Robert Reich calls it the squalor of the Epstein Class. That’s definitely a word that needs to be used more often these days.
Here’s how Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie responded on Sunday, during ABC’s “This Week,” to a question about the Trump regime’s handling of the Epstein files:
“This is about the Epstein class …. They’re billionaires who were friends with these people, and that’s what I’m up against in Washington, D.C. Donald Trump told us that even though he had dinner with these kinds of people, in New York City and West Palm Beach, that he would be transparent. But he’s not. He’s still in with the Epstein class. This is the Epstein administration. And they’re attacking me for trying to get these files released.”
The Epstein Class. Not just the people who cavorted with Jeffrey Epstein or the subset who abused young girls. It’s an interconnected world of hugely rich, prominent, entitled, smug, powerful, self-important (mostly) men. Trump is honorary chairman.
Who’s in the Epstein Class?
The Epstein Class isn’t limited to Trump donors. Bill Clinton is a member (1,192times), as is Larry Summers (5,621 times). So are LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman (3,769 times), Prince Andrew (1,821 times), Bill Gates (6,385 times), and Steve Tisch, co-owner of the New York Giants (429 times).
If not politics, then what connects the members of the Epstein Class? It’s not just riches. Some members are not particularly wealthy, but they’re richlyconnected. They trade on their prominence, on whom they know and who will return their phone calls.
They exchange inside tips on stocks, on the movements of currencies, on IPOs, on new tax-avoidance mechanisms. On getting into exclusive clubs, reservations at chic restaurants, lush hotels, exotic travel.
It’s definitely a club, and we are most definitely not members!
Most members of the Epstein Class have seceded into their own small, self-contained world, disconnected from the rest of society. They fly in one other’s private jets. They entertain at one other’s guest houses and villas. Some exchange tips on how to procure certain drugs or kinky sex or valuable works of art. And, of course, how to accumulate more wealth.
Fuck democracy. Peter Thiel don’t need not stinkin’ democracy!
Many don’t particularly believe in democracy; Peter Thiel (recall, he appears2,710 times in the Epstein files) has said he “no longer believes that freedom and democracy are compatible.”
This, to me, is the scariest part.
Many are putting their fortunes into electing people who will do their bidding. Hence, they are politically dangerous.
The Epstein Class is the by-product of an economy that emerged over the last two decades, from which this new elite has siphoned off vast amounts of wealth.
The value of businesses in this new economy isn’t in factories, buildings, or machines. It’s in algorithms, operating systems, standards, brands, and vast, self-reinforcing user networks.
As we learned from Pam Bondi last week, it’s all about the stock prices! That’s not the way most of us live.
Members of the Epstein Class are compensated in shares of stock. As corporate profits have soared, the stock market has roared. As the stock market has roared, the compensation of the Epstein Class has reached the stratosphere.
I thought this was super interesting. Et tu Ro Khanna? Hell hath no fury like the Epstein Class called out with the trust.
When Silicon Valley’s biggest tech proponent in Congress — Rep. Ro Khanna — recently announced his support for a tax on California billionaires, to help fill the void created by Trump’s cuts in Medicare and Medicaid (which, in turn, made way for Trump’s second huge tax cut for the rich), the Epstein Class blew a gasket.
Vinod Khosla, one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent venture capitalists, with a net worth estimated at more than $13 billion (and who’s mentioned 182 times in the Epstein files but is no friend of Trump), called Khanna a “commie comrade.”
He seems nice.
Khosla, by the way, is best known by the public for purchasing 89 acres of California beachfront property in in 2008 for $32.5 million, then trying to block public access to the ocean with a locked gate and signs. Despite losing multiple court rulings, including a 2018 Supreme Court appeal, he carries on with the dispute.
In spite of what the Epstein Class thinks, this land is made for you and me.
WaterGirl
So much hope on that November day. Everything seemed possible.
Baud
He includes Bill Clinton in the class, but I’m pretty sure Bill didn’t have contact with Epstein after 2004, so that doesn’t match up timewise.
Jeffro
I was at that concert! =)
I have a great pic of Will.I.Am of the Black-Eyed Peas standing about 10 feet away from me, grinning ear to ear, taking a photo of the crowd.
So much hope indeed, WG! We’re gonna get it back and then some.
Baud
In case anyone thinks the problem is ideological.
Jeffro
btw Reich is right, of course: by allowing the accumulation of vast wealth (ie, power), these folks really do have immunity from normal human concerns of any kind and treat us all like their playthings
so for sooo many reasons, but that one most of all, let’s tax the f*** out of the rich and use the proceeds to strengthen the rest of our society
mapanghimagsik
One of the hardest battles in dealing with the Epstein class is the people who aspire to be there.
