Don’t Let Trump Distract you from the Epstein Matter…

During the first Trump administration, it was not unusual for readers to state that a specific outrageous thing that Trump was doing was done to distract us from some other, even more outrageous thing that Trump was doing (and that the thing being distracted from was the real problem). There was a similar discourse on social media. Everything is a distraction! Don’t get pulled in! He just wants to control the news cycle! Muzzle velocity!

There is no doubt, by the way, that there is too much to keep track of (hence the occasional attempt to remind us to look right in front of our noses and/or to see what is going on in North Korea).

This overall dynamic has continued into the second Trump administration, although it has been refined of late to boil down to: don’t let X distract us from the Epstein Files!!

So, yes, it is wholly possible that any given activity by this administration is purposefully designed (or just a clever reaction by Trump’s lizard brain) to distract us from the Epstein matter. And I get that not every outrage is worth the same amount of attention (and some may be ultimately less outrageous than they appear at first glance).

As it pertains to Epstein I will note that, at a bare minimum, the following are incredibly problematic activities, if not gross interference into the legal process to the point of serious corruption: that Maureen Comey was fired, that Todd Blanche (now with the DOJ, but formerly one of Trump’s personal attorneys) interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell, and that Maxwell was subsequently transferred to a far more desirable prison (one that does not match her crimes).

Likewise, the following is simply bad.

• Via CNN: Bondi briefed Trump that his name was in Epstein files.
• Via Bloomberg: The FBI Redacted Trump’s Name in the Epstein Files.

Of course, we already know quite a bit about Trump and Epstein (e.g., via ABC News: The times Trump’s name appeared in the Epstein files the DOJ has already released). There are the photos, interviews, the birthday letter, etc. I would not be surprised, in the least, if Trump engaged in sexual relations with a minor. There is enough circumstantial evidence to make that a plausible charge.

Whether there is something additional that would be sufficient in the court of public opinion to do truly significant political damage is an open question. A criminal trial is not forthcoming. IANAL, but I am fairly sure that the statute of limitations would preclude prosecution (and given how poorly the US justice system was able to prosecute him for some pretty obvious crimes, I have little faith in that avenue even if a prosecution is possible). As such, the issue is public opinion and political power.

I would note that there is enough known about Trump and his terrible personal values when it comes to sex and his general treatment of women to have sunk any other politician. As such, I have hit a level of cynicism (and just plain empirical evidence) that makes me wonder what kind of revelation it would take for there to be real damage to the man or his administration.

Remember, this is the guy who somehow managed to have his son admit, on Twitter, that yes, yes, I did meet with Russians to try and get dirt on Hillary Clinton, and yet claims with a straight face that to accuse him of getting help from the Russians is just crazy talk! He was caught trying to leverage Ukraine for dirt on Joe Biden, and while it led to his impeachment, what difference did it make? He basically supported an insurrection, and his copartisans (briefly) blamed him for it, and yet they couldn’t pull the trigger on banning him from future public office.

(I could go on and on and on, I would note).

So, maybe I am the kind of Charlie Brown who finally learned not to try to kick the football, but the notion that some revelation is going to finally bring him down does not motivate me all that much. Keep in mind, he is term-limited, and he is old. And while I actually do agree, there is a non-zero chance that he will try and run for a third term (and I am even at the point wherein I can at least game out the current SCOTUS might let him), he is towards the end, not the beginning, of his power and the damage he can do.

This is not to say that I think we should ignore the Epstein matter and that I especially think that political opponents and media figures should press the point as far as they can.

Indeed, there is a scenario in which some Epstein-related revelation might do serious damage to the MAGA movement. By the same token, the more likely scenario in my mind is that some Epstein-related revelation will, yet again, demonstrate how good human beings are at rationalization.

I lay all of that out to say, however, don’t let Epstein be a distraction for all the truly bad things that the administration is doing.

Don’t get so caught up in the vortex of bullshit such that it becomes easy to want to look passed the damage to the global and domestic economies.

It may be, just to pick the most recent example, that the militarization of DC is just for show. But that doesn’t make it harmless. Or, to go to yesterday, maybe meeting with Putin is meant to change the subject.

But, whether he is acting as he is in the streets of DC, it doesn’t make those actions unimportant any more than his elevating Putin from his status as international pariah, while at the same time perhaps betraying Ukraine, doesn’t matter because, at least in part, the goal is for Trump to recapture the media narrative.

So, I’m making three points.

One is that are a lot of things that require our attention, exhausting though it may be,

A second is that I would not put as much stock in an Epstein revelation resulting in that final, magic moment wherein Trump is crushed. Don’t allow yourself to be like the QAnon types who think that the Epstein List was going to take down all the Democrats and their allies.

Third, just because something might be being done as a means of distraction doesn’t make the distraction unimportant. If your kid sets fire to the backyard to distract you from the fact that he put a dent in your car doesn’t mean you don’t have to put the fire out.

Note that the photo I chose for this post underscores that we have a distraction machine well-versed in Kafaybe in charge of our government. He is a clown, to be sure, but he is a dangerous one, and he is more than capable of setting fires to distract us from other fires.