As Trump loses control of the Epstein narrative, GOP rebellion, public outrage, and mounting suspicion threaten to expose the truth the GOP has worked so hard to bury.
I ask myself why Republicans are so fixated on the Epstein files. Are they as horrified as I am at the abuse waged on female children? I don’t think so.
I think they like a ‘gotcha’ moment. They like to catch people. For example, I think they like to see ICE capture people of color and throw them to the ground, put them in cages. I think they like to see women fail. I think they like to see hungry people. It’s the thrill of seeing others fail that somehow makes them feel ‘better than’. In the Epstein case I think the republican men want to see other men, wealthy men, get caught.
I don’t see anyone talking about wanting to find the abused children and help them. These girls are now adults carrying the heavy burden of abuse. But the Republicans aren’t indicating that this is their motivation. So what is it?
Their motivation is that they have been told evil pedophile democrats who murder and drink childrens blood are being protected by these so-called files being kept secret. And maga wants to see prosecution of all those evil dems.
That's what T has been telling them for years, dems are evil, dems are covering up these crimes, etc etc and only T will uncover it and "drain the swamp."
The problem for T is, there are no such files, and no clients list, no evil dems drinking childrens blood, it was all just a conspiracy that T used to con them into supporting him, and he built the whole maga thing on it. He will never be able to satisfy them with any files. And as they realize they have been conned by T, or that now T is possibly covering up crimes, they are getting upset. They thought he would never lie to them, lol.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive....
Hopefully you’re not thinking the president isn’t included in your “other men” catch-all. I think it’s a way for the republicans to get out of the cult - he’s a pedophile - surely they can’t be expected to stick around!
They were hoping and expecting that the Epstein files would reveal lots of Democrats were pedophiles. It never occurred to them that their Dear Leader might be implicated in those same files. And Trump & Co. did everything they could to feed that delusion. Until they couldn't anymore.
Republican men loved seeing Billyboy Clinton impeached and cry over a stained dress and their libido has piqued since then. It’s a gun&ammo thing. They really want more blood now.
There are several cabinet members on Epsteins list, and so many other bad actors in our Gov that helped them rise to power. Many of them are quite literally pedos- being forced to do his will, so they cannot be blackmailed- it would be the end of their corruption. That’s why they all voted in unison to block it- it’s all being brought to light.
I think the outrage at pedophilia is the fact that it is a particularly disgusting heinous crime--thus dehumanizing anyone who does such horrific things and offering license to retaliate with violence. It makes what they want to do to the criminal okay. They don't really care about the victim at all--the victim is merely the result of the heinous crime.
MAGAs, particularly the QAnon MAGAs--the ones who are deeply into the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories--have a hatred for Dems, liberals, global elites That has been fueled by Trump and a many right-wing influencers. They would like nothing better than to have a 'triggered by pedophiles' event that would allow them to eliminate the elites, liberals, etc. that they so hate. Revenge. Retribution. Trump did say "I am Your Retribution". They have envisioned Trump leading them on a mission to wipe out those hateful elites and liberals...That right there is the motivation.
(Of course their feelings of betrayal and anger are very real--shattering, even. They may now see Trump as having been part of the global elite all along and....well, I wouldn't want to be in Trumps lifts if he can't figure out a narrative that will satisfy these very angry folk.)
Throwing this out there. Not defending one iota. But is pedophilia "a particularly disgusting crime"? 36 states consider 16 to be a legal age for marriage, with a number of states with lower ages, and 4 (God help us!) have no minimum with parental consent. Many of our reps and senators represent those states. Do you think they consider what Epstein and/or Trump did a "real" crime?
What else have they got? Do you really think a young person of even 16 is mature enough to make a decision about a very serious matter that will affect the rest of their life? However.....
The point that I was trying to make--which was made much better in an article by Josh Marshall of Talking Points memo on his Backchannel column--is that MAGAs >don't< actually care about the victims here. T
hey have settled on a crime that is generally considered repulsive. It is a crime that is bad enough for them to dehumanize the perpetrators and that they needn't care about how they treat them. These folks have been seething with inchoate rage, but they needed an object to focus that anger on...ta-da: the crime of child sex trafficking was the dangled bait to focus their rage. They have been told that all of their ills and feeling s of victimhood are the fault of Democrats, liberals, global elites and the like...it was easy for the rage to meld with the feeling that Dems were to blame for all their problems and from there, the MAGAs who consumed the QAnon crap were told horrifying tales of child sacrifice, Dems drinking their blood and gods only know what else.
Those are the rageful folks who wanted to be lead by a hero (and why they lit on Trump is anybody's guess) to eliminate that elite class (along with Dems, liberals, gays, trans and uppity minorities) who are causing all their pain and problems. That is the ending to every story told by the QAnon MAGAs to each other.
