This is not an answer you give if you're innocent.
— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 10:19 AM
===
Well at least we have confirmation that the files contain something that is really bad — bad enough to make him worried that he can’t spin it or that it would turn his base against him (and considering that they will pretty much forgive him for anything, it means it’s REALLY bad)
— Asha Rangappa (@asharangappa.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 11:44 AM
===
Everyone: Release the Epstein files
Trump: I’m going to release Epstein’s accomplice— Max Berger (@maxberger.bsky.social) July 27, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Mr. Charles P. Pierce, at Esquire — “In His Latest Turn Toward the Insane, Trump Said Obama “Owes” Him Big for Presidential Immunity”:
… The other day, during one of his interminable voyages through the stalactite-thick canyons of what’s left of his mind, the president paused for a moment to contemplate one of his latest obsessions—namely, that Barack Obama committed treason in investigating Russian ratfcking in the 2016 election. (No joke. I think he’s actually going to try this one.)
During this particular “episode,” however, he was asked about whether the former president would avail himself of the gift of presidential immunity that the carefully manufactured conservative majority on the Supreme Court gave to the current president. This seemed to spark some random neuron into brief life:
It probably helps him a lot. Probably helps him a lot. The immunity ruling. But it doesn’t help the people around him at all. … He’s done criminal acts, there’s no question about it. But he has immunity. And it probably helps him a lot. He owes me big. Obama owes me big.
Leave aside the fact that the president pretty much just explained that Chief Justice John Roberts is dancing on his string. It’s that line he dropped in the middle there, about how the ruling “doesn’t help the people around him at all.” I remember making that same point in this here shebeen at the time that misbegotten ruling was handed down: that, as nearly as I could tell from the court’s decision, the immunity only covered the president himself. Which meant that folks like Tom Homan, Stephen Miller, and all the rest of the vicious elves might be on their own if and when Beggar’s Day finally comes for this crowd.
Now, I realize that there are any number of ways the president and his allies could short-circuit consequences the way they always do. He could pardon them all preemptively. The court could find a way to make their bad ruling even worse. But, for the moment, were I an underling in the court of the Mad King, I might wonder exactly how much room there is in a one-man lifeboat.
The Epstein stuff is also different because it’s finally giving journalists a Woodward and Bernstein moment, one where they’ve got a chance to take someone down. I’m more optimistic about this because Trump’s spent his second term alienating every civil servant. That makes a lot of Deepthroats.
— Cooper Lund (@cooperlund.online) July 27, 2025 at 11:01 AM
War for Ukraine Day 1,250: The Cost
RepubAnon
I think the real reason this is hitting Trump so hard is that he so convinced his MAGA cult that there was a big criminal conspiracy and he was going to uncover it that his current attempts to cover it up are a cognitive dissonance moment for his followers.
piratedan
considering that it’s Trump and considering that it’s Epstein, who was likely also laundering Russian monies from various and sundry illegal sources (but probably not exclusively so) and their shared hobby of fornication with underage women, I would suspect that there is not only film, but dates, times and names. Perhaps both of them sharing a child, perhaps multiple children made to attend to their sexual needs and audio boasting of their prowess. All items are on the table of speculation, dominance, submission, gay sex, scat play, role play, multiple partners, physical abuse and knowing his penchant for petty cruelty, probably not much to shock a jaded Democrat, but ……
someone who is hardcore MAGA, supposedly living the life of purity of thought and deed (despite what they may even do in the privacy of their own home) having their savior sully himself on the very pedestal that they’ve elevated him up to, may cause some sort of cognitive dissonance among enough of their Q-Anon fractured superegos to create a mass extinction event among the faithful.
Or Faux News and the Heritage Foundation and the Tech Brotherhood may decide that it’s too early to cash in that JD Vance chit just yet and attempt to run the con to its bitter end, unless Putin and Netanyahu and the Saudi’s all think that more chaos is needed, so watching his public defenestration may serve their needs just as well.
just a fucking crying shame that no one in the GOP had the balls to stand up to him, that the media is more interested in a quick buck than actually informing the public or allowing anyone else to do so.
I grieve for our nation and all of the needless death at the feet of people who have such little regards for every other fucking living creature on the planet.
SpaceUnit
I’m conservatively estimating the chances of trump being innocent of these underage girl sex crimes at about zero percent.
Shakti
Trump always gave off “If I did it” by OJ Simpson vibes for…. a lot of things in the last 10 years.
This is Trump gloating. He doesn’t need to sound innocent b/c he surmises, probably correctly, that nobody with any power to do anything is going to go after him in the slightest. Why Mike Johnson decided to take summer vacation early is beyond me, it’s not like Trump needs the protection.
Woodward and Bernstein moment my ass; what reporting? There were tons of Deep Throats during the first administration and how many of them got book deals?
Shakti
Trump always gave off “If I did it” by OJ Simpson vibes for…. a lot of things in the last 10 years.
This is Trump gloating. He doesn’t need to sound innocent b/c he surmises, probably correctly, that nobody with any power to do anything is going to go after him in the slightest. Why Mike Johnson decided to take summer vacation early is beyond me, it’s not like Trump needs the protection.
