We’re All Drowning in Epstein’s Cesspool
“Any which way, we’re going to need a little luck
You can still get gas in Heaven, and a drink in Kingdom Come
In the meantime I’m cleaning my gun”
Mark Knopfler, “Cleaning My Gun”
Like a lot of citizens, I’ve been trying to make sense of the Epstein Files and what they tell us about great wealth, power, and the global network of rich and politically-connected people — the elite rulers of our time from politics, academia, finance, technology, and state surveillance. The number of powerful people who moved in and out of Epstein’s orbit is so astounding that it leads to a simple question: who wasn’t involved with this depraved man?
Bill Clinton. Bill Gates. Steve Bannon. Peter Thiel. Elon Musk. Prince Andrew. And, of course, Donald Trump, the man named thousands of times — more than any other. On it goes, but the full roster of Epstein’s accomplices, pals, clients, and enablers may never be known because the information is in the hands of corrupt and compromised people, like Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche, the top duo at the US Department of Justice, who make a mockery of the law by perverting it at every turn.
What’s obvious is the extent to which powerful people protect and cover for one another. Why did the Bush DOJ discard a sex trafficking case against Epstein in 2005? Why did Alex Acosta, former US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, hand Epstein a light and easy plea agreement in 2008? Acosta would later serve as Labor Secretary in Trump’s first term — an example of how people in this universe fail upwards. Most of the public has forgotten that when Epstein was arrested for sex trafficking in 2019, Donald Trump was President and William Barr, the Dough Boy, was Attorney General. Two months after his arrest, Epstein was dead, either by his own hand or by that of others; the facts surrounding Epstein’s demise were muddled by Barr, Trump’s reliable fixer, and the true cause of Epstein’s death still isn’t conclusively known.
The one person by Epstein’s side all along was Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of British media mogul Robert Maxwell, who died under mysterious circumstances in the Canary Islands in 1991. Robert Maxwell reportedly had ties to both Russian and Israeli intelligence. Daughter Ghislaine grew up in privilege. She was Epstein’s assistant, accomplice, girlfriend, recruiter, Jane-of-All-Trades. Posh Ghislaine was tried separately from Epstein, convicted and sentenced to twenty years in jail. Maxwell was incarcerated in a federal facility in Tallahassee, Florida until she had a chummy conversation with Todd Blanche in 2025, during which Ghislaine said that Trump was always a perfect gentleman and had absolutely nothing to do with any underage girls. Shortly thereafter, Ghislaine was whisked to a minimum security facility — basically a federal country club — in Texas, a perfect example of how members of Epstein World come to each other’s aid. There’s little doubt that Ghislaine and her attorneys are angling for a presidential pardon, a little quid pro quo payback for her testifying that Trump is clean as a hounds’ tooth.
The law enforcement organs of the American government have investigated Jeffrey Epstein’s activities for more than two decades, and yet, only two individuals, Epstein himself and Ghislaine Maxwell, were convicted. The Epstein Files are said to contain more than six million records, including documents, photographs, phone records, and video recordings. There are also financial records that follow the billions of dollars that flowed through Epstein’s hands. But what of Epstein’s ties to foreign intelligence services, like Putin’s FSB and Israel’s Mossad? Some observers claim Epstein ran the greatest Kompromat operation in history, a “honey trap” of massive proportions. Why haven’t we learned more about these angles?
Because the powerful don’t want us to know and will do everything possible to prevent us from knowing. Congressman Ro Khanna, co-author of the Epstein Transparency Act — which the DOJ has so arrogantly refused to comply with — calls the people connected to Jeffrey Epstein the “Epstein Class.” Many are also members of the Billionaire Class, the type of people who dash around the globe on private jets, sail the seas on private yachts, own islands and social media platforms, and show up every year at Davos to celebrate the “good” they’ve done for the little people of the world.
Lost in all this are the victims of Epstein and Maxwell’s depravity, said to number between 1,000 and 1,200 women, who for decades have labored for the rarest thing in America: justice. Their own government has repeatedly betrayed them by ignoring them, pooh-poohing their legitimate concerns, promising action and then taking none. Year after year, until the years become decades. Even after Epstein was convicted, rich and powerful people still sought him out, associated with him, did business with him, solicited his advice. They did this knowing he had trafficked in underage girls.
I’ve seen a fair number of scandals in my lifetime. Vietnam. Watergate. Iran-Contra. Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. The disastrous and illegal invasion of Iraq. The long scandal that was the first Trump term. But this cover-up by the Trump Regime of the Epstein Files is far and away the most egregious and consequential. It blows the lid off the morally rancid Society of Impunity that forty-five years of neoliberal policies championed, and shows, without doubt, the blatantly repugnant, cruel, and immoral behavior the super wealthy believe they’re entitled to get away with. Forty-five years of coddling the wealthy at the expense of everyday Americans; forty-five years of promoting ever greater concentrations of wealth and power; forty-five years of legalized bribery.
While the United States is in desperate need of major political, economic and Constitutional reform, what it needs more immediately is moral and ethical reform. We might begin by teaching wealthy men that raping girls is an abomination.