It isn't about the children--they are the excuse. It's about the MAGA rage-fueled mission to eliminate an entire group of people in order to take this country back to a fabled (and false) "Golden Age".
They thought they were going to get "the Clintons" or "the Bidens" or even better, Obama, and used the conspiracy theories for their campaigns. It was never supposed to see the light of day, there are too many Republicans implicated.
The disappearance of the immigrant children reminds me of how early American military, vigilantes and LE would take Native American children from home villages and hand them over to "Christian" schools to be taught "Christian" ways and assimilated into white society, all the while treating them and their culture as less than human. Native Americans, African Americans, Japanese, and immigrants of every stripe have been subjected to our particular brand of American prejudice and cruelty. But this administration seems to have taken it to a whole new level. And it's doing it in the names of every American citizen and financing it with our tax dollars. Shame on our souls!
What has happened to the children and the families? The cruelity is beyond imagination. Not only must the Gustapo be stopped but somehow there must be a way to record who is missing and when they were taken. A paper trail as it were. And maybe just maybe these people can be found.
I've lived in both South Dakota and Iowa so your remarks about the Christian schools and the brutal treatment of our Native Americans brings back memories of those years and the stories I was told. I'll add a story of my own. One Thanksgiving our pastor and his family were joining us for dinner. They had lived in western South Dakota and had interacted with the population on the Rosebud Reservation. At the last minute the pastor's wife asked if they could bring four more people for dinner - a couple and their two young children. Our philosophy has always been the more the merrier. When everyone arrived, we learned that the father was the government's BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) agent at Rosebud.They were starved for social interaction because the Native Americans on the reservation wouldn't talk to then. The answer was simple. The government in its infinite wisdom had sent a representative from one ethnic group to oversee another and it was like mixing oil and water. We also learned the back story on why the Rosebud residents were called ungrateful after all that had been done for them. Just look how they put brand new appliances like refrigerators, stoves, washers and dryers outside to rust and be ruined! Again, the benevolent government had sent appliances which wouldn't work because the electrical hookups were wrong. Items were delivered and dropped- no followup. End of story. I've learned to look for the back story, especially if the government is involved. Like you, I say, "Shame on our souls!"
Thanks for your story. Shows how government-sponsored racism/ religion is devastating to those it looks down on, how “help” from those types will boomerang on the confused “helpers.”
Who got helped? Those who got the appliance contacts. Follow money.
Bigger lesson: anybody tells you religion in government is good, RUN away. It’s how the GOP snared the chumps into backing “trickle down” to amass wealth and power.
Our Founders knew this, the hard way. Why they put “no religious test” in the constitution, simply and plainly. Black-letter law, a hard stop. Patricia, you saw consequences of messing with that first-hand.
So Pam Bondi and Tom Homan are heavily invested in Geo group. They lobbied for them. Every time they kidnap an immigrant they make money because they put them in these concentration camps. They are making billions- Alligator Auschwitz cost us over 400 billion and it’s literally tents- they are extorting our tax payer money. An equivalent concentration camp costs a fraction of that- someone is pocketing (around 400 billion). We are getting robbed while they commit atrocities with that money. They are trying to cover up all this bullshit and the Epstein files blows a lid off of it.
From what I've read, Stephen Miller, aka Trump's Himmler, also has a significant financial stake in Palantir which is a giant tool in this whole god-awful operation.
Tattooing can be relatively (?) painless today - analgesic rubs etc. And getting it done on say the gluteus maximus, where there are fewer nerves would help.
It might be painful for a few minutes - but what's that compared to a lifetime of pain not knowing your real name or family?
At college I was taught by a lady who had been in the displaced person camps after WWII, trying against all hope to re-connect the children of the camps with any remnant of their family that was left alive. She said it broke her heart - and often the kids were so small that the only place they could say where their home was was "over there. . ." And they only remembered their first names - or the names they had been lovingly called like "Titch" or "Bubbles". Sometimes the only clue she had WAS the tattoo that EVERY Holocaust victim was given - because the German camps kept such good records. . .
Another thing I learned was that in the mid 18th century, Thomas Coram set up a home for "unwanted" children in London. The anonymous mothers who came to give their babies up often left something with the child - a sliver of wood with initials carved on it, or a scrap of cloth that they kept half of. Those items were entered into the record book so that if they ever returned they would be able to identify their child.
I cannot - in fact, I don't WANT to - imagine the pain those mothers and children are going through at the hands of ICE at the moment.
i have no doubt those children are being trafficked just like children have been traffic coming over the south southern border for many years. I don't know if upper level people in the White House are involved but certainly some officials in high places have been paid off otherwise this could never happen the first place to look are the contractors involved with these kidnappings like GEO. Do they have offshore prisons? Black sites? Are those kids being sold into slave, labor or worse?