Woodward and Bernstein moment my ass; what reporting? There were tons of Deep Throats during the first administration and how many of them got book deals?
Melancholy Jaques
@RepubAnon:
I would be surprised to learn that his followers were capable of cognitive dissonance.
Steve Paradis
Rick Wilson goes on about the hundreds of FBI agents who worked on those files. And the institutional hatred for the clowns now at the top–Blondi, Patel And Bongino. All it takes is one with a full flash drive to spill it all.
Marc
@piratedan: It could be something seemingly mundane. Where the money funneled through Epstein was coming from, whose pockets was it being funneled to, and/or who was backing the transactions. Suggestions of payments through Epstein to Trump or vice-versa could have interesting implications, depending on the sources and destinations.
Eolirin
I don’t think anyone should get their hopes up for this ultimately amounting to anything meaningful, though it may help us a little in the midterms, assuming we even get to have those without massive interference and cheating.
JoyceH
Trump is such an idiot. He seems to think these files just float pristinely in the vacuum of space. The document with the Unforgivable is exposed, he can just call it a phony and voila, case closed. But wait – the document has an agent’s name on it, the guy who created the document. Call up that agent, ask him. Check the sources of the info, witness statement, video, bank record. The source material can be reassembled.
Lapassionara
@Eolirin: I still remember the day I saw the small story on the front page of the NYTIMES, I think it was June 17, 1972, about a breakin in the Watergate offices of the Democratic Party, I think.
So many actors had to do their jobs, doggedly. Judge Sirica was a big part in the early days. Then there was an airplane crash in, I think, Chicago, where someone’s wife died, and she was found carrying a lots of cash in her purse.
of course, back then people knew how to feel shame. And laws mattered. But it took time. Lots of time.
ETA, the wife was definitely married to someone implicated in the breakin.
hotshoe
@Eolirin:
I enjoy every moment of Dumpster’s current panic no matter how it turns out in the long run — I admit I had hopes that Epstein blowback would be enough to give him a stroke. There’s still time!
If elections are basically meaningless in 2026 (ReThug fuckery, voter suppression, martial law/emergency having been declared so elections are “delayed” until outright cancelled) — well, democracy was fun while it lasted.
Socolofi
Ain’t nothin’ gonna happen.
It’s clear to anyone that a lot of people enabled Epstein, and a lot of people partook. And yet, nobody but Epstein (now dead), Maxwell, and maybe Prince Andrew have been held accountable for anything. So ideally there are more indictments, and the fact that they’re closing it is just reinforcing that rich people with good lawyers can get away with anything – and that Trump is covering.
That said, does this collapse MAGA in any meaningful way? Don’t think so. White people are all giddy seeing ICE beat up brown people that they’ll ignore all the pain. So maybe Democrats take back the House. Even if the Democrats somehow take the Senate… so what? We’ve seen this movie before. TBH I’d be impressed if Congress actually declared that there wasn’t an emergency and undid Trump’s tariffs (by which time people will be used to the price hikes, and Congress won’t want to give any boost to the economy before the Presidential election). The Big Bullshit Bill passed, which is why Murdoch gives 0 fucks and is letting the WSJ go to town.
I really with I’m wrong, but as far as scandals go, this one doesn’t even see to crack the Top 10.
Marc
Scandals usually roll off Trump’s huge backside in a news cycle or three. It has now been nearly 2 months since Musk dropped his Epstein X-bomb and this has been in the news ever since. Not even Trump himself can let this go. Something smells really funny, and it’s getting worse the longer it’s out there.
NotMax
@Melancholy Jaques
I would be surprised to learn that his followers were capable of cognition.
//
Fair Economist
Deepthroat would be an especially appropriate name given Trump’s likely crimes.
hotshoe
@Marc: I’m sure some Republicans are looking for a way to leverage the Epstein scandal to elevate themselves. At minimum they’re trying to figure out how they themselves will stay above it if Trump actually does sink under the load.
I don’t just mean politicians already in power like Vance. Yes, obviously he and vampire Thiel have the most at stake if/when they can force Trump out.
I also mean MAGA influencers and media types who think they can be more powerful by escalating the crusade against pedos even if that means throwing Trump himself to the wolves.
The QAnon racket will still work with the slight oopsie: sorry, turns out we were scammed by Trump being one of the deep state elites all along. We just need the new, right, pure man to fix this.
Trump is old, more fragile than ever, and the wolves are always hungry. Remains to be seen if he will be able to keep his seat in the troika and escape.
Archon
@Socolofi: The President of the United States using the awesome powers conferred to him to hide or cover up his involvement with a known sex trafficker of underage girls, isn’t a top 10 scandal to you???
Martin
I love that he’s keeping the autopen in the running as the culprit that put his name on the list.
Martin
@Socolofi: I’m pretty sure that there’s a 15%+ slice of the GOP that is only on board to expose the deep slate. They convinced themselves ages ago that both parties were crooked, and then Trump came along and agreed with them, and MAGA was formed.
