As a psychologist of many years and someone who has worked with women who have struggled with the trauma of childhood sexual abuse and sexual assault as adults, the Jeffrey Epstein/Ghislaine Maxwell circus is infuriating and deeply disturbing.
In my work as a therapist, the psychic trauma of sexual assault survivors, coupled with the silence about their experience, has has a profound impact on their lives. I have born witness to their depression, often accompanied by suicidal ideation; their dissociation, making trusting others difficult; their anxiety which, at times, paralyzed them, compromising their capacity to live their lives fully.. The fact that it has taken 20 years for the voices of the victims to be heard, once again brings into sharp focus the misogynistic nature of our culture. It translates to “I’ll do whatever I want and you just shut up.”
Watching the victims stand before the public was gut-wrenching. Over a thousand women have been the victims of the monstrous acts of these two sociopaths. But finally, after over 20 years, these women, some only as old as 14 when they were assaulted and raped, were heard.
The event was so much more than a political event; It was a coming together of women and their families who have been repeatedly dismissed, ignored and lied to over decades by a government that should have protected them.
This case is a deep stain on our justice system which continues to protect perpetrators and doubt and silence women who have been sexually assaulted. The “”Me Too” movement felt like the beginning of a reckoning of this gross injustice, but it too has been silenced. The Don, a sexual predator himself, who disparages women and has made male toxicity a thing to aspire to, responded to their heartfelt testimony by returning to his favorite playbook calling it a “hoax”.
Of course he would because he is covering his ass. There is not one iota of empathy for the women who endured these devastating experiences.
Let’s review a few things. The Don was caught on camera in the “Access Hollywood” video saying gleefully that he “grabbed women’s private parts.” Remember how many Republican lawmakers were outraged by this revelation, who swore they could not support a man like him, who talked about having daughters who they could never face if they aligned themselves with such a predator?
Let’s remember that he was found in a court of law to have raped E. Jean Carroll.
Let’s remember that in a presidential debate anchored by Megyn Kelly, a disgruntled Don accused her of having blood dripping out of her private parts.
Let’s remember that The Don endorsed Roy Moore who was running for a Senate seat in Alabama after credible allegations of him pursuing sexual relationships with teenagers.
After all of that, his voters did a collective shrug. One can only conclude from this that millions of people look at this moral turpitude as just what happens in this country (and many others as well.)
Just the other day, The Don lamented that the only reason there wasn’t a 100% reduction in crime in D.C was because domestic violence was included in the statistics.
Here is what he said: “Things that take place in the home they call crime,” he said. “They’ll do anything they can to find something. If a man has a little fight with the wife, they say this was a crime scene.”
A heinous misogyny still casts its spell and runs through our core. What else can you conclude after championing a sexual predator?
Let me return to the victims of Epstein and Maxwell by quoting some, as it is essential that we hear them, that we allow their voices to break the silence that often accompanies the experience of women sexually assaulted in this country.
Here’s one of the victims Haley Robinson:
“Secrecy only allows for conspiracy theorists to tell lies that drives up our anxiety and fears, and will continue to lead to more pain, more suffering and honestly, more deaths of innocent victims,” she said, referring to women abused by Epstein who have died by suicide and drug overdoses. “It’s time you do what’s right by us. Unseal all the documents.” “This is not a hoax. We are real human beings. This is real trauma.”
“I have to use my voice, the voice that had been silenced by fear and shame for so many years,” said survivor Anouska De Georgiou.
Marina Lacerda: “Our government could have saved so many women, but Jeffrey Epstein was too important and those women didn’t matter. Well, we matter now. We are here today, and we are speaking, and we are not going to stop speaking.”
To understand how we reached this point some backstory is needed. In 2008, after repeated complaints to authorities about Epstein, an investigation was finally started. Inexplicably, the U.S. Attorney at the time, Alex Acosta, gave Epstein a sweetheart deal sentencing him to 18 months in a low security prison that allowed him to leave the facility and return at night. My limited understanding of the statutes he was prosecuted under would have resulted in 10-15 years in prison, without any of the privileges. And guess who became the Secretary of the Labor Department during The Don’s first term: Alex Acosta!
Ghislaine Maxwell’s recent meeting with Todd Blance (who defended The Don in the E. Jean Carroll case), resulted in her being moved to a low security prison or as some call it a “spa prison.” So even as these courageous women tell their truth, they are being mocked and demeaned by having to deal with Maxwell’s transfer to this new facility. And Trump has not only refused to rule out a pardon for Maxwell; he has defended his right to do so.
New revelations reported in the N.Y. Times exposed that J.P. Morgan helped finance Epstein for years when it was pretty clear to many within the organization that something untoward was happening.
Bank officials for more than a decade were anxious about Epstein’s prolific wire transfers and cash withdrawals. J.P. Morgan ultimately processed more than $1 billion in such transactions for him and warned senior management about his suspicious activities. But on at least four occasions over five years, the bank’s leaders overrode those objections and continued to serve Epstein.
J.P. Morgan set up accounts into which he routinely transferred huge sums for young women who turned out to be victims of his sex-trafficking operations. All this took place after Epstein had spent 18 months in prison back in 2008. J.P. Morgan decided the money and connections Epstein offered were more important than what he had done. It is impossible to believe they weren’t aware of what was going on.
The bank ultimately did settle with some of the victims but it was apittance compared to it’s profites. The bank never admitted any wrongdoing. No regulator took action against J.P. Morgan despite the fact they didn’t report transactions that would have raised alarms in the government. In the end, no executives lost their jobs and Jamie Dimon remains one of the most powerful bankers in the world.
True to form, the White House has used intimidation to prevent Republicans from voting to force the D.O.J. to hand over the Epstein documents, so there can finally be full transparency.. The White House has said that any Republicans who join congressman Tom Massie and Ro Khanna’s effort is engaged in a “hostile act.” Few Republicans have anything to say about the testimony of these victims: Their fear of The Don is so great that they even the horrors of these traumatized women does not move them.
However, I want to give a shout out to Marjorie Taylor Green, someone I usually don’t speak of kindly, for her vehement support of the victims. She defied the White House and attended the pres conference where the victims told their truth.
Here’s MTG: “This is a boiling point in American history.” she said. from the podium. Her outrage was pointing to the powerful men who get away with everything at the expense of the average American. She has even said he would name names of perpetrators in a congressional hearing. To that I say: Go forth Marjorie, and expose the truth of the inequities of the system and bring down the powerful men who feel like they have the freedom to do whatever they want!
The Grand Offal Party 