This is what happened in Chile. The children were ‘sold’ to childless couple and no one knew about it until recently. >>…thousands of babies were stolen from their biological mothers and sold into adoption, mainly to foreign couples from the United States and Europe. In Chile, they're known as “The Children of Silence.”<<
I worked over a decade in government. I’ve seen cover-ups take shape in real time. But I’ve never seen one unravel this fast. When even the “ride or die” crew starts hedging like this, it means the backroom math ain’t mathin and the calculus has changed.
What makes this different isn’t just Trump’s name in the files. It’s the silence of institutions. Where are the fucking resignations in masse? The timing of the subpoenas. The nervous redactions. The media’s sudden disinterest.
I’ve been following the containment pattern….how stories like this get slowed down, redirected, neutered. And how sometimes, despite all that, the damn dam still breaks.
If anyone’s trying to piece that part together…the part they don’t put on camera…it’s probably one scroll away.
The mass resignations have mostly already taken place, along with mass firings. The effort to confuse with an attempt to release the grand jury files got denied way too fast for the effort to do any 'good' for Trump.
Trump has been guilty of a LOT of things before, but his reactions this time are certainly at his peak level of panic. He sounds like he is panicking.
In the DoJ when they were trying to create 'leverage' on the New York mayor.
Yes, they were in protest, or as a refusal to follow 'orders'. I do believe many others have left as well from various articles I have read at different times. The end result is, pretty sure the DoJ is effectively hollowed out in terms of actual Lawyer talent at this stage. I Know a lot got fired for having done their jobs in prosecuting all the jan 6 defendents. Not sure how the FBI has fared, but would not be surprised to find similar there.
Epstein had no real job except illegal matters involving powerful men on epic levels. Can America looking into the face of those they have idolized and admit they have been bamboozled, lied to, deceived, all in the name of their God? Brace yourself for impact. This is a hydrogen bomb about to explode. Only those true to themselves, us average folk, can survive this. We are grounded in reality and have the power. But we have to start communicating, and realize, even those we trusted, are bad news
Damn Kellie, you said a mouthful. You just said it plain.
Epstein didn’t build a company. He was the company….the human embodiment of access, protection, and secrets sold like gold. You don’t rise like that without powerful men making the calls and others keeping the silence.
And yep you’re right this is a test of national delusion. The kind that makes you wonder how many people are really really ready to see the man behind the curtain, especially when that man looks like their mentor, their pastor, their favorite actor, their uncle, their president.
But it’s your last lines that hit me hardest:
“Only those true to self, us average folk, can survive this.”
Bingo…That’s it. The anchor in the storm is us. The folks who’ve always known something didn’t smell right but couldn’t get a platform to say it out loud. The ones who still cook for their neighbors, check on their people, and read between the headlines.
So I’m leaning into what you said. Communicate. Connect. Call it like it is. Not for the spectacle, but for the unbinding. Because if we don’t talk to each other through this, we’ll be left talking to ourselves while they rewrite the script again.
But Michael - the fascist Trump regime is the most CORRUPT in the history of America. They are CRIMINAL TRAITORS and they have no qualms whatsoever about removing or destroying evidence and I'm sure this has already been done. They will remove anything incriminating. So releasing the files still won't do any good or get the real facts.
A pardon still reads as a coverup...Honestly I don't think he can evade retribution on this one. He's damned if the files are released, he's damned if they are kept hidden.
if you want credibility I suggest you start without photoshopped photos please! SIX fingers on trumps left hand???!!! really I know he is not normal, but those are not his tiny grasping hands... fix this please? I am sure you can do better with a real unretouched photo. We have enough untruth from the trump camp without adding ours.
I was just going to write this myself. I really love MTN, but totally agree with you. MTN can lose credibility with these mistakes. The picture has to be changed ASAP.
I am tired of the clickbait headlines too, what a disappointment. There is enough bull**** going on without that - a reasonable headline that has an even keel is what we need. The opposite of dysfunction is not dysfunction- it is balance. This newsletter, sorry to say is increasingly not very balanced - just simply reporting what is going on is plenty off kilter - adding more chaos does not clarify what is happening, it just encourages the fight/flight response. We need to have a broad-minded creativity to overcome it, not a caveman approach bludgeoning our way through the jungle. We are just another flavor of (some of) the same stuff when we do that.
Okay, but somehow, the AI pic that accompanies this piece -- Trump covering his face with his hands, one of which has -- what, 6 or 7 fingers? -- undermines my sense that the rest of the content is authentic and not also AI. Not a good look, I say.
I wonder if the base is looking for REAL answers, or are they counting on the production of a story that corroborates their original beliefs of elite cabals and Democrat demonology. It would be surprising if they actually want the reality of the story and not the dump narrative they crave.