It doesn’t matter if anything happens or not, his inability to come through for that 15% will leave them to declare that Trump is also crooked, and they’ll go back to not voting. And losing 15% of the GOP from future elections is pretty good news for Democrats if it plays out.
Marc
That’s what I don’t get. The man often can’t remember what he said a day or two before, but now he’s been bobbing and weaving for nearly two months. How is he staying so focused and on script (maybe not the intended one), something he’s shown little skill at in recent years?
JoyceH
@Marc: Uh…. What Trump is doing is staying on script? Can I check the script please? Because I don’t see how a script that includes The View and windmills got by the producers.
Marc
@JoyceH: No matter what else he’s going on about, he eventually gets around to you shouldn’t be talking about that, it’s all a hoax made up by Barack Hussein Obama or Crooked Hillary, there’s nothing in there, none of it’s true, I’ll release something useless or maybe not. That’s pretty on-script for him, low expectations and all that…
Martin
@Marc: I think part of Trumps success has come from often seemingly earnestly taking every side of an issue recognizing that voters simply expect politicians are lying to them, and then relying on the voters to just pick the answer they like. In a way he can’t lose there. And other politicians can’t pull it off because Trump lies so frequently I don’t even think his own kids know when he’s telling the truth, but Harris can’t do that.
I don’t think Trump has been staying on script that much at all, but I think he’s thrown off that here’s this issue that his base isn’t moving on from, and that’s new. I’ve said before that I think Trump came to believe that he was MAGA’s project, and I argue that the deep state conspiracy is the project, and he’s just the key that unlocks it and they’ll accept anything to get that unlocked. So unlike everything that’s preceded that he could just say whatever bullshit to get the base to move on, that doesn’t work here and he’s spooked. This is new. And there is no script – he’s just sort of panic denying everything because it’s not going away and he doesn’t know what else to do.
Marc
@Martin: Well, maybe script was the wrong word, but he sure seems to have gone into full-on self defense mode for no apparent (to me) reason, unless there is something in there he really can’t release.
hotshoe
@JoyceH:
I agree that the “weaving” Trump has done about Epstein is not sticking to a script. I think he’s panicked. I think from moment to moment even Trump doesn’t know what’s going to come out of his own mouth, much less do his advisors know or control it.
But it looks more consistent and strategic where the mass media, including NYT Wapo CBS not just Fox, wash and blowdry the quotes so that it appears he is still on track for a winning narrative. As if he has a strategy to survive this scandal, no, he’s just looking for the car keys under the streetlight like any old drunk. He might indeed survive, but if so, it will be because other RePug politicians turn out to be too cowardly to take advantage of his decay.
I admit not understanding why Sulzberger and Bezos and Ellison would be subservient to the promise of no-tax-increases for billionaires — when they already have more money than their heirs can spend for generations to come — rather than be proud to be the independent media that brings down America’s demented Mussolini.
Maybe the answer is that they actually are reptilians.
Martin
@Marc: The problem is that he’s literally the only person who thinks the Epstein thing is a hoax. MAGA has been on this conspiracy for 15 years – years before Trump came down the escalator.
hotshoe
@Marc:
Helped Epstein cover up someone’s death? Sex-assaulted boys as well as girls?
It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
Martin
@Marc: Yeah. I’m pretty neutral on Trumps role with Epstein. I don’t really take a position of whether he’s a pedophile or not, apart from noting that he’s objectified young girls on national TV which is the largest hurdle to clear to becoming a pedophile. Whether he did or didn’t do something there wouldn’t surprise me either way. I think the same holds for any evidence of financial crimes.
But none of this may actually matter. We know one girl was recruited at Mar A Lago. There’s suggestions that it’s more than one. Even tangential stuff in the files implicates him as part of the cabal of people who covered up each others wrongdoing. And I think it scares him that anything is in there.
prostratedragon
Baud
Reddit comment FTW
prostratedragon
From 2016, the Scots avant-garde.
Princess
Trump is definitely much more panicked than we, who have seen him slide away from truly awful things for a decade with zero consequences (ordering an attack on the Capitol after losing an election??!!) think he needs to be. However this turns out, why is *he* so panicked? What are the consequences he’s worrying about?
It would be wrong not to speculate: I still think it’s at base about the money. Money laundering, compromat on very powerful people, blackmail? Is Putin involved and does he get very angry? But if it’s about sex, I keep thinking of Madison Cawthorn who was one of the few magas who actually fell from grace in the first term because of the gay sex video. Anyway, whatever it is, it hits a core button of shame or fear inside him and it’s got him scared and flailing.
Nukular Biskits
Good early mornin’, y’all. Normally, I’d be doing my morning walk right now, then rushing to get ready for work.
Just wasn’t feeling it today.
As for the topic here, it’s both funny and frustrating how Republicans suddenly have other urgent matters to attend when the subject of Trump and Epstein comes up.
Betty Cracker
@Nukular Biskits: Good morning from across the Gulf of Mexico.
