Epstein Files II: It’s Time To Go Low

Legitimate media and Democrats must take off the gloves and really fight.

Let’s get one thing out of the way off the bat.

I love Michelle Obama, but if you think we’re still in a fight where we should go high you can save yourself some time and exit this article now.

Excellent. If you’re still here I can only assume you understand the gravity of the fight we’re currently up against. Literally saving Democracy from a depraved, would-be Dictator.

A giant part of that personal depravity is the fact that Donald Trump is a serial sexual abuser — to a degree that I think could still shock even a complacent and confused public. And much of that abuse was enabled (and likely) coordinated with Jeffery Epstein who Trump allies tried to memory hole a few days ago.

I’m going to assume you know the outlines of that too. How the MAGA-Verse projection of rape and pedophilia has been spinning beyond its handlers’ control. If you’d like a overview you can read what I wrote yesterday here.

What I’d like to add here is how both Democrats and the liberal media failed us on this subject and continue to fail us in not understanding the magnitude of this fight and the veracity needed to win it.

Listen, the Trump Regime is doing horrendous things on every front. And they are all important. But, the disgusting budget is passed and the cruelness of it can be talked about on any given day. The same with other vital issues — tariffs, and even immigration.

All those windows are open for the foreseeable future. They’re not going anywhere.

But, when an opportunity like Epstein and vicious MAGA infighting presents itself you have to not just accept that gift but take full advantage of it.

Since last November I’ve severely curtailed my cable news media (primarily MSNBC) consumption. But, yesterday I watched from 4 PM to Midnight. Barely anything in those eight hours on Epstein and Trump. Nothing on the two-hour “roundtable” show from 7 to 9 and only a forced, passing glance in Maddows weekly show.

Liberal Media Fail

Our so-called "liberal" media comes into battle with a slingshot, a thesaurus, and beltway conjecture and speculation that comes across like pure, pointless blather when you know that they can be scoring points.

I’m not talking about converting hard-core MAGA here. But, there is a big chunk of mildly informed and engaged indy types out there that flip over to see what the libs are saying when something like this breaks.

What they got is some namby-pamby wonky bullshit on Social Security and Maddow wasting her own precious hour with more rah-rah we’re organizing minutes. I love her dearly, but at this point, it’s becoming cruise control.

Corporate media intrigue and possible dictates aside — I don’t expect MSNBC to ever be FOX. There is a clear delineation between the pure propaganda of FOX and its dictator-upstarts and MSNBC — journalistic truth as a baseline, and the general personal integrity of on-air talent.

But then look at Joe Biden.

For decades he was universally accepted as one of the most honorable, decent, and good people to serve in my lifetime. Age issues aside, he was turned into a creepy, child hair-sniffing pedo at the center of a sprawling global cabal. That took years of non-stop propagandizing — twisting every possible bit of information into