You know very well why he won’t release the files. Because it’s damning about him. He’s in them and he may well be culpable for crimes. Are you unable to suggest this for fear of a lawsuit?
Aren't there a lot of GOP politicians who have disliked Trump all along but never had the gumption to stand up to Trump and his base... but now they can smell the blood in the water? They would really like to see him gone, wouldn't they? Yes, I think quite a number of them.
In my time as a manager I learned that where there is smoke, there is fire. ALWAYS. Well, there is a heck of a lot of smoke surrounding Trump on this issue. We KNOW there is a fire.
With midterms nearly upon us, this is the last chance the Republican party has to distance itself from Trump and his cabal of fanatics (including the slithery Vance), and regain credibility with both donors and the electorate. Will they take it?
If Trump was smart he would do what Bill Barr did for him with the Mueller Report. Lie about what is in it, and release it. Far too few people will actually read what is in that mountain of evidence, and as long as he keeps lying about it, calling it the 'Epstein Hoax' or some such, he will at least contain the damage. But Bill Barr, terrible as he was, was actually reasonably competent and had his own personal standards, limits beyond which he would not go. Bondi has no limits, is simply obedient to Trump, destroying any meager competence she might have and Trump has degenerated in those intervening years.
Why do most criminals get caught? Because they aren't that bright, and evidence accumulates. You keep pushing your luck, it will eventually turn on you.
In Trump's first term he surrounded himself with competent people, then pushed them to do what he wanted until they left. This time Trump surrounded himself with obedient people, comfortable with his past crimes.
There will be some, but mostly people who already are aware Trump is guilty. Those who believe Trump will not bother and will discount any reports saying the files do implicate Trump. Most people will 'wait for the movie'.
I get where you are coming from, but the contents of the Epstein files are so titillating, and reputedly name scads of the rich, powerful and famous...there will be an absolute uproar of folk reading them, searching for scandalous tidbits, reposting them, creating memes about them, writing letters and articles of outrage....this will blow up not only in the USA but across the globe (where, remember, Trump is making himself a hated figure by attacking economies and governments...what delicious payback these files would be).
The Mueller Report was boring, dry, dull. The Epstein files are pornographic. No one will be able to escape the minutest of details, anywhere on Earth.
So it appears that Trump is damned if he fails to release the files, and doubly damned if he does.
Per"Dems Might" Bradley Edwards,attorney for Epstein survivors, says that the executor of Epstein estate are in possession of the Birthday Box containing Trumps letter and would be willing to turn it over to authorities via MSNBC.
I'll bet dRumpf has never shed a tear in his life--unless during a tantrum before adulthood when someone failed to adore him. But now, really, as a blatantly narcissistic so-called man, I doubt he knows what grief and sorrow are. Something the rest of us are dealing with each day. I wish him the very worst of everything.
Hi Michael, your own daughter is on video stating that when she was 15yo, Trump called her a ‘nice piece of ass’. You may not believe Trump is capable of all the pedophilic acts that other women reported he did to them, or that Trump was aware of the extent of Epstein’s sexual depravity; but don’t you believe your own daughter??? Maybe it’s a HUGE MISTAKE to try to mansplain or downplay Trump’s sex crimes against multiple young girls??? By doubling down and playing Devil’s Advocate for Trump, you appear to many people to be disputing witness testimony from all the young models who reported that Trump assaulted or intruded upon them while they were changing backstage at beauty pagents. Are all these women exaggerating or making it up? Just because Trump didn’t hit on YOU? This article explains a woman’s point of view on Trump’s sex crimes; in case you still don’t understand that actively supporting a known pedophile, despite mounting evidence against him, is MORALLY WRONG:
Why Epstein?
I ask myself why Republicans are so fixated on the Epstein files. Are they as horrified as I am at the abuse waged on female children? I don’t think so.
I think they like a ‘gotcha’ moment. They like to catch people. For example, I think they like to see ICE capture people of color and throw them to the ground, put them in cages. I think they like to see women fail. I think they like to see hungry people. It’s the thrill of seeing others fail that somehow makes them feel ‘better than’. In the Epstein case I think the republican men want to see other men, wealthy men, get caught.
I don’t see anyone talking about wanting to find the abused children and help them. These girls are now adults carrying the heavy burden of abuse. But the Republicans aren’t indicating that this is their motivation. So what is it?
Their motivation is that they have been told evil pedophile democrats who murder and drink childrens blood are being protected by these so-called files being kept secret. And maga wants to see prosecution of all those evil dems.
That's what T has been telling them for years, dems are evil, dems are covering up these crimes, etc etc and only T will uncover it and "drain the swamp."