WaterGirl
@Baud: You are quibbling with one small point right out of the gate. I am curious, what are you thoughts on the rest of it?
Denali5
It is a club and you and I are not in it.
Shalimar
We are NPCs to them, and they are the sadists in the gaming group who thought it was funny when their hirelings died following orders.
Another Scott
Relatedly, … something else to blame on lawyers??
Dan Davies is a smart cookie.
Best wishes,
Scott.
twbrandt
Thomas Massie is doing good work on the Epstein files, but he’s on the wrong side of most everything else. He voted against aid to Ukraine, wants to withdraw from NATO, voted for the SAVE Act, and so much more. Treat him with extreme caution.
Scout211
Statement released today from the UN Commission on Human Rights.
Excerpts:
. . .
XeckyGilchrist
True true. Though I thought the word you meant was “squalor.” One of the biggest disappointments of American fascism is just the tawdriness of it
WaterGirl
@twbrandt: Agree.
But he’s a huge part of how/why Epstein is staying in the news, and that matters. And that matters.
Old School
@Baud:
Massie seems to be reframing the term “Epstein Class” to mean rich people who all know each other rather than people involved in the Epstein trafficing.
I know Massie is trying to get the files released, but I’m not sure why he may be trying to become unfocused on the Epstein case itself.
WaterGirl
@XeckyGilchrist:
That’s the word I used, so I am confused.
squalor
Leto
Heather Cox Richardson highlighted Josh Marshall’s idea of “Authoritarian International”:
This, the Epstein Class, is simply another piece of this overall structure. Mueller is correct that this is a national security issue, and his basic outline bears out over all we have learned in the past 15 years. Like Justice Brandeis said:
As with so much of our government/systems, this will unfortunately be a multi-generational project. Unless we have Great Depression 2.0. I guess we’ll see.
narya
@Shalimar: I’m gonna suggest something weird: on some level, these billionaires/Epstein class members are NPCs to US. They’re obstacles, they’re devising systems that hurt us and destroy us, but on some level they’re not real to us. They’re like tornadoes or hurricanes: they can do tremendous damage to us, and we can’t control them, but they’re like Mount Doom or something. They can’t imagine us caring for one another or working with or protecting each other, even when we have disagreements with the people we care about, work with, or protect, because they have bought themselves virtual caves of privilege, but no real care, work, love, protection.
I don’t know if I fully believe that, but this is the place to throw out weird shit and see if anyone agrees . . .
ArchTeryx
I hate to repeat a comment from the dead thread, but this ENTIRE topic of the Epstein Class brings me back to my original quote.
“We’re better than you. We’ve always been better than you. Nothing you do matters.”
Who said it and in what context?
Leto
@Baud: wealth is its own ideology; party/morals/ethics agnostic, etc…
@Another Scott: we just discussed that (common v civil) in my US Law class. Good class and interesting stuff.
Jeffg166
New pop ditty.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRrSwx2Copc/?igsh=bndjNWc2NzNuNzly
Geo Wilcox
This whole operation was started under Reagan. 40 plus years of nothing but tax cuts for the wealthy and shit for the rest of us = authoritarianism after the oligarchy collapses.
Old School
@Old School:
Correction: It’s Robert Reich who is redefining the term “Epstein Class” to be broader. Not Rep. Massie.
Eyeroller
@Geo Wilcox: And the “Reagan Revolution” was in turn the result of at least 20 and probably more like 50 years’ worth of efforts by the wealthy to get rid of the New Deal, Great Society, and so on. They’re still working on that since they haven’t yet been able to kill Social Security or Medicare, but they’re getting closer.
Nukular Biskits
Just a quick fly-by but a thought probably already brought up by someone else:
Most (all?) the victims were American. I fail to believe Epstein and his fellow sexual predators were that patriotic; i.e., you’d be hard-pressed to convince me there aren’t victims around the world of many nationalities.
FastEdD
As I went walking I saw a sign there,
And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing.
That side was made for you and me.
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?
The verses you weren’t taught in school. It is so strange that this song was thought of as being a safe, patriotic ditty about how superior the US was to the rest of the world. Of course, it absolutely was not. When we grew up and learned those verses and learned more about the real world, our eyes were opened in so many ways.
MattF
And this is all coming to light mainly because of Trump’s Presidency. I wonder if the Epstein Class denizens are starting to think about unintended consequences.
