I expect that was before the Epstein news cycle.
Gizzlaine Maxwell to be pardoned.
- Thread starter Insidious Von
- Start date
No matter what is revealed about Trump and his very close dealings with Epstein, Trump would never resign or be forced to resign.
Trump is carrying out the agendas that he has said that he would do as much as he can in a very short time and he has more on the way. That he might have been doing illegal things with Epstein will not derail Trump’s presidency even though he is a certified POS several times over. This is what America has come to, people are fed up and see Trump as a solution and a salvation even and will look the other way as required.
Trump is carrying out the agendas that he has said that he would do as much as he can in a very short time and he has more on the way. That he might have been doing illegal things with Epstein will not derail Trump’s presidency even though he is a certified POS several times over. This is what America has come to, people are fed up and see Trump as a solution and a salvation even and will look the other way as required.
I don't see the Epstein thing being as big a deal anymore as you and others.
I think people on both sides would like to see people prosecuted. If they can't be prosecuted, they want people's reputation ruined.
If I was a betting man, I don't see that happening. Not just because powerful men have covered the tracks, but because at this juncture it won't amount to more than innuendo. I found the Wall Street Journal disclosure to be more than bizarre. If Trump adversaries think that this is a big slam to his reputation, go for it.
I thought suggesting that your mom would be feeding you warm milk and cookies was kind of a nice thought.
He's the Executive. He's signing the bills enacted in California. It's hard to run away from this record.
If you think California policy is great, centrist or whatever, there's no point in arguing.
That people ever thought Trump, of all people, was going to be taking down the sleazy elites was a joke, sure.
But what I'm talking about here specifically is how the "Epstein list" thing was used from 2020 onward.
It mostly faded out of public consciousness after the initial trial and his death, but it was maintained as a hugely important part of the "evil elites rule us" story on the right.
It's another one of those internal shibboleths that the right-wing infobubble maintained and that normal people outside it tended to be caught off guard with when people would insert it into a conversation outside that bubble.
You know he was donating to MIT and Harvard - even had access to campus, right?
He was doing fund raisers for science and environmental causes.
Of course, he was also lying constantly about how much he was donating.
He didn't keep a super low profile, he was on an active campaign of reputation laundering.
So true - there are different worlds out there and the Epstein stuff and global pedophile ring stuff was huge in a few of those circles. Remember the "grooming" panic that Q-Anon and adjacent groups were pushing? (And Trump was the avenging angel going to bring down this ring). It was all part of this. And of course democrats like bill and hilary were a huge part of the ring along w Epstein and prolly George Soros and whatever liberal they didn't like. In fact part of the pizza place story - where children were allegedly being held and tortured in the basement of some Washington pizza place - was that capturing kids and bringing these kids to the point of death made their bodies release some chemical and Hilary Clinton was harvesting that chemical as it prevented aging or something like that and it would make her immortal. Shortly after that story took off that bloke showed up at the pizza place w his AR-15 and put a round into the ceiling of the place supposedly to free those children supposedly being held and tortured there.
So, it seems strange to people outside the bubble. Note that a huge part of the conspiracy morphed into "Biden justice dept hiding the lists" etc, and then joy when 2 of the conspiracy mongers - patel and bongino - were appointed to top positions and they would release the evidence and prove the theory. Then more excitement that Bondi says she has it on her desk. Then suddenly she or some minion says it doesn't exist???
Anyhow, it's a big deal to some folks in some worlds.
Any actual pedophilia ring is a big deal to most of us.
So, it seems strange to people outside the bubble. Note that a huge part of the conspiracy morphed into "Biden justice dept hiding the lists" etc, and then joy when 2 of the conspiracy mongers - patel and bongino - were appointed to top positions and they would release the evidence and prove the theory. Then more excitement that Bondi says she has it on her desk. Then suddenly she or some minion says it doesn't exist???
Anyhow, it's a big deal to some folks in some worlds.
Any actual pedophilia ring is a big deal to most of us.
His support is dropping.
He won't resign not because it is what the people want, he won't resign because they don't have a way to make him.
Yes, you've established that.
It isn't important to you.
It's important to them.
Will that importance last or will they be able to turn the narrative?
I don't know.
I fully expected this to be a day-long story, since like you, I didn't find it all that important.
I massively underestimated how central a myth it really was.
That is, sadly, a major part of the current political landscape.
I still think he will eventually get the narrative under control.
Since there is almost certainly no evidence sufficient to prosecute, he will eventually be able to ride it out.
People are more than willing to defend him when there is evidence.
I don't.
I think he's a craven political opportunist who can't be trusted as far as he can be thrown.
I am pointing out that he is not viewed by the larger Democratic party as a progressive or a leftist.
He is viewed along a spectrum from leftish-liberal to moderate or centrist.
Given he will be attacked by the right as a wild, insane progressive and he won't be defended by the progressives who think of him as centrist and pro-corporate, I doubt very much he will do well in a Democratic primary.
I hadn't heard much of that side.
Amazing that universities would take the money of someone under those charges.
I suspect that Trump and or his associates have paid out and are still paying a lot of hush money to hide his past sexual proclivities.
In the case of the Epstein connection, if things go bad for Trump, more so than they are now, other powerful men will be exposed and feel the heat as well.
Trump may very well get away with “ having his cake and eating it too”. because he has successfully won the Oval Office twice now,
but the egregious association with the paedophile Epstein will be something that Trump drags around like a ball a chain for the rest of his days.
The soft boiled brains of the MAGA supporters will more and more gets crushed like mashed potatoes as they grapple with theTrump reality.
The $150k that trump paid out to Stormy Daniels and to one other woman are pretty different from the idea of the Epstein parties.
The idea that you'd fly to his private pedo island and have some fun without knowing about his secret video room was that it was all supposed to be out of the country and safe from legal ramifications or public knowledge.
I think because Gavin is an early front-runner for the nomination we will be hearing a lot about his "centrist" credentials. As I said, it's hard for a Governor to actually run away from actual policies and governance.
I'm glad you brought up the spectrum. The challenge is where do we put Gavin relative to his likely competition. Granted, he's no Bernie Sanders or AOC. He might even be more centrist than Kamala (who I don't think has a chance). I would use your political opportunist description for Pritzker. I can't see a billionaire becoming a standard bearer for the progressive left, but he seems to think it can be done.
Now is Gavin really more centrist than Shapiro, Whitmer and Moore? I hear Andy Beshear is contemplating a run. Beshear would be a bonafide centrist in the Democratic primaries but perhaps not likely to win the nomination.
The one I can't personally put my finger on is Pete Buttigieg. He has spoke a lot and is articulate. Bonus, he doesn't have much of a record he needs to defend unlike Gavin. He could be a real wild card who can swing left or center-left depending on the audience.
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People got let go because of it.
But money goes a long way and lots of universities feel departments are constantly underfunded.
There were absolutely people who found it gross and pushed back against the schools taking the money, even before his re-arrest in 2019.
It looks a lot like he will try to pick a lane that is something along the lines of "Fights back against Trump, but is a pragmatic moderate" or something.
Will he pull it off?
I am doubtful, but that seems to be what he's aiming for.
I think Gavin's far more of an opportunist than I've seen from Pritzker.
Pritzker is absolutely going to get pushback from some wings of the party just by running as "the good billionaire" (or some version of that).
I don't know where he would try and frame himself in a national run and I think you are right that to some degree, the framing will depend on who else is in the running. \
I think there is not a lot of policy daylight between all those people.
It will be a question of specific priorities and the sort of rhetoric they use.
Buttigieg hasn't had to put down a lot of policy, so he may well cast himself anywhere he sees an open lane.