The problem for T is, there are no such files, and no clients list, no evil dems drinking childrens blood, it was all just a conspiracy that T used to con them into supporting him, and he built the whole maga thing on it. He will never be able to satisfy them with any files. And as they realize they have been conned by T, or that now T is possibly covering up crimes, they are getting upset. They thought he would never lie to them, lol.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive....
Hopefully you’re not thinking the president isn’t included in your “other men” catch-all. I think it’s a way for the republicans to get out of the cult - he’s a pedophile - surely they can’t be expected to stick around!
And MAGAs want to “own the libtards”!
They were hoping and expecting that the Epstein files would reveal lots of Democrats were pedophiles. It never occurred to them that their Dear Leader might be implicated in those same files. And Trump & Co. did everything they could to feed that delusion. Until they couldn't anymore.
Their motivation is to look righteous without it costing them anything.
Agreed Joan
Republican men loved seeing Billyboy Clinton impeached and cry over a stained dress and their libido has piqued since then. It’s a gun&ammo thing. They really want more blood now.
There are several cabinet members on Epsteins list, and so many other bad actors in our Gov that helped them rise to power. Many of them are quite literally pedos- being forced to do his will, so they cannot be blackmailed- it would be the end of their corruption. That’s why they all voted in unison to block it- it’s all being brought to light.
I think the outrage at pedophilia is the fact that it is a particularly disgusting heinous crime--thus dehumanizing anyone who does such horrific things and offering license to retaliate with violence. It makes what they want to do to the criminal okay. They don't really care about the victim at all--the victim is merely the result of the heinous crime.
MAGAs, particularly the QAnon MAGAs--the ones who are deeply into the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories--have a hatred for Dems, liberals, global elites That has been fueled by Trump and a many right-wing influencers. They would like nothing better than to have a 'triggered by pedophiles' event that would allow them to eliminate the elites, liberals, etc. that they so hate. Revenge. Retribution. Trump did say "I am Your Retribution". They have envisioned Trump leading them on a mission to wipe out those hateful elites and liberals...That right there is the motivation.
(Of course their feelings of betrayal and anger are very real--shattering, even. They may now see Trump as having been part of the global elite all along and....well, I wouldn't want to be in Trumps lifts if he can't figure out a narrative that will satisfy these very angry folk.)
Throwing this out there. Not defending one iota. But is pedophilia "a particularly disgusting crime"? 36 states consider 16 to be a legal age for marriage, with a number of states with lower ages, and 4 (God help us!) have no minimum with parental consent. Many of our reps and senators represent those states. Do you think they consider what Epstein and/or Trump did a "real" crime?
What else have they got? Do you really think a young person of even 16 is mature enough to make a decision about a very serious matter that will affect the rest of their life? However.....
The point that I was trying to make--which was made much better in an article by Josh Marshall of Talking Points memo on his Backchannel column--is that MAGAs >don't< actually care about the victims here. T
hey have settled on a crime that is generally considered repulsive. It is a crime that is bad enough for them to dehumanize the perpetrators and that they needn't care about how they treat them. These folks have been seething with inchoate rage, but they needed an object to focus that anger on...ta-da: the crime of child sex trafficking was the dangled bait to focus their rage. They have been told that all of their ills and feeling s of victimhood are the fault of Democrats, liberals, global elites and the like...it was easy for the rage to meld with the feeling that Dems were to blame for all their problems and from there, the MAGAs who consumed the QAnon crap were told horrifying tales of child sacrifice, Dems drinking their blood and gods only know what else.
Those are the rageful folks who wanted to be lead by a hero (and why they lit on Trump is anybody's guess) to eliminate that elite class (along with Dems, liberals, gays, trans and uppity minorities) who are causing all their pain and problems. That is the ending to every story told by the QAnon MAGAs to each other.
It isn't about the children--they are the excuse. It's about the MAGA rage-fueled mission to eliminate an entire group of people in order to take this country back to a fabled (and false) "Golden Age".
"I think the republican men want to see other men, wealthy men, get caught."
No - I think the republican men want to see Democrat or Liberal men get caught.
They seem to think that for some reason trump is covering up for the Dems. . .
You are most likely correct.
They thought they were going to get "the Clintons" or "the Bidens" or even better, Obama, and used the conspiracy theories for their campaigns. It was never supposed to see the light of day, there are too many Republicans implicated.
The disappearance of the immigrant children reminds me of how early American military, vigilantes and LE would take Native American children from home villages and hand them over to "Christian" schools to be taught "Christian" ways and assimilated into white society, all the while treating them and their culture as less than human. Native Americans, African Americans, Japanese, and immigrants of every stripe have been subjected to our particular brand of American prejudice and cruelty. But this administration seems to have taken it to a whole new level. And it's doing it in the names of every American citizen and financing it with our tax dollars. Shame on our souls!
