I’ll admit upfront that I don’t think this would normally rise to the level of the kind of post we should have here, but the uniquely impactful nature of this story on American politics and culture makes it newsworthy nonetheless.
This is the final and most damning “the emperor has no clothes” moment for the American elite. The catastrophic rage and loss of confidence this will engender is going to shake this nation to its very core and result in a epochal political change.
>The emails are corrosive in another way too. When Epstein’s birthday book was released, I argued that the fawning messages therein were more proof that “there is a festering rot among at least one group of powerful elites with an abiding belief that their money and power make them invincible.” Now we know that the birthday book was just the tip of the iceberg. Although the extent of Epstein’s crimes might not have been known to all of his correspondents, he was still a registered sex offender who took a highly unusual plea deal to avoid a long prison sentence for child sex-trafficking—yet this doesn’t appear to have stopped people from wringing whatever value they could from him. What the obsequious emails to Epstein seem to illustrate is that many people with influence were willing to overlook his crimes, horrific behavior, and witless observations as long as there was something in it for them.
>**In this respect, it’s hard not to see these emails as something like a final nail in the coffin when it comes to a broader distrust and contempt for the ruling class of lawmakers, gatekeepers, and the ultra-wealthy. The populist sentiment that elites are corrupt and operate with impunity is one that Trump and the MAGA movement have harnessed successfully.** Trump himself has amplified and endorsed the QAnon conspiracy theory, which offers a dramatic fantasy that a cabal of pedophiles is controlling world events from the shadows. Like many durable conspiracy theories, QAnon depicts an immoral elite that is both evil and hyper-competent. There is always a master plan shrouded in secrecy and protected by code words.
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I’ll admit upfront that I don’t think this would normally rise to the level of the kind of post we should have here, but the uniquely impactful nature of this story on American politics and culture makes it newsworthy nonetheless.
This is the final and most damning “the emperor has no clothes” moment for the American elite. The catastrophic rage and loss of confidence this will engender is going to shake this nation to its very core and result in a epochal political change.
>The emails are corrosive in another way too. When Epstein’s birthday book was released, I argued that the fawning messages therein were more proof that “there is a festering rot among at least one group of powerful elites with an abiding belief that their money and power make them invincible.” Now we know that the birthday book was just the tip of the iceberg. Although the extent of Epstein’s crimes might not have been known to all of his correspondents, he was still a registered sex offender who took a highly unusual plea deal to avoid a long prison sentence for child sex-trafficking—yet this doesn’t appear to have stopped people from wringing whatever value they could from him. What the obsequious emails to Epstein seem to illustrate is that many people with influence were willing to overlook his crimes, horrific behavior, and witless observations as long as there was something in it for them.
>**In this respect, it’s hard not to see these emails as something like a final nail in the coffin when it comes to a broader distrust and contempt for the ruling class of lawmakers, gatekeepers, and the ultra-wealthy. The populist sentiment that elites are corrupt and operate with impunity is one that Trump and the MAGA movement have harnessed successfully.** Trump himself has amplified and endorsed the QAnon conspiracy theory, which offers a dramatic fantasy that a cabal of pedophiles is controlling world events from the shadows. Like many durable conspiracy theories, QAnon depicts an immoral elite that is both evil and hyper-competent. There is always a master plan shrouded in secrecy and protected by code words.