When you think about is, there are many similarities between the people and dealings on Epstein Island and those in the hallowed halls of our government in Washington, DC, particularly in the Trump 2.0 era. Let’s call the latter Trump Island. The difference is really one of emphasis. Epstein lured rich and powerful men into his intricate web with promises of sex with young women. In Washington, the main focus is on power/influence with wealth working either as the point of entry or as an aspirational rider. Sex always follows power and money, so it’s only a matter of the order of things. What is not surprising is the broad overlap of these two worlds where people like Musk and Trump, tired of the pure money game, wanted to take it to the ultimate level. And in that way sex with young women (some underage) has the limbic lure of a forbidden fruit, so, too, the adrenaline-fueled rush to flout democratic norms and to smash up federal agencies — with the bonus access to the tools of government to harass and attack political your opponents (or steal data). Two sides of the same coin, as it were. On the reverse, the sworn secrecy behind Epstein’s seedy endeavors while the obverse brazenly flaunts the tyrannical methods of destruction and intimidation. On one side, an unbridled desire for physical gratification. On the other, an unquenchable urge to exclude, deny, dominate and punish.
It’s all one game, you see. Both involve the quid pro quo long enjoyed by the rich and well-connected (plum jobs and clerkships, college admissions, club membership, etc.). Both involve innocent victims of injustice. And both help solidify our collective cynicism and distrust. Massive wealth disparity is partly to blame for these latest iterations. There must be something like a sex-drive that compels the wealthy to meddle in our politics. I guess it’s a lonely place in those gated communities and mahogany board rooms. One needs something to do, after all. It has me wondering what keeps it at bay, at least on its present scale, during most eras. Surely it’s the majority/plurality of decent people who refuse to underwrite, enable and/or cover-up these unjust actions. People who feel the constrains of conscience and see the benefit of traditions. People who strive to make things better for all, not myopically dwelling on their own narrow, short-term interests. Where’s Daniel Ellsberg when you need him?
These historical paroxysms come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. Financial, political, environmental and sexual scandals are regular menu items for the ruling class. One need only look at the last 100-odd years to see the pattern. In each case, ask yourself, “who was this helping?” On the venality side, we had the Teapot Dome Scandal in the 1920’s, the S&L Crisis of the 1980’s and the fading memory of the Enron scandal. Not to mention the countless dubious schemes of Trump, Inc. over the decades. And then there are the felonious assholes who were pardoned by Trump and relieved of their restitution requirements. Power takes what it wants. It picks winners and losers. To the rich and powerful, the rules simply don’t apply. And Trump’s self-interested backing of the crypto-bros is both utterly corrupt and reckless. As he never pays for anything and will leave us all with the gigantic bill.
On the political side, we had McCarthyism, the Vietnam/Cambodia cover-up that led into Watergate, Ronald Reagan‘s stain of Iran-Contra, the Iraq War based on falsified intelligence, and the continued fall-out of Trumpo’s great election lie, best exemplified by the Jan 6 insurrection. Again, look at who’s benefitting. It’s clearly not to the general good. But it’s not just whom it helps. Look at who gets hurt. These moves are often reactionary and target minority groups. We saw it with the Japanese internments during WWII, the vilification of Vietnamese “boat people” in the late 70’s/early 80’s, anti-Muslim sentiment post-9/11, and Trump’s open hostility to people arriving from anywhere other than the lily-whites from northern Europe or South Africa. And it can even target otherwise established citizens like the wiretappings by J. Edgar Hoover and the Nixon administration. What’s changed is that now it’s mostly out in the open… ICE, ICE, Baby!!… US citizens are being shot and killed with little to no consequence or else shipped off to some prison without due process. Agents sworn to uphold the law like Kash (Fucking) Patel and Pam (Fucking) Bondi are proudly defiant of Constitutional constraints. Both full-blown traitors and a disgrace to the rule of law. They snort and buck like pigs at the trough of power. And in their sneering obfuscations, they act with an air of open defiance and impunity — taking their cue from Trump’s textbook: “if I’m stating (or blocking) it publicly, it can’t be illegal.” The foxes are in the hen-house and they carry fucking rabies.
Over the decades, there have been oil spills, nuclear mishaps, chemical leaks, insecticide poisonings (see Rachel Carson on DDT) and water contaminations. Why? Mostly because those in charge put profits over people. Trump 2.0 has gone to warp speed in gutting environmental safeguards, declaring climate change a hoax, and undermining the firmly established science of vaccines. His recklessness know no bounds, politically, financially, environmentally, whatever. Again, it is us who will pay in the end.
Then there’s sex. The enslavement and prostitution in WWII by Germans in concentration camps and those Japanese “comfort women” might seem like forever ago, but then what about the decades-long (centuries, more like) abuse within the Catholic Church (and most others), and in the various religious cults from more recent memory. Not to mention the harassment and sexual assault experienced daily, including the one civil case proven in court against Trump himself by Jean Carroll (there were other accusers). And still we get the drip-drip-drip about his close ties to Jeffrey Epstein and bear witness to his ever-shrinking and implausible deniability. He has ZERO credibility. On ANYTHING. ZIPPO!! And any insinuation that Bill Gates or Noam Chomsky might have bitten from the very same apple helps his case not one iota. The fact that such perversion might have come from both ends of the political spectrum should surprise nobody. But also they are not the current President of the United States. They did not stoke a violent insurrection at the US Capitol. They have not lied and slandered with every other living breath. They have not used public office to enrich themselves. They have not had massive fines imposed for corporate tax fraud. And they have not been found guilty in open court of sexual assault. The breadth and depth of Trump’s corruption is truly hard to fathom. I’m not sure it will ever be fully known.
There you have it. In summary, Trump personifies that dark trifecta of abuse: greed with ill-gotten gains; corruption resulting in gross injustice; and vulgarity manifesting as sexual predation. Financial, political, environmental, and sexual scandals will continue to follow him in his sulfurous wake. Orange is the color of that broadly overlapping portion of the Venn diagram that connects our country’s polluted swamp in Washington to the tragic abuses on Epstein Island. He is the LOWEST common denominator of our national malaise. Trump is, in short, the perfect and complete asshole. Akin to the rarefied musician’s musician, he’s the ultimate asshole’s ASSHOLE!
I’ll close by modifying that monumental quote from US Army attorney Joseph Welch who famously confronted Sen. Joseph McCarthy at an open Congressional hearing in 1954 by asking, “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?”…. to which I would add to Mr. Trump, “and as you so obviously have no decency, sir, would please just GO FUCK YOURSELF…!!”
Great Exudations 