What has happened to the children and the families? The cruelity is beyond imagination. Not only must the Gustapo be stopped but somehow there must be a way to record who is missing and when they were taken. A paper trail as it were. And maybe just maybe these people can be found.
I've lived in both South Dakota and Iowa so your remarks about the Christian schools and the brutal treatment of our Native Americans brings back memories of those years and the stories I was told. I'll add a story of my own. One Thanksgiving our pastor and his family were joining us for dinner. They had lived in western South Dakota and had interacted with the population on the Rosebud Reservation. At the last minute the pastor's wife asked if they could bring four more people for dinner - a couple and their two young children. Our philosophy has always been the more the merrier. When everyone arrived, we learned that the father was the government's BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) agent at Rosebud.They were starved for social interaction because the Native Americans on the reservation wouldn't talk to then. The answer was simple. The government in its infinite wisdom had sent a representative from one ethnic group to oversee another and it was like mixing oil and water. We also learned the back story on why the Rosebud residents were called ungrateful after all that had been done for them. Just look how they put brand new appliances like refrigerators, stoves, washers and dryers outside to rust and be ruined! Again, the benevolent government had sent appliances which wouldn't work because the electrical hookups were wrong. Items were delivered and dropped- no followup. End of story. I've learned to look for the back story, especially if the government is involved. Like you, I say, "Shame on our souls!"
Thanks for your story. Shows how government-sponsored racism/ religion is devastating to those it looks down on, how “help” from those types will boomerang on the confused “helpers.”
Who got helped? Those who got the appliance contacts. Follow money.
Bigger lesson: anybody tells you religion in government is good, RUN away. It’s how the GOP snared the chumps into backing “trickle down” to amass wealth and power.
Our Founders knew this, the hard way. Why they put “no religious test” in the constitution, simply and plainly. Black-letter law, a hard stop. Patricia, you saw consequences of messing with that first-hand.
Putin kidnaps Ukrainian children, Trump kidnaps children of non-white parent/s.
So Pam Bondi and Tom Homan are heavily invested in Geo group. They lobbied for them. Every time they kidnap an immigrant they make money because they put them in these concentration camps. They are making billions- Alligator Auschwitz cost us over 400 billion and it’s literally tents- they are extorting our tax payer money. An equivalent concentration camp costs a fraction of that- someone is pocketing (around 400 billion). We are getting robbed while they commit atrocities with that money. They are trying to cover up all this bullshit and the Epstein files blows a lid off of it.
From what I've read, Stephen Miller, aka Trump's Himmler, also has a significant financial stake in Palantir which is a giant tool in this whole god-awful operation.
It’s similar to what happened in Afghanistan during US occupation. It became a money making machine for corporate America.
If I were the immigrant mother of a young child, I swear I would get it tattooed with its name, DOB and MY name in a discreet place.
Tattooing can be relatively (?) painless today - analgesic rubs etc. And getting it done on say the gluteus maximus, where there are fewer nerves would help.
It might be painful for a few minutes - but what's that compared to a lifetime of pain not knowing your real name or family?
At college I was taught by a lady who had been in the displaced person camps after WWII, trying against all hope to re-connect the children of the camps with any remnant of their family that was left alive. She said it broke her heart - and often the kids were so small that the only place they could say where their home was was "over there. . ." And they only remembered their first names - or the names they had been lovingly called like "Titch" or "Bubbles". Sometimes the only clue she had WAS the tattoo that EVERY Holocaust victim was given - because the German camps kept such good records. . .
Another thing I learned was that in the mid 18th century, Thomas Coram set up a home for "unwanted" children in London. The anonymous mothers who came to give their babies up often left something with the child - a sliver of wood with initials carved on it, or a scrap of cloth that they kept half of. Those items were entered into the record book so that if they ever returned they would be able to identify their child.
I cannot - in fact, I don't WANT to - imagine the pain those mothers and children are going through at the hands of ICE at the moment.
i have no doubt those children are being trafficked just like children have been traffic coming over the south southern border for many years. I don't know if upper level people in the White House are involved but certainly some officials in high places have been paid off otherwise this could never happen the first place to look are the contractors involved with these kidnappings like GEO. Do they have offshore prisons? Black sites? Are those kids being sold into slave, labor or worse?
This is what happened in Chile. The children were ‘sold’ to childless couple and no one knew about it until recently. >>…thousands of babies were stolen from their biological mothers and sold into adoption, mainly to foreign couples from the United States and Europe. In Chile, they're known as “The Children of Silence.”<<
I worked over a decade in government. I’ve seen cover-ups take shape in real time. But I’ve never seen one unravel this fast. When even the “ride or die” crew starts hedging like this, it means the backroom math ain’t mathin and the calculus has changed.