Leto
Norway stepping up to the plate: Former Norway leader charged with corruption after probe into alleged Epstein ties, lawyers say
Including some of the “royals” in this as well? Good. Another legacy cancer on humanity.
stinger
WaterGirl, thank you so much for the top video. That should be our national anthem. Anyone can sing it, and it’s fun to sing it together. I’d love to hear it played as the flag unfurls over the athlete on the top step at the Olympics (always capitalized)!
I’d forgotten that Obama makes a brief appearance, the camera operators are doing such a good job of featuring “you and me”, not just famous faces.
no body no name
@Old School:
He’s not. Anand Giridharadas defined Epstein Class and he included all wealthy and connected people in it not just those who participated in pedophilia or knew Epstein. That’s why the term stuck. It only works as a rallying cry if it means everyone with wealth or influence. Try to shrink that and you kill it off.
terraformer
@mapanghimagsik:
And they’ve somehow got the people who vote for their preferred candidates to believe that they’re all “pre-millionaires or -billionaires” themselves, and that, someday, they’ll be welcomed into the fold, too
Aziz, light!
The many temporarily embarrassed millionaires in our society will label anyone who wants to tax the rich a communist. That bullshit must be overcome to make any headway, along with all the very wealthy pols who will never vote against their own selfish interests. I fear we will have to endure a lot more worsening income inequality and institutional corruption before the voters collectively get the message.
Another problem is that the Epstein Class is the bulwark of white supremacy.
Belafon
@Old School: Which I kind of agree with. I’m at the point where rich people need to prove they’re not in that circle, kind of like how, as a white guy, it’s up to me to show I’m not one of those guys.
JML
I do think folks like Massie and other desperately need to keep Bill Clinton in every conversation about Epstein, not because they’re interested in bringing down the interconnected web of wealth and influence by shitty white dudes, but in order to get the “both sides” crew involved to save the GOP as an acceptable and viable political party.
Pretending Larry Summers is a Democrat, when every actual Democrat hates him? Hoffman, Gates, the ultimate loser Prince Andrew, Tisch…none of these guys are relevant in the Democratic Party. Fuck ’em all.
Anything that tears down the billionaire white dude class of influence fucking up the world is a good thing, but trying to make sure to both sides this shit is classic GOP fuckery…and classic rich white dude classist bullshit.
HinTN
That’s one beautiful moon in the sidebar, @WaterGirl:. Thanks!!!
Baud
@WaterGirl:
This piece doesn’t particularly move me. It’s fine. Not everything that is to be written about this will hit everyone the same.
Castor Canadensis
@Baud:
Maybe Chomsky too, maybe not.
We probably need a table that shows “friend before conviction” and “friend after”
Shakti
Gosh, the world felt different back then.
I notice for the inauguration video they actually performed this verse, which irks the hell out of people.
Never really knew it, but I was familiar with the “this land is my land it is not your land i’ve got a shotgun i’ll blow your head off” from my childhood next door neighbors:
Kelly
John Rogers, of 27% Crazification Factor fame, also says in politics a billion dollars is a nuke.
Dave
@mapanghimagsik: It’s the set of amoral seekers that supports them. People who will just as happily or maybe with a few qualms provide advice and support to genuinely laudable efforts as well as the most depraved abuses.
My tolerance for them decreases as they climb the socioeconomic ladder.
Dave
@Shalimar: It explains why they have decided to attack empathy so aggressively.
They are ok applying it to those in the club but asking them to apply it to those outside of it feels like an attack to these people because then they might have to moderate their behavior or recognize no they really don’t deserve “everything”.
Leto
@Castor Canadensis: Chomsky definitively had conversations after Epstein’s conviction. He sought/gave advice, as well as accepted a ton of gifts. Yes, his intellectual contributions are significant, but this will probably bury his legacy. I’m sure as more and more of the files are unredacted, we’ll find more situations like this. Rip it all out, root and all.
Baud
I’ll admit, there’s more info in these files than I would have expected.
Surprisingly, I haven’t seen much mention of the sweetheart deal that Acosta gave to Epstein.
Dave
@Old School: This is also an important aspect because while the worst of it is awful in blatant ways a lot of it probably feels and even in isolation probably is quite anodyne.
Especially if everyone is rather polite and proper to a degree. Adam Smith or really anyone who pays attention to human behavior can understand this but once they accumulated so much and influence/control so much it moves from normal human behavior warts and all to something truly horrifying.
All wrapped in wealth and at least the potential for style.
Dave
@narya: I think that is a good point and probably why they feel so unfairly attacked because we don’t entirely speak of them as people but then the fact that they are kind to the help and throw a lovely dinner party etc is simply immaterial to the issue.
It’s more attenuated but just as it didn’t matter how cultured the commandant of a death camp was, how gracious his wife was how cute their children it’s because if I focus on that I’m missing the core of the damned issue.