I usually take a walk, sometimes with dogs, just after the sun comes up in summer before it gets too hot. May skip it today since it was already 80 degrees at 3:45 AM and oppressively humid.
Definitely keeping the dogs in today except when they need to go out in the yard to do their business. They are not particularly heat tolerant, my two stubby, snuffling critters.
satby
@Betty Cracker: Oppressive humidity is the weather around here too, 98% and it’s not raining! At least not yet. Another heat advisory for today. I’ve come to despise summer.
Gin & Tonic
I find it really funny how otherwise-sensible people seem genuinely to believe that Trump will ever face any consequences for anything.
NotMax
@prostratedragon
IIRC it was the Scots who gave us the word “shitgibbon” during the Pustule-in-chief’s first term.
Aussie Sheila
@Martin:
This exactly. Even if trump didn’t participate in the rape of girls the fact that one or more may have been recruited from MAL, and that he and Epstein were close friends for over a decade makes this something the media can’t resist.
I think the whole thing is too ‘spicy’ in the worst possible way, for the msm to ignore.
Forget the ‘base trump voters’. Elections are always won by winning over ‘independent dumbfucks’ who know nothing, but are easily swayed by affect. The affect of this is ‘coverup’ by the President.
This isn’t going to go away electorally.
The main issue is to ensure that Democrat electeds sing from the same song book from now to 2026.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Gin & Tonic: He’s untouchable until he isn’t. Or, as Asimov put it in the original Foundation: a rotten tree can look every bit as strong as a healthy one, right up to the point where the wind blows it down.
Aussie Sheila
@Gin & Tonic:
Not believing anything makes a difference ensures that result.
prostratedragon
@NotMax: It was, indeed.
prostratedragon
A slight nuance of interpretation:
That last sentence: 😂😂
the pollyanna from hell
@Aussie Sheila:
The emperor is spooked. For the last five thousand years every prophetic picket-sign that said the dynasty will fall, has been eventually proven correct.
p.a.
What’s Murdoch’s game? And how does it play out? In his view, has tRump lost his usefulness? How will other Rethugs look at this, and will anyone think to shiv donnie to wear the maga mantle, hoping for Rupie’s support? Couchboy is next in line, and I bet he has the desire, but does he have the stones?
Betty Cracker
@satby: Wow, your humidity is worse than ours (91%)!
I’ve always disliked summer. It’s a season to be endured in this area. We’re playing hooky again tomorrow to go jump in a shaded spring off the Suwannee River. Other than that, I will be indoors as much as possible!
@Aussie Sheila: I think you’re right about the independent dumb fucks. Detestable meathead Joe Rogan and other “manosphere” “influencer” idiots are still jabbering about the Epstein files daily, and the admin has painted itself into a corner where nothing they release will ever be enough. Anything that discredits Trump and Republicans helps us at the margins. Even if the dumb fucks just stay home.
Aussie Sheila
@the pollyanna from hell:
What? This isn’t some 5 thousand year prophecy. This is real time bull shit detectors getting to work. Normies who aren’t obsessed by ‘conspiracies’ will utilise Occam’s razor. What did he know and when did he decide to cover it in bullshit?
Once a concerted campaign gets going it gets harder for him to wriggle out. Just pursue it, with all protection for the girls who have been abused of course.
Princess
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: I remember my Rumanian ex saying “the best Christmas present I could get would be if someone killed Ceaucescu.” And then one Christmas, he got his wish. I doubt that Trump will face consequences. He has his hands on too many levers he can use to prevent consequences. But that makes me wonder even more why he’s so panicked.
Snarki, child of Loki
Prediction: Trump is IN the Epstein Files, both for money laundering and sex with young girls. AND caused the death of one young girl he was having sex with, falling asleep on top of her and suffocating her.
Aussie Sheila
@p.a.:
Rupe’s game is that trump is bad for business elsewhere in the anglo sphere. He is political poison everywhere English is spoken outside the US. Problem for Rupe is he makes money in precisely that sphere. Not as much as the US of course. But it’s influence that makes him formidable.
Once that is lost elsewhere it doesn’t matter how he does in the US. He’s useless elsewhere for conservative projects. And that is his problem. Trump drains him outside the US.
The Thin Black Duke
@Gin & Tonic: This.
An ugly truth people are having problems with is acknowledging that rich white powerful pedos like Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein going to prison are anomalies. Rich perverts usually get away with committing their crimes. Yeah, it sucks. Welcome to Reality.
Betty Cracker
The Wall Street Journal editorial board has thoughts on how the Trump admin can put the Epstein scandal to rest, which is identical to the advice Fox & Friends offered weeks ago:
They basically tried that already? I mean, these very people have said for years now that there’s an elite pedophile ring that the government protected, and now they’re supposed to come out and say with a straight face that they aren’t going to “ruin reputations” by releasing names?
Sure, why not. Try that. It ain’t gonna fly.
MagdaInBlack
@Betty Cracker: LOL @ “in the mold of Bill Barr.” The old hand at cover-ups? Whose dad hired Epstein? That Bill Barr?
GMAFB
eta: I think they’re a wee bit too dismissive of the pod-cast crew.