What makes this different isn’t just Trump’s name in the files. It’s the silence of institutions. Where are the fucking resignations in masse? The timing of the subpoenas. The nervous redactions. The media’s sudden disinterest.
I’ve been following the containment pattern….how stories like this get slowed down, redirected, neutered. And how sometimes, despite all that, the damn dam still breaks.
If anyone’s trying to piece that part together…the part they don’t put on camera…it’s probably one scroll away.
👀 Not saying where. Just saying.
The mass resignations have mostly already taken place, along with mass firings. The effort to confuse with an attempt to release the grand jury files got denied way too fast for the effort to do any 'good' for Trump.
Trump has been guilty of a LOT of things before, but his reactions this time are certainly at his peak level of panic. He sounds like he is panicking.
Can you please provide a source for the mass resignations? Were they in protest?
In the DoJ when they were trying to create 'leverage' on the New York mayor.
Yes, they were in protest, or as a refusal to follow 'orders'. I do believe many others have left as well from various articles I have read at different times. The end result is, pretty sure the DoJ is effectively hollowed out in terms of actual Lawyer talent at this stage. I Know a lot got fired for having done their jobs in prosecuting all the jan 6 defendents. Not sure how the FBI has fared, but would not be surprised to find similar there.
Thank you for this reply.
People with integrity have already resigned, been forced to resign or fired. The only ones left or the replacements are Trump loyalists.
A damn good one that would be for sure. 🎭⚖️👁
Epstein had no real job except illegal matters involving powerful men on epic levels. Can America looking into the face of those they have idolized and admit they have been bamboozled, lied to, deceived, all in the name of their God? Brace yourself for impact. This is a hydrogen bomb about to explode. Only those true to themselves, us average folk, can survive this. We are grounded in reality and have the power. But we have to start communicating, and realize, even those we trusted, are bad news
Damn Kellie, you said a mouthful. You just said it plain.
Epstein didn’t build a company. He was the company….the human embodiment of access, protection, and secrets sold like gold. You don’t rise like that without powerful men making the calls and others keeping the silence.
And yep you’re right this is a test of national delusion. The kind that makes you wonder how many people are really really ready to see the man behind the curtain, especially when that man looks like their mentor, their pastor, their favorite actor, their uncle, their president.
But it’s your last lines that hit me hardest:
“Only those true to self, us average folk, can survive this.”
Bingo…That’s it. The anchor in the storm is us. The folks who’ve always known something didn’t smell right but couldn’t get a platform to say it out loud. The ones who still cook for their neighbors, check on their people, and read between the headlines.
So I’m leaning into what you said. Communicate. Connect. Call it like it is. Not for the spectacle, but for the unbinding. Because if we don’t talk to each other through this, we’ll be left talking to ourselves while they rewrite the script again.
But Michael - the fascist Trump regime is the most CORRUPT in the history of America. They are CRIMINAL TRAITORS and they have no qualms whatsoever about removing or destroying evidence and I'm sure this has already been done. They will remove anything incriminating. So releasing the files still won't do any good or get the real facts.
Yep. You’re right. It’s already been destroyed.
Maybe. As long as Maxwell is still breathing there’s a possibility that we could learn what she knows.
Not after the felon’s lawyers meeting with her.
Agreed. I saw the Con Man’s lawyer met with her today. I feel a pardon coming for Ms. Pedo.
A pardon still reads as a coverup...Honestly I don't think he can evade retribution on this one. He's damned if the files are released, he's damned if they are kept hidden.
Good. Maybe we will be free of the monster forever.
no chance. she's can taste her freedom it's so close
You all need to clean up the AI slop on that picture there with trump.
Not only does he not have 6 fingers, but they are much smaller than what is presented.
They are smaller and more like mushroom shaped
And have taupe foundation on them...
if you want credibility I suggest you start without photoshopped photos please! SIX fingers on trumps left hand???!!! really I know he is not normal, but those are not his tiny grasping hands... fix this please? I am sure you can do better with a real unretouched photo. We have enough untruth from the trump camp without adding ours.
I was just going to write this myself. I really love MTN, but totally agree with you. MTN can lose credibility with these mistakes. The picture has to be changed ASAP.
I am tired of the clickbait headlines too, what a disappointment. There is enough bull**** going on without that - a reasonable headline that has an even keel is what we need. The opposite of dysfunction is not dysfunction- it is balance. This newsletter, sorry to say is increasingly not very balanced - just simply reporting what is going on is plenty off kilter - adding more chaos does not clarify what is happening, it just encourages the fight/flight response. We need to have a broad-minded creativity to overcome it, not a caveman approach bludgeoning our way through the jungle. We are just another flavor of (some of) the same stuff when we do that.