And because it’s more attenuated they never have to reckon with the actual harm and dystopia they are unleashing.
WaterGirl
@stinger: I love it, too. That was Obama’s inauguration Day, if it wasn’t obvious. I love that he chose Pete and that song.
XeckyGilchrist
@WaterGirl: Apologies, misunderstood.
Jeffro
@Kelly:
He’s right and it’s exactly why we can’t let Citizens United stand. In a democracy, money cannot equal free speech.
Any given billionaire’s billion dollars dropped into (or should I say “detonated in”) our politics sure speaks a helluva lot louder than my vote, the range of my voice, or my lil’ post on Facebook (no matter how many ‘shares’ or ‘likes’ it gets).
Dave
@Nukular Biskits: My partner observed that most of the known Epstein victims appear to be white and often blond. And I have to wonder if that plays a very specific role because he could provide that while they may have been able access victims of different ethnicity more easily and in addition to being in a club part of what he sold them was access they might have trouble gaining otherwise.
Belafon
OT, Robert Duvall died.
cnn.com/2026/02/16/entertainment/robert-duvall-death
Dave
I think that my brother is tangentially connected to these people. He works in SV had friends with Google money etc etc.
And what I find fascinating is that he’s never once offered to have us visit the Maui house next to Willie Nelson or the catamaran in the Virgin Islands.
It’s like those things are entirely separate and it’s gulf that can not be crossed.
WaterGirl
@XeckyGilchrist: No apologies! I wondered if there was a typo and I just couldn’t see it.
Geminid
@Leto: I know very little about the field of Linguistics, but I expect Chomsky’s intellectual contributions were substantial.
I mainly know Chomsky from his political writings, as the man who persuaded two generations of lefties that Nato was to blame for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and that Bashar Assad did not really slaughter over 500,000 Syrians.
So my attitude is Linguistics Shminguistics, Noam Chomsky can rot in hell.
WaterGirl
@Dave: That’s interesting. And sad. Maybe they see the rest of us as “not worthy”.
What is SV?
Scout211
Silicon Valley?
Dave
@WaterGirl: Silicon Valley the tech bros.
Now it’s not his home if it was he’d definitely invite us but it’s more the total separation and his friends at least seem to understand how lucky they are. It’s more noticing the more subtle shifts in attitude and behavior the tendency to view criticism of the broader project in very arch terms that eliminate nuance.
Hence the tangentially connected it’s there and you can see some of the rationalizations etc but not fully formed.
piratedan
@Belafon: the original Boo Radley…. sooo good in so many movies, series, episodes, a real chameleon. 95 is a helluva good run.
Baud
Kelly
@Jeffro: and it feels like I’ve got sticks and stones to fight back with
Eolirin
@Nukular Biskits: they weren’t actually. The files suggest that the model agencies epstein was involved with were also trafficking eastern European and Russian girls and there’s stuff in there about Israeli girls.
Another Scott
@Geminid:
ScientificAmerican.com (from 2016):
(Emphasis added.) :-/
Google tells me that Chomsky subsequently gave up on universal grammar, but that Chomskyites still argue for it. Or maybe he didn’t. Who knows…
Something something language was invented to hide men’s thoughts something something.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Scout211: Of course, yes, thank you.
WaterGirl
@Eolirin:
So the options were different flavors of white.
Leto
@Geminid: agreed.
E.
People! This is no time for nuance and no time for squeamishness about who is in the foxhole with you. This is tearing MAGA apart and they need our help if they are to succeed (in tearing themselves apart). The files are much more horrific than most of us think. Bannon is probably done for. Like Acteon, let him be torn to pieces by his own dogs. We need to be talking about nothing else. Don’t make the weirdo super-macho trad dudes shoulder the whole thing. This really is a uniting moment, let’s not be the ones shrugging off child sex trafficking. Let’s not pretend it’s only about money. This is a real injustice and properly managed it will take down this government.
Mike in Pasadena
The items in your original post were really helpful, but made me ill. What do the little people do against the Epstein class? Ugh.
WaterGirl
@E.: I think the train is picking up speed.
WaterGirl
@Mike in Pasadena: I think we talk about it every single day until it all comes out. And that includes talking to our representatives about it – Democrats and Republicans alike.
sab
@Baud: My city’s Council voted 12-0 to bar cooperation woth ICE, but the state legislature (Ohio) is workimg on legislation to mamdate cooperation or lose any state funding. I don’t rust our Republican governor to veto it if it gets through the state senate.
