This is Not About the Epstein Files

It is about eroding support and finding common ground.

The last thing I wanted to write about was the Epstein Files. Hasn’t this been covered from top to bottom, sides to inside, and corner to corner? It’s been hard to find political commentary that doesn’t dip into it in some fashion. But there are some things that aren’t being said or aren’t being said enough.

As usual, my goal is to get you to see what is in this that will help us, the fighters in the street, the righteously angry and incensed, the compassionate and empathetic. We need to win this with whatever weapons will support the cause while not causing damage to the good in our country along the way. That’s a tricky thing.

Unexpectedly, the investigative files of a child predator have turned out to be one of those weapons but maybe not in the way you think.

Some people have asserted that he wants this circus, that it’s a distraction from his policies. If so, it appears to be a monster he’s lost control of. Then there are others—the majority, really—who see all his peculiar actions and declarations of late as his attempt to distract from what is turning into a true scandal unlike anything he has faced to date. However, his recent attempts at distraction, such as releasing the Martin Luther King Jr. files no one is asking for, trying to grow a new Obama conspiracy from thin air, and pressuring the Washington Commanders to change their name back to Redskins have remained drowned out by any tidbit of news on the Epstein files.

Simply put, no one is distracted in a way that will help him, and we can use this.

One obvious thing we can do is to keep nudging this scandal back to the forefront if it should start to fade into the shadows. Honestly, I’m not sure we have a lot of work to do in this area. His base is not letting this die, and neither are the late-night hosts, political podcasters of any leaning, or his own cabinet whose bumbling efforts to distract or obfuscate seem to just amplify the coverage and questions. Even MLK’s daughter’s response to the release of her father’s files was, “Now do Epstein,” highlighting the fact that Trump has the power to release such files and is obviously refusing to do so.

Keeping this in the news is eroding his support, tremendously. There will always be the Trump zombies that will swallow anything he says and refuse to believe he is up to anything but good for this country. Those are not the people we need to focus on. We need all the others who are waking up to his lies and deception. We need them, if not on our side, at least not against us.

There is a multitude of private citizens, YouTube influencers, podcasters, and conservative pundits out there ranting about how Trump has let them down, deceived them, broke his promises and more. Yesterday, I listened to clips from a popular pro-Trump podcast, Flagrant, where they ranted on about how he’s protecting pedophiles. White nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes is pointing out how Trump has been “gaslighting & guilting-tripping his supporters for not believing his lies.” Even Joe Rogan, who has the most popular podcast in the country and has been an avid Trump supporter, has accused Trump of a cover-up.

The last straw, for many, seems to be the bit of news reported by the Wall Street Journal this past week, that Trump was told in May that his name is in the Epstein files several times. Of all the things that have enraged his base, this is the weirdest one.

Over here on the island of long memory and critical thinking, we all knew his name would be in the files. We knew this because his name was in both the court documents released early last year regarding the 2015 suit against Ghislaine Maxwell and the “Phase One” release of the Epstein files in February. It would then be expected that Trump’s name would be part of the larger file of the Epstein documents. So, why the surprise and outrage?

Because he pushed his base too far and denied them the one thing they really, really wanted and then pretended it had nothing to do with him. Deflecting from any comments about his name being in there while continuing to keep the files locked up raised suspicions that there might be some bombshell information in there about him in regard to the underage girls or sex trafficking. There might be, but there are a lot of reasons why that would be unlikely.

For one, if there was information in those files that could ruin Trump, why did the Democrats not use it? Of course, there could be information that reveals wrong doing in the democratic camp and they wanted to hide that, but what Democrat on the ballot last November would have been ruined by acts from 20+ years ago? It would not have been Kamala Harris and, with her likely knowing who could be damaged by the information in those files, it’s unlikely that Walz would have been picked if he was in there.

So, what is Trump afraid of that the Democrats didn’t see as beneficial to their cause?

There’s a good chance what they have on Trump in those files is not substantiated enough to warrant it being used against him politically. It’s also possible that it’s not about him but rather there could be dire implications for someone he’s associated with, such as a big campaign donor or some other powerful person in his orbit. Maybe it includes dirt on Melania. Or perhaps it inadvertently provides evidence related to other crimes Trump has been involved in. However, it seems unlikely that there is irrefutable evidence of anything on anyone aside from Epstein and Maxwell. If there was, you'd think more arrests would have been made by now.

It’s possible we’ll never know what Trump is afraid of, but the truth is rather irrelevant to the political landscape. The important thing is that Trump’s primary pillar of public support is being eroded. However, it’s not enough for him to just lose supporters. We need to convert their disillusionment into support for true democracy and the constitution.

Of course, they aren’t going to suddenly be okay with all liberal ideas and vote Democratic because they no longer believe in Trump. His strength was in tapping into their core beliefs and those aren’t vanishing overnight. However, we need these newly awakened folks to find common ground with us. That starts with us finding common ground with them.

I know, for many of you, doing anything for these people that helped Trump get elected and supported his inhumane, illegal, and unethical policies Is distasteful to say the least. But it's not the time for vengeance or derision. For one, we're still in the middle of a war. We are also an extremely divided country and that needs to be resolved before any level of normalcy can be achieved. We need these people and, honestly, they need us, whether they know it or not.

Finding common ground starts with understanding who they are and why they have chosen to support a man who, from this side of the aisle, appears to be an obvious fool, mentally deficient, and one of the most morally destitute men of our lifetime. They don’t see that, although they might group him in with corrupt politicians now.

That right there is common ground. We’ve long known that Trump is corrupt. The angry hordes of pro-Trumpers are beginning to suspect it too, or it’s beginning to sink in, so it is a real possibility that they would be up for rallying against corruption among the powerful, no matter where the corruption is found. We can all get behind that, right?