Okay, but somehow, the AI pic that accompanies this piece -- Trump covering his face with his hands, one of which has -- what, 6 or 7 fingers? -- undermines my sense that the rest of the content is authentic and not also AI. Not a good look, I say.
whoa there. how did you go from seven fingers to it's not Michael Cohen writing the piece?
I wonder if the base is looking for REAL answers, or are they counting on the production of a story that corroborates their original beliefs of elite cabals and Democrat demonology. It would be surprising if they actually want the reality of the story and not the dump narrative they crave.
You know very well why he won’t release the files. Because it’s damning about him. He’s in them and he may well be culpable for crimes. Are you unable to suggest this for fear of a lawsuit?
Aren't there a lot of GOP politicians who have disliked Trump all along but never had the gumption to stand up to Trump and his base... but now they can smell the blood in the water? They would really like to see him gone, wouldn't they? Yes, I think quite a number of them.
In my time as a manager I learned that where there is smoke, there is fire. ALWAYS. Well, there is a heck of a lot of smoke surrounding Trump on this issue. We KNOW there is a fire.
With midterms nearly upon us, this is the last chance the Republican party has to distance itself from Trump and his cabal of fanatics (including the slithery Vance), and regain credibility with both donors and the electorate. Will they take it?
If Trump was smart he would do what Bill Barr did for him with the Mueller Report. Lie about what is in it, and release it. Far too few people will actually read what is in that mountain of evidence, and as long as he keeps lying about it, calling it the 'Epstein Hoax' or some such, he will at least contain the damage. But Bill Barr, terrible as he was, was actually reasonably competent and had his own personal standards, limits beyond which he would not go. Bondi has no limits, is simply obedient to Trump, destroying any meager competence she might have and Trump has degenerated in those intervening years.
Why do most criminals get caught? Because they aren't that bright, and evidence accumulates. You keep pushing your luck, it will eventually turn on you.
In Trump's first term he surrounded himself with competent people, then pushed them to do what he wanted until they left. This time Trump surrounded himself with obedient people, comfortable with his past crimes.
Ummm...EVERYONE will be reading these files, just because they are salacious.
There will be some, but mostly people who already are aware Trump is guilty. Those who believe Trump will not bother and will discount any reports saying the files do implicate Trump. Most people will 'wait for the movie'.
I get where you are coming from, but the contents of the Epstein files are so titillating, and reputedly name scads of the rich, powerful and famous...there will be an absolute uproar of folk reading them, searching for scandalous tidbits, reposting them, creating memes about them, writing letters and articles of outrage....this will blow up not only in the USA but across the globe (where, remember, Trump is making himself a hated figure by attacking economies and governments...what delicious payback these files would be).
The Mueller Report was boring, dry, dull. The Epstein files are pornographic. No one will be able to escape the minutest of details, anywhere on Earth.
So it appears that Trump is damned if he fails to release the files, and doubly damned if he does.
I do hope you are right. Guess I have been disappointed too many times. While I keep fighting the good fight, I manage my expectations.
A pessimist is rarely disappointed.
Well, we can hope Douglas!
Per"Dems Might" Bradley Edwards,attorney for Epstein survivors, says that the executor of Epstein estate are in possession of the Birthday Box containing Trumps letter and would be willing to turn it over to authorities via MSNBC.
I'll bet dRumpf has never shed a tear in his life--unless during a tantrum before adulthood when someone failed to adore him. But now, really, as a blatantly narcissistic so-called man, I doubt he knows what grief and sorrow are. Something the rest of us are dealing with each day. I wish him the very worst of everything.
Michael, among your BEST!!! Well done, soooo timely, so on point, succinct and steadfast. Kudos, man!!
The effects on ignorance, stupidity, and lack of education.
Hi Michael, your own daughter is on video stating that when she was 15yo, Trump called her a ‘nice piece of ass’. You may not believe Trump is capable of all the pedophilic acts that other women reported he did to them, or that Trump was aware of the extent of Epstein’s sexual depravity; but don’t you believe your own daughter??? Maybe it’s a HUGE MISTAKE to try to mansplain or downplay Trump’s sex crimes against multiple young girls??? By doubling down and playing Devil’s Advocate for Trump, you appear to many people to be disputing witness testimony from all the young models who reported that Trump assaulted or intruded upon them while they were changing backstage at beauty pagents. Are all these women exaggerating or making it up? Just because Trump didn’t hit on YOU? This article explains a woman’s point of view on Trump’s sex crimes; in case you still don’t understand that actively supporting a known pedophile, despite mounting evidence against him, is MORALLY WRONG:
https://open.substack.com/pub/joycemstrong/p/michael-cohens-disturbing-regression?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=5c19sz
How can a person release unredacted files when he is guilty?