Aussie Sheila
@Betty Cracker:
They are scrambling. That advice is so convoluted that it wouldn’t take a nano second for anyone, conspiracy minded or not, to tear it apart.
They are fucked.
Act on it, tirelessly and continuously, from now to eternity.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I think the goal of that advice isn’t to satisfy the MAGA conspiracy theorists. It’s to give the NYT a talking point about how the situation has been addressed responsibly and then to attack Dems who continue to raise the issue as irresponsible, in cahoots with conspiracy theorists, and seeking to avoid dealing with working class concerns.
IMHO
ETA: Doesn’t mean it’ll work.
Betty Cracker
@Princess: I have a vivid memory of Ceaușescu’s sticky end because I was waiting at a Logan Airport car rental counter watching the live coverage on TV with the rental agent, who was Romanian. Tears were streaming down her face — joy, anger, sorrow all at once.
Weird year, 1989. One of those hinge years where decades happen in weeks.
Aussie Sheila
@Baud:
You may be right in respect of their motivations. But the issue is whether it will work. In my opinion it won’t. The abuse of girls and the cover up of that crime, together with Epstein’s sweetheart deal in 2008 is simply too juicy for the msm to resist. Because their listeners, viewers and readers sure are interested.
What interests their audience is what pays the bills.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Betty Cracker: So the fall guys are a woman and a man of color? Makes sense.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
“Trump is mentioned only because he sexually abused trafficked girls”?
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Good point about the object being a media narrative shift, and I agree that doesn’t mean it will work.
No idea if this will work either, but I think the way some Dems (Hakeem Jeffries among them) are talking about the scandal as part of a broader pattern of elite impunity is smart politics and also the truth.
Aussie Sheila
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Apart from the maga faithful I don’t think any one thinks that Ghislaine Maxwell acted otherwise than to supply Epstein with what he wanted/demanded.
As to the bullshit re Obama, no one, not even the credulous msm is giving it the time of day.
That particular diversion attempt is dead in the water. Rightly so.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Yeah, it’ll be more like the guy shouting “All is well! Remain calm!” in Animal House. This story has taken on a life of its own, and some bullshit from the NYT isn’t going to keep everyone else from covering it.
mappy!
Tacos principal tell is that when he goes into defense mode rather than curl up into a ball to ward off the inevitable, he attacks. And when that fails, a diversionary attack on something else. Right now he’s frantically trying to go after a couple of straws sticking to his back, but there’s another one floating down slowly… The clue is always in the tell and the trend line. The wagons aren’t being pulled together in a circle.
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
One of the classics in parodyland,
Pardon me boy
Are you the cat who shot Ceaușescu
;)
Splitting Image
@lowtechcyclist:
Yeah, Trump’s problem is that it is his people suppressing the Epstein files, and that is just more proof to the Qanon types that there is an enormous cover-up going on here. Most of them probably believe the New York Times is a load of shit already, which is probably their only redeeming quality.
narya
@Betty Cracker: Another thing: many of the victims are still around, and at this point may have zero fucks left to give (i.e., would be willing to go public with details). And, weirdly, I think the sex trafficking part of the scandal could protect some of the abusers in that another big part of Epstein’s gig was the money laundering or whatever was happening with the money. That stuff can be complicated and it’s much less salacious than the trafficking. Rich men want to hide their money and keep more of it, and some rich men are sexual abusers. (Some are horndogs, and this story conflates the two.)
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
Hoodie
@Aussie Sheila: Kara Swisher says that the Murdochs have always disliked Trump because he’s unstable and hard to control, i.e., he’s bad for business. They’d much rather have someone pliant like Vance. However, they also understand Trump’s power over the GOP base, which is a big part of their audience. It’s interesting that time to time Murdoch appears to be testing to see if Trump is cooked, e.g., after Jan 6 and now with the releases from the Epstein files. Now would be a good time to do that because Trump is unpopular and causing economic harm to their interests. I suspect this is mostly what bothers them, and the Epstein stuff is a perfect way to get rid of him for non policy based reasons.
geg6
Useless mother fuckers.
open.substack.com/pub/ser1897/p/chump-schumer-is-on-the-case?r=7j9ld&utm_medium=ios
Aussie Sheila
@narya:
It’s a mistake to disentangle the money laundering or whatever it was from the crimes against girls and women.
Linking the two spreads the scandal across political valences. Which assists in future elections.
Aussie Sheila
@Hoodie:
Agree with Swisher. Rupe is like trump in that his only interest is his personal business interests.
But unlike trump, rupe’s interests cross continents and are time extended. By 2028 trump is done.
The Murdoch family’s interests aren’t.
