Watching our nationwide political dumpster fires — the longest government shutdown in historical past, the nearly eight-week shuttering of the Home of Representatives — one actually has to surprise: What the hell was that?
The shutdown occurred as a result of Democratic senators withheld their votes on a decision that might proceed to fund the federal government. Why? They needed to reverse Medicaid cuts and extend the tax credits that make medical insurance attainable for thousands and thousands of low-income People. Republicans, who would rather give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires, insisted they’d cope with the medical insurance challenge individually, at a later date. (Insert eye roll right here.) For 43 painful days, Democrats held agency. After which they caved.
Six Democrats and one Independent joined each Republican in a vote to finish the shutdown. I’m laborious pressed to see what People bought in return.
Home Speaker Mike Johnson, in a weird effort to stop a vote on the measure that might result in the federal government’s launch of the Epstein information, despatched his colleagues residence for two months, and refused to swear in a newly elected Democratic consultant, all to forestall such a vote. After which he caved.
Johnson lastly swore in Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva on Wednesday, whereupon she instantly grew to become the 218th and last signature on the discharge petition that may power the Home to vote on whether or not to launch the Justice Division’s information on the nation’s most infamous intercourse trafficker. The invoice is anticipated to cross, and can in all probability then die within the Senate or on President Trump’s desk.
So, what, precisely, was the purpose of shuttering the Home? Was Johnson attempting to guard Trump from “incriminating” info within the Epstein information? Or just currying favor with an more and more erratic president by doing his bidding?
Making an attempt to guard Trump from the stench of Epstein, who was discovered lifeless in his jail cell in 2019, makes as a lot sense as believing that Republicans will provide a superb religion resolution to skyrocketing medical insurance premiums. The GOP has totally failed for 15 years to provide you with a substitute for Obamacare. With that sort of monitor file, they merely can’t be trusted to deal with medical insurance in any significant approach. And Trump can’t be protected against Epstein as a result of we already know a lot about their relationship. Epstein did, in spite of everything, describe himself on tape as “Donald’s closest friend for 10 years.”
Trump can name the Epstein scandal a “hoax” all he needs now. However whereas campaigning in 2024, Trump stated he would launch the information, pleasing his conspiracy-minded MAGA supporters.
“It’s not that they care about Epstein personally,” explained Jack Posobiec, the right-wing agitator who promoted a conspiracy idea a few Hillary Clinton-led youngster intercourse ring within the nonexistent basement of a Washington, D.C., pizza parlor that led to an actual shooting in 2016. “It’s that they care that there’s this optic that Epstein was one way or the other concerned with a shadowy system that truly has management over our authorities, management over our establishments, management of our lives, and actually is a ruling energy over us.”
Posobiec was half proper.
The “shadowy system” seems to be the elite and billionaire class that flies on personal jets to personal islands, abuses underage women, and will get away with it. The high-ranking officers, techies, scientists, lecturers and different males who availed themselves of Epstein’s revolving door of sexual gratification by no means thought they’d be caught. And up to now, with the glaring exception of 1 member of the British royal household, not one of the accused has paid a value.
In loss of life, the sleazy Epstein left many receipts, now coming to mild with this week’s launch of 23,000 pages of documents, obtained by the Home from his property.
Epstein mused with the journalist and Trump nemesis Michael Wolff about how he may harm the president’s political profession. “I’m the one capable of take him down,” Epstein wrote to a friend in 2018. And whereas he coached former Harvard President Larry Summers on find out how to strategy a lady he was pursuing in 2017, Epstein told Summers, “I’ve met some very unhealthy folks ,, none as unhealthy as trump. not one first rate cell in his physique.. so yes- harmful.”
Actually, Trump is a civilly adjudicated sexual abuser who has boasted of grabbing women’s genitals and falsified enterprise information to pay hush money to a porn star with whom he was accused of getting intercourse whereas his spouse was residence with a new child. However the Epstein emails don’t implicate him within the legal sexual abuse of minors.
And sure, Epstein had a low opinion of his onetime pal, evaluating Trump in emails to a mafia don, and variously referring to him as “soiled,” “F—ing loopy,” “borderline insane” and “harmful.”
However whereas Epstein wrote that Trump “knew in regards to the women,” he additionally wrote that Trump “by no means bought a therapeutic massage.”
Why, then, is Trump so determined to alter the topic from Epstein?
Possibly the only rationalization is one of the best.
Because the political commentator Bakari Sellers put it the other day on CNN, “All people is aware of that Donald Trump was mates with Jeffrey Epstein. No one tried to cover that, and so you must put on round your neck that you just have been mates with probably the most infamous pedophiles within the historical past of the nation.”
Bluesky: @rabcarian
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