"The GOP wants a one-party state, and Trump wants to be the autocrat of that state. The idea that they are incompetent is a myth. They are very competent. They are just not interested in the process of governing. They are interested in ruling." #AMJoy
The takeway from the WSJ story is not "Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago."
The takeaway is "For many years, and over his wife's objections, Trump actively procured young women & girls to send to the home of his pedophile pal Epstein."
2/ There is no reason to doubt that Trump & Epstein enjoyed one another’s company, and that they partied together with “beautiful women…some of them on the younger side.”
In 1992, they love-a-love-a-loved their little “Calendar Girl” party:
https://t.co/dQ3sqTAeHw
15/ More important: Epstein lived in a $77m Manhattan mansion, and we don’t know how exactly he made his millions. Was he a money launderer, like Trump? A blackmail specialist extraordinaire? Was he part of a Russian mob operation to gather kompromat on influential figures?
Seems to me that a Trump pardon of Ghislaine Maxwell would constitute a de facto confession that yes, the rumors about him raping the underage girl(s) at his buddy Jeffrey Epstein's place are true.
Here are some of the salient points from my new Medium piece on Trump, Epstein, and why we need to focus on the money, not the sex, to take down the bad guys.
[THREAD]
3/ When the subject of Donald Trump’s history of sexual assault is brought up, MAGA invariably responds with: "Bill Clinton was worse"— as if the shameful misbehavior of one rich, famous, powerful man somehow absolves that of another.
4/ As horrible as it is to relate, the fact is that as long as the focus is on sex crimes, Trump — and his undearly-departed chum Jeffrey Epstein — will not be damaged. Again: his base DOES NOT CARE.
When grown men hang out together, it's usually centered around a specific activity: beer, sports, poker, etc.
Well, Trump doesn't drink, so they weren't drinking buddies.
Epstein didn't golf, so they weren't golfing buddies.
This ain't complicated.
https://t.co/0TEch4r0SW
If Donald Trump was not on the Epstein list, or the Epstein index, or all over the Epstein files, he would have released them by now.
What is Donald hiding?
"During every single day of the Trump administration, Donald, very simply, put himself first, his family second, the Kremlin third, his cronies fourth. America is so far down his list of priorities, it may as well be one of the countless redactions of his name in the Epstein files."
https://t.co/Txob3EVuzg
Epstein helped Leon Black dispense payments to various women, per the NYT.
Epstein helped Donald Trump dispense settlement payments to an accuser, per Richard Kahn's testimony.
If Epstein was fixing things for Donald Trump...what was Trump doing for Jeffrey Epstein?
https://t.co/cdO2Txj5Rl
URBAN: The allegations are terrible. If this were a Republican, you would be beating the hell out of them
ANSARI: Donald Trump is in the president who's in the Epstein files with allegations from a 13 year old accusing him of rape
Lost in the debate over Melania Trump’s connections to the Epstein network is this exchange:
Steve Bannon asks Jeffrey Epstein whether Ivana Trump was a “Madame Claude associate.”
Epstein replies that Madame Claude “only took educated women” and then explained how she sent them to accent reduction classes. Epstein called it a “brilliant op.”
Read the files for yourself. They’re often stranger than the headlines.