Betty Cracker
@geg6: Chris Murphy gets it. (BlueSky link)
Hoodie
@Betty Cracker: I would agree because this is the approach least likely to be contradicted by what is actually in the files. I tend to think there’s probably nothing directly tying Trump to sex trafficking because that would have likely come out by now. I suspect there is stuff that suggests that Trump knew what Epstein was doing, however. For example, he may have known about Maxwell recruiting his own employees and was more worried about his proprietary interests than what happened to those girls. He damn well knew what Maxwell and Epstein were up to but he kept quiet and didn’t alert authorities because of the omertà among these rich fucks.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
narya
@Aussie Sheila: I fully agree that they’re connected; my only point is that the money laundering is more complicated, and, for many people, more difficult to understand. A lot of it is both/and: Epstein trafficked girls for his own pleasure AND because it was useful to him. At least some of the men he entangled wanted to hide money AND were willing or eager to abuse those girls, both of which served to protect Epstein from those men. Some of the men were used mostly as introductions to other more entangle-able men. All of that dirt on so many people could be sold to others, or gathered at the behest of others. A complex Venn diagram, basically.
The Audacity of Krope
The scandal, I think, is how long it was known ànd then for the media to take a real interest.
RevRick
@Socolofi: MAGA collapses MAGA. It’s a force built on resentments and rage, and that’s just not sustainable. Those emotions consume the very people who harbor them, if for nothing else, they are so damn exhausting.
I enjoy Marvel Universe movies like anyone else looking for a jolt of righteous adrenaline, but I couldn’t binge watch the now many iterations. I’d end up a jittery blob for several weeks afterwards.
What is MAGA attempting to build? A herrenvolk state? And then what? Their vision of the future is a recreation of a fantasized past?
Make America great again? Ha! Tearing everything down will not do that. In fact, it will (and is) make us weaker and smaller.
But I relish the possibility that the whole Epstein story reveals that the MAGA demigod indeed has no clothes.
geg6
@satby:
Wow. We’re at 91% here.
I hate this weather. I’d give anything for a day or two of below 85 degree temps and a bit lower humidity. I love having my coffee outside after a winter of being stuck inside for months at a time. Have rarely been able to do that this year.
Trivia Man
Alternative theory: he has no memory of what he has actually done. Anything could be in the files and he has no idea if it’s true or not. Spoiler: its all true
Trivia Man
@Trivia Man: and he thinks he is so clever at hiding his tracks that even if he did it, there couldn’t possibly be any proof so the proof is fabricated.
Soprano2
@Betty Cracker: They don’t have the only thing that would put an end to the furor – actual proof of the elite Democratic pedophile ring they’ve been telling the MAGA’s most certainly exists.
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
Yeah, he gets it but he’s only one senator. Who is out there saying the same thing?
Crickets. That’s who. I hate our side right now. They’re such wimps.
Central Planning
@Marc:
He doesn’t have a script. The “deny everything” and “say whatever is top of mind” is like breathing to him. Can’t really control it; it just happens. There’s no higher-level brain function controlling it.
Jeffro
Seconded! It’s already 79 degrees here and heading for 94 (again), which will feel like 105-108, something like that? So gross.
Geminid
@Hoodie: Swisher’s analysis makes sense to me.
rikyrah
Been down the FEEL FREE rabbit hole on TikTok. this shyt is dangerous, addictive and being sold all over the country. I don’t do energy drinks, but this is a warning for those who do.. stay away from FEEL FREE😡😡😡 https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8khRCG5/
rikyrah
@geg6: 😢😢😢😢 understood
Aussie Sheila
@narya:
Agree
Jeffro
I have zero doubt that Epstein has trumpov on video having sex with one or more underage girls, ie, committing statutory rape. The very thing that MAGA nation has spent a decade accusing Democrats of doing.
Betty Cracker
@Hoodie: That sounds plausible to me too. Near as I can tell, FBI agents and line prosecutors who were employed before the DOJ was acquired by the Trump Org as a wholly owned subsidiary investigated the matter and concluded they didn’t have enough evidence to bust anyone besides Epstein and Maxwell for trafficking and sexual assault.
Did they let other rich pedos off the hook? Possibly. Even before Trump completely corrupted federal law enforcement, they tended to let rich fuckers run rampant in all sorts of ways. And common sense seems to indicate all of those girls weren’t trafficked to Epstein personally — other rich perverts were almost certainly involved.
An investigation of any magnitude will almost certainly record unactionable hearsay, etc. We know from some of the Epstein victims’ public testimony that Trump was creepy toward them at best and a rapist at worst. Which we already know he is! But in the Epstein matter, even if there’s not enough evidence to charge him, it’s probably stuff like that he’s desperate to avoid releasing publicly.
Geminid
@Jeffro: Last I saw Friday was supposed to quite a bit cooler. I think I can make ’til then.
A friend is coming from Belmont and we’ll take a trip to Harrisonburg. It oughta be two degrees cooler there!
geg6
@rikyrah:
It’s bad when you can’t even go swimming because the pool water is the same temperature as the air. I tried going into my sister’s pool the other day and it felt like a hot bath. Ugh.
Soprano2
Yes, this is exactly what they’re trying to do. Mayberry was a real place – I lived in a town a lot like that, at least on the surface. They want to make America mostly white again, like my town was. There’s a local controversy here because a hate group from Arkansas wants to build a whites-only community near Springfield. The group is called “Return to the Land”. Here’s a link to a story about it. What’s funny is the part where they say this won’t be welcome here. I can tell you for sure that there is a part of the population that would welcome this here.