Shakti
@narya: @Shalimar:
An NPC is like an ant; but likening Epstein class to hurricanes and natural disasters is not quite as dehumanizing, imho.
One prepares for hurricanes and natural disasters to mitigate their impact; perhaps society attempts to stop them from happening or from more happening (not entirely successful if you look at climate change and increasing number of disasters).
But you can’t put a hurricane on trial and force truth and reconciliation on it and its enablers. Natural disasters are “acts of God”.
They can’t see us as human, but we are encouraged to see Epstein class members as real with enhanced humanity. Look, why be emotionally invested in the Kennedy family’s personal tragedies above other unfortunates? I mean besides family traumas and childhood traumas directly affecting what how they act as a result and how it affects us…”NPCs” Star Wars is an example of “oh look at royal family’s inner drama versus everyone else.” An entire planet with all of those people gets wiped out of existence and it literally doesn’t even signify in the greater Star Wars universe in the original three movies. How “Darth Vader became evil because he was abused as a child and not hugged” (sorry, snark) is another three movies.
[There are many reasons I prefer Star Trek. ]
I think a lot of these Epstein class people forget that fusing their roles and personhood and family and businesses together is personally dangerous to them. . Or they don’t care and start freaking the fuck out about threats under every hill as they project NPCness onto everyone else. It’s weird to start sweating about a bunch of ants taking you out. Unless they’re human.
Nobody thinks they are going to end up like Romanovs.
cain
@Denali5: a club I do not want to be in.
Glory b
@Baud: I know, right?
I was literally it would be in the top five most discussed Epstein topics, but Acosta seems to have gotten away without scrutiny.
Scout211
These two articles in the Guardian give me some hope against the doom.
The key to defeating Trump? Mass non-cooperation
ICE-free zones and blocked liquor licenses: US cities fight back against immigration raids
Resistance, non-cooperation at the local level can make a difference.
And added: work our butts off helping our state and local Democrats get elected.
We don’t have to feel helpless.
NutmegAgain
So much happy–so much optimism– it’s a goal to reach for, again.
stinger
@WaterGirl:
I watched it live! And it’s part of my point, that it was Obama’s “day” and yet he’s only on camera for a moment. His Inauguration Day was really the People’s Day as was no inauguration in history.
Miss Bianca
@Geminid: I’m with you on this one. I had begun to think of him as an overrated intellect even before he started shooting his mouth off about international politics, but after all that, dude was dead to me.
The Republic of Stupidity
@Jeffro:
“but that one most of all, let’s tax the f*** out of the rich and use the proceeds to strengthen the rest of our society”
Totally on board with that agenda!
And very pleased to hear that specific sentiment being voiced out loud more and more these days…
The way I say it is, ‘It’s time to tax billionaires until they wet their pants and cry in public…”
And as far as The Epstein Class goes, don’t forget to refer to the Trump-Epstein Files (TM) every chance you get!
WaterGirl
@stinger: Me, too. Watching that video brings me right back to that time. So. Much. Hope.
So much possibility.
I cannot watch it without tears. Happy tears and sad tears all at once, if that makes any sense
narya
I thought about exactly this point after the edit window was long closed. You’re exactly right: comparing them to natural disasters also means one is not holding them responsible for the harms they cause. I think it feels that way (at least to me) because they have so many ways to evade responsibility, but it’s not inevitable the same way a natural disaster is.
gene108
@twbrandt:
The unwillingness to aid Ukraine, the hatred of multilateral organizations from NATO to the UN, etc. is not unique to Trump. It is now where the center of the Republican party is and has been even before Trump.
Bush, Jr. demonstrated this in the run up to the Iraq war with the disdain he showed towards securing UN approval for the invasion.
The next Republican president will be a less vulgar person, with the same beliefs as Trump.
Feckless
Guillotine was a very fine man.
Anonymous At Work
I heard Sen. Ossoff use “Epstein Class” first. And if Clinton is in the files, let him defend/explain. Same with everyone else. On record, under oath, free range.
Part of the frustrating thing about the “Epstein Class” and their impunity is they carefully and forcefully negotiate when, how, why, and the limitations of anytime they testify before a committee or in other official capacity.
Gvg
@Baud: I think Bill Clinton was connected enough that his friends tipped him off as to what Epstein was or was suspected of being, so he broke off contact. People always liked Bill. I have also suspected that Epstein was investigated a lot more than we know, earlier than we know, but that his class managed to bury the investigations until they couldn’t anymore. He was too conspicuous IMO, that’s how he found people. Not everyone would have fallen into his clutches, and people talk. Just my speculation.
way2blue
Thanks Watergirl for the song. I needed that. A reminder of how we celebrated decency. In the before times.