You would think we could all agree on protecting children as well, but I don’t see that as real common ground. The radical right’s conspiracy theories may circle the cause of trafficked and abused children but there is not much evidence that they want to truly protect children. If they did, why would they put up with the attempts to pull funding for school lunches or cut Medicaid that provides lifesaving care to millions of children. Why would they be okay with Trump’s creepy invasion of teen pageant dressing rooms for that matter?

Even now, the victims are barely mentioned in regard to the Epstein files. There are no cries for justice for the traumatized children. They just want the names. They want necks in nooses. Not because of the children but because they were promised that the files would bring down the deep state, reveal the hands that sow corruption and perversion in this country. And that is important to them because they believe it is this dark cabal that has kept them down, ruined our country, and taken their opportunities away.

That Epstein list was the holy grail that would throw wide the doors to all that is wrong in this country and allow the conservative right to tear it down. Because, of course, the liberals and Democrats are behind it. They have been waiting on this for six years and have been looking for ways to expose the deep state for over a decade. They were so sure they would have it. It was practically a given.

Which is why Pam Bondi coming out and saying there was nothing to see was such an outrage to them. It pulled the ground, not just the rug, out from under them. If you were one of those that was sure Kamala would win the election, then you probably have a good idea of how they are feeling. They are grieving. Frustration, anger, disbelief, and sadness dominate their emotions. It will take months for some of them to recover. Unless Trump releases the files. Which is really not looking like a possibility. But the Democrats might, if the House Oversight Committee gets its way, and how conflicted will MAGA be if that happens?

Right now, these people feel deeply wronged by Trump. That is also common ground. He has been lying to us all. We knew that long ago but it’s not the time for told-you-so comments. It’s time to be in agreement. It’s time to speak and repeat the things that will hit his base the most. He lied to us about never touching Medicaid. He lied about getting prices down. He lied about tariffs not being a tax on us. If we can get them incensed about these things, then we might be able to build off that emotional momentum and get them to wake up to so many of the other lies and broken promises.

If we help them see that the well of indignities is wide and deep, it may be impossible for Trump to bring them back to the fold. We might even get ex-supporters to push for what they were actually promised such as deporting criminals and not the people that harvest our food or demand a reversal of the cuts to Medicaid because he promised he wouldn’t touch that.

We will have to be realistic though, focusing on the things that affect them personally. Those core beliefs they can’t let go of are largely about how policy directly affects them and their family. Even though religious beliefs seem a strong motivator, it actually comes down to personally fearing God’s retribution, not just doing what they think is the right thing.

The Church has sown fear around key ideas that support the racism and bigotry of the ruling elite such as queer rights and even the subjugation of women. Even though the lives lived by queer folk and women having bodily autonomy doesn’t have any measurable impact on the lives of conservative Christians, they believe allowing these things to exist angers God, and that they will be punished along with the rest of the nation for allowing gay marriage or abortions.

Similarly, they want to get rid of immigrants because they have been feed lies and propaganda about how they are going to ruin their lives, particularly in regard to crime. Those fears are pure myth. According to USA Today, immigrants have a 62% lower homicide rate and undocumented immigrants have a 41% lower total criminal conviction rate than native-born Americans. Based on Border Control and FBI statistics, Americans are also more than twice as likely to have a criminal record.

Those that have followed Trump, however, want these things to be true. These people have been angry for years and want somewhere to direct it. They are angry at not being heard, angry at being side-lined, angry at having to constantly struggle but never getting ahead. They are angry at being made to feel guilty for the sins of their fathers, for being canceled and misunderstood, for having their understanding of the world change dramatically with no room or patience for their inability to keep up. Yes, I am saying that the woke movement has blame here. It went too far and alienated people who were already feeling disregarded. I am not saying that woke is wrong, some of it just got really extreme. Same goes for conservativism. These ideologies are positions of differing priorities and beliefs and neither is wrong, until it starts hurting people.

What I am saying is that we have a tremendous opportunity to help dramatically shift and even destroy this administration’s public support. And we can’t let our differing ideologies, or our own anger get in the way. We have common ground. We are, conservatives, liberals, and centrists, mostly good people, trying to do what’s right for ourselves and our families. Right now though, we are angry, on all sides of the political spectrum, for different reasons and, unfortunately, largely at each other. There is, however, an opportunity to right this ship we are on within that very circumstance. Anger is not a bad thing, if pointed in the right direction.

Let’s help those waking up to Trump’s lies find the right direction for their anger. It would help tremendously if we could set ours aside. Now, some of you may say that having supported Trump is unforgivable, that their choices have put us here. That may be, but to quote one of history’s big time dissenters, Jesus, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Isn’t this particularly true of those who have been brainwashed and indoctrinated into a cult? If we can get them out, isn’t the good and kind thing to help them readjust to reality, and, eventually, help them see how detrimental loyalty to Trump has been for them?

Most followers are still clinging to him by a bare thread. It wouldn’t take a lot to break it and that additional pressure is likely to come from Trump and his cabinet. What we need to do is have room for them to come over. Be open to conversing with our previously lost family and friends. Don’t judge, listen. Agree with the thoughts that overlap yours, even if how they came to that conclusion isn’t quite set in reality yet. Speak to the things that will impact their lives, particularly the broken promises.

Repeat the truth of our circumstances wherever it aligns with their new truths. Repeat them as often as you can. This has been key in brainwashing MAGA. We need to undo that with our own repeated words in their ears.

I know this won’t be easy to do. We can still ridicule and mock Trump and his stooges. That is properly directed anger. Just maybe don’t let that out too much in the presence of our prodigal family and friends. We haven’t won them to our side just yet. But it feels good to see a path for that to happen.

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