Soprano2
@geg6: I checked, we’re at 88% humidity. It’s 79° at 7:30 a.m., which is hot for that time of the day here. The weatherman says this is going to break for us on Thursday, I can’t wait! My head sweats when I go out to pick berries for 10 minutes.
Soprano2
@Betty Cracker: People forget that there’s a difference between what you think happened and what you can actually prove in court. Sometimes the gap between those two things is large.
satby
Same here! And the humidity and rain have also led to a bumper crop of desperately hungry mosquitoes when you do venture out. Every summer seems worse 😭
JML
One of the reasons the Epstein stories won’t die is the DC media actually covers this, because it doesn’t require them to know anything about policy, write with nuance or depth, and involves sex (it’s notable that they don’t write about this like most rape stories, more like a sex scandal between consenting adults rather than the horrific abuse of minors that it really is). Which is also part of why the MAGA base won’t let this go either: this appeals to their prurient nature beyond just the hope that it will somehow implicate every Democrat in the country…
Hoodie
@Betty Cracker: I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t a lot of wink-wink, nudge-nudge among this crowd, that this was Epstein’s and some other rich guys’ kink and what happens in Palm Beach stays in Palm Beach. There are also probably a lot of cross blackmail opportunities, I.e., I won’t talk about your pedo hobby if you don’t spill on my money laundering.
catclub
@Marc: Yep. Follow the money.
catclub
@JML:
Actually the only part the maga base understands is that Trump is protecting those Democrats.
They don’t care about Stormy Daniels or rape by Trump.
UncleEbeneezer
That last skeet says something like “Journalists finally have a chance to take down a President”…wait, did the author somehow miss all of 2024?
A lot of assholes joined forces to take down Joe Biden, and journalists were absolutely essential to making that happen.
stinger
@Betty Cracker:
If and when anything is released, the constant hammering should be, “Where’s the rest of it?” They release more, we shout, “Where’s the rest of it?” Don’t let that bone go.
The Audacity of Krope
That’s what they call Bluesky posts?
That’s nutts.
Mike E
“hinge year” is a nice term for momentous change events like a regime collapse, BC… I’d offer “the decade of descent” for our time since that golden escalator ride in ’15
The Audacity of Krope
Ever downward…
RevRick
@geg6: I asked Grok over on X how many Democratic Senators have called for the release of the Epstein files. It replied that Dick Durbin, from the leadership, plus Chris Van Hollen and Amy Klobuchar, from Judiciary have.
Just because you don’t hear it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Tree falling in the forest and all that.
stinger
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Yep. “We allowed them into our party, gave them a little power, and look what they did with it! Never again!”
artem1s
Unfortunately they let it go on too long for this to work. If they don’t follow up with some red meat to fill the void no one is going to pivot off this story. That’s why Trump is pulling out the golden oldies and attacking Obama and screeching Russia, Russia, Russia at every press conference. By doing so he’s only reminding the MAGAts that he failed to LOCK HER/HIM UP or drain the swamp in his first administration. And now has admitted the SCOTUS ruling protecting his ass is also going to protect Obama and Biden and he’s flirting with pardoning pedophiles to shut them up. He can try to go after Hillary, but everyone whose ever tried that has regretted it (see Travelgate; 3,685 Benghazi hearings). He may actually try to go after Barr or one of those who helped with the coverup, but I think it’s more likely he’s going to start texting ‘YOUR FIRED’ at his cabinet and staff again.
Yes, he’s been even slipperier than the Teflon Raygun, but he’s always had something he can throw to the masses to fill the void. Now all the pivots are only shining the spotlight on some other colossal failure. Johnson and the GQP left town, not because of Epstein vote but because he didn’t want to have to answer questions about the budget bill and the government defenestration and tariffs and inflation, and interest rates, and, and, and…. He’s letting the boss take the heat and the rest of GQP is perfectly fine with waiting to see if this is finally the moment they can take back control of the fundraising lists.
Soprano2
I HATE THIS LAPTOP THAT I HAVE TO USE AS A CPU NOW!! I’ve had lots and lots of problems with it, and they say it’s HP’s fault and they’re working with them. Today I have a blurry screen, and if I shut the laptop my screens go black. Oh, and my background is gone and my screens are black instead of having a picture on them. I’m afraid to reboot, because I might not be able to get my screens to work at all if I do that! Now back to your regularly scheduled discussion of the Epstein files.
Shalimar
@Marc: Or there could be something stunning in the financials. If Epstein was actively laundering Russian money during the 2016 election and Russians were spending money to help Trump win, who did his $1.5 billion go to?
Scout211
Trump’s legal team is demanding that Rupert Murdoch be deposed in Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the WSJ and Murdoch within 15days.
