I want to start this piece with a video of the survivors made before the vote in Congress to release the Epstein files. It is both courageous and heartbreaking. If you are not moved by this, check your pulse.
The vote in the House, to approve the “Epstein Files Transparency Act,” which was one vote short of unanimous, was then quickly approved unanimously by the Senate; the next day, The Don signed it. I imagine he was seething when he put pen to paper, but he was cornered like a rat.
We should be emboldened by this push-back by the Republicans; it represented a clear defeat for The Don, a challenge to his power to control the Republican party. But true to form, The Don is already spinning the result, taking credit for its passage: “As everyone knows, I asked Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, to pass this Bill in the House and Senate, respectively. Because of this request, the votes were almost unanimous.” Given the moral turpitude of this group of sycophants, there is a lot of truth in The Don’s comment. In all honesty, I wonder if this was the victory we think it is as he did give his permission to empower his groupies to sign it, and they did. Does that look like he is losing power over them?
For months and months, The Don and his Republican cronies fought to prevent the release. He tried to bully MTG, calling her “whacky” and a “traitor”; and according to her, she received death threats. As of this writing she has announced her retirement. Here is part of what she said:
“Standing up for American women who were raped at 14, trafficked, and used by rich powerful men, should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the President of the United States.”
Lauren Boebert was hauled into the “Situation Room” where she was pressured to remove her name from the bill. Mike Johnson delayed the swearing of congresswoman Adelita Grijalva for seven weeks to give The Don time to convince one of the awful Republican traitors to change their minds, knowing that when she was sworn in, there would be enough signatures to move forward with releasing the files. The Don even went after Thomas Massie’s recent marriage:
“Did Thomas Massie, sometimes referred to as Rand Paul Jr., because of the fact that he always votes against the Republican Party, get married already??? Boy, that was quick; anyway, have a great life Thomas and Carolyn. His wife will soon find out that she’s stuck with a LOSER!”
This from a man who was having an affair with Marla Maples while he was married to his first wife Ivana.
If The Don had persuaded one of the four Republicans to change their mind, none of this would have happened. The moral rot makes me want to puke. All the pressure and speaking out by the victims of Epstein would have fallen on deaf ears if it wasn’t for the three women who refused to back down in their support of the victims. The fact that these three Republican women defied The Don made his defeat that more delicious.
It’s so disappointing that only three Republican women stood up. They were too worried about their political careers to do the right and moral thing. I would bet that each one of them knows a victim of sexual assault and there is a good chance that they were victims as well. After all, approximately one in three women in the U.S. have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime, including rape, sexual assault, or sexual harassment.
While the vote in the House was happening, The Don was cavorting with the Saudi prince in the White House. When a reporter asked The Don about the infamous murder of Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed and dismembered on orders from MBS, he castigated and defend MBS and basically said “Shit happens!”. Just a few days before, when a female reporter asked The Don a question about Epstein, an exasperated Don said: “Quiet, quiet piggy.” Sadly, this kind of comment is not a surprise, as his contempt for women is notorious. Wouldn’t it have been great if she looked him straight in the eye and said:
“That’s disgusting. You are the real pig. Your contempt of women makes it quite obvious that you would be the kind of guy who loved hanging out with a sociopath like Epstein. You would be happy to participate in his sexual exploits, traumatizing and destroying women’s lives. You are scum.” Only if…
This is all a nightmarish game of depravity and misogyny perpetrated by powerful men, who have been protected by a system that is frankly, disgusting and lacks morality. These women have been fighting this fight for almost 30 years. Let me say that again: 30 YEARS! Maria Farmer, the first abuse survivor to report Mr. Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell to law enforcement in 1996, hailed the vote.
“After being left in the dark for decades, having my repeated calls for transparency and action ignored, and living through nearly five administrations that turned a blind eye to this enormous travesty of justice, Congress finally listened to survivors.”
Epstein was convicted for the first time in 2009 and was offered a sweetheart deal by Attorney General Alex Acosta of Florida, who was ultimately given the position of Secretary of Labor in the Don’s first administration. To this date, we still don’t understand how this happened, what kind of backroom shenanigans were involved. Everyone knew what Epstein was doing, and yet the law betrayed the victims. The tragedy is that for years after this, the sex trafficking of minors continued, ruining more lives. Think of how many women and children would not be suffering today if justice had been served when the original complaints were made.
Despite victims coming forward to the F.B.I. and pushing their case, during the tenure of five presidents, the Justice Department hasn’t pursued it. Imagine if you were one of the victims trying speaking your truth and were continually thwarted and invalidated. Their treatment just keeps the pain alive without resolution. In addition to exposing the men who participated in Epstein’s sordid enterprise, financial institutions were involved as well, In particular, J.P. Morgan’s financial relationship with Epstein continued despite internal dissent and speculation that Epstein was involved in money laundering and sex trafficking.
So will the truth come out? Will all the files be released? Not if The Don can help it. The D.O.J is working to pursue indictments against certain Democrats who were involved with Epstein. This ploy is a two-pronged attack. The first is to claim that pursuit of his involvement is another hoax and that Democrats are the real culprits. That works well among his base. The second is that opening up criminal investigation into these Democrats protects certain documents from being released. It is also being reported that the D.O.J is working hard to redact The Don and Republicans names anywhere it appears in the document. Do the Republican lawmakers really have the guts to defy The Don and keep the pressure on, when the D.O.J plays games with releasing the documents, or will they obfuscate and close ranks again? Then we will find out how many of them really care about the women and children who have been traumatized and continue to live in pain. I sure hope their vote to release the files was genuine, but I’m not sure it was. Only time will tell.
The Grand Offal Party 