrichment. Here's how Ford records it:
At its core, Trumpism is a framework for allowing evil. This is the abrogation of ethical standards and the erasure of moral authority. He ignores checks and balances, rejecting the idea that power can be abused or corrupted because it pays. Trumpism is not really about immigration, inflation, trade, draining the swamp, or building a wall—it is ultimately about the dark feelings of mistreating those his adherents view as inferior, either directly or through intermediaries.
As I noted earlier, Trumpism doesn't workand people are getting angrier and angrier. According to the latest NPR/PBS News Marist poll, Democrats 14 point advantage over the Republican Party on the general congressional ballot. The time to beat these scammers is near and they shouldn't value it. Think of it this way: Trumpism is the culmination of a dishonest scheme that started almost half a century agoin which the rich and powerful have plundered our wealth and destroyed the civic fabric of this nation. Yes, as the Epstein case shows, in reality we have been sullied by one big cabal of plutocratic scoundrels. Now brave Democrats have the opportunity to crush these scumbags and take back what they stole.
This article first appeared in Power Mad, TNR's weekly newsletter written by Associate Editor Jason Linkins. Register here.