LOL. I don’t think the Murdoch clan will be intimidated by Trump’s silly Hail Mary on this.
catclub
The best question that works to unhitch the maga trump followers would be:
“Why are you protecting all the Democrats in the files?”
catclub
@Shalimar:
A check with a memo line “This is actually Vladimir Vladimirovich’s money”
Baud
@The Audacity of Krope:
It’s a dumb name, and I think very few people use it.
Baud
@catclub:
“Payment for services rendered.”
Timill
@Soprano2: What OS and how are your screens connected? Some of these sound like problems I’ve had. In my case, the missing background was because the file was on OneDrive, and the PC had lost the connection.
Trivia Man
@Hoodie: Trump already said he was mad at JE for poaching employees. If somebody asks him, in a friendly way, to elaborate i bet he’d go in at great length. And might accidentally give more details that will help identify new potential evidence.
RevRick
@artem1s: Trump’s approval rating is cratering. He’s only at 88% among Republicans and has an abysmal 29% approval amongst Independents, that 29% being Republicans ashamed of their party.
Meanwhile, in terms of enthusiasm about the upcoming midterm elections, only 50% of Republicans report feeling that way, while 75% of Democrats do. This is a reversal of the 2010 and 2014 debacles.
Jeffro
@Geminid: at least in the Valley there is a breeze! Here we are basically swimming our way through our morning walks
Scout211
ProPublica
Make America unwell again.
catclub
Words of someone with a financial interest.
Rather than “The FDA has not found these to be actually beneficial”
Soprano2
@Timill: I have no idea, all of this is managed by our IS department. This is my computer at work. The black screen thing is new, I use the rotating landscape backgrounds in Windows. It’s this stupid laptop, none of this happened with my old CPU. They say it’s HP’s fault, because everyone with these laptops is having these kind of problems.
The Audacity of Krope
@Soprano2: Fun fact, CPU refers to the main processor inside your computer. It’s just doing what the operating system tells it to.
Belafon
@The Audacity of Krope: Some people use it, most don’t, including the people who created bluesky.
The Audacity of Krope
@Belafon: It creates a sticky situation…
NotMax
@Belafon
Could be worse. They could have called them bleets.
;)
Belafon
@NotMax: On Mastodon, they’re supposedly called toots.
Kristine
@satby:
Same here in NE Illinois. I go outside and inside of a minute I get swarmed. Waiting for the Thursday fever-break.
Miss Bianca
@Snarki, child of Loki:
That seems…oddly specific as a speculation. (or…IS it?)
Tho’ I’m not saying it couldn’t have happened.
Socolofi
@Archon: yeah. And the sad thing is this is how normalized his brazen lawlessness has become.
While I think Garland has been the ultimate milquetoast of an AG, there’s enough people in the DOJ (or were) that if they could nail someone else for pedophilia, they would. Bondi and Trump would also happily sacrifice a GOP rich dude to make this story go away. This tells me that they don’t have enough evidence even for an indictment. So the scandal here is Trump just not being able to actually deliver as he has nothing.
Then we have others… off the top of my head in no particular order:
– Jan 6
– Stormy payoff / affair
– Lying about value for loans
– Trump DC bribes
– Trump Coin bribes
– Mar-a-Lago dinner bribes
– Saudi billionaire-dollar investment in Kushner
– Qatar jet shakedown
– Georgia election strongarming
– Covid (perhaps just gross mismanagement vs a scandal)
and I probably missed some other big ones. He’s normalized lawlessness, so yeah. I do wish he’d be held to account but given the track record I’m skeptical this is the thing that’ll do it. “but this one is lasting!” Just feels like a healthy does of copium to me.
dnfree
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: Trump has more than once made me think of The Mule.
artem1s
@Trivia Man
this is a big tell. in past it was 1. “I didn’t do it”. Then 2. “the evidence is all fabricated”. Then 3. “I was tricked into it or someone else did it”. Then finally 4. “if I did do it, it’s completely legal because my lawyers (or SCOTUS) say so”.
He’s not jumping to step 4. He knows it bad and very much illegal and happened before he was in the WH so no Executive immunity. Also, too probably involves crimes in states like NY where the AG and prosecutors are itching to file state charges.
beef
@Socolofi:
It tells you they don’t have enough _admissible_ evidence. But the Acosta non-prosecution agreement was ridiculously broad.
Ramona
@Aussie Sheila: Wow! Thanks for opening my eyes to this fact!
Ramona
@geg6: Only seven Democratic Senators are needed to filibuster. I doubt Britt would be so agitated if the Republicans were not aware that at least seven Dems are willing to not let the vote go to the floor.
Ramona
@Trivia Man: Something we should emphasize and reemphasize is that the 2017 #MeToo movement was a revolution which transformed how we as a society viewed the repeated sexual abuse of women, girls, boys and low-status men at the hands of the powerful. It brought down giants like Harvey Weinstein. This transformation in the general view of the misbehavior of powerful men would be a complete surprise to habitually abusive men like Trump. There are many victims whose hitherto unbelieved narratives will now be taken seriously. Trump would have been careless in covering up his abuses when the culture was different. He’s navigating in seas utterly unfamiliar to him now.
Paul in KY
@Baud: That one wins the Intertubes for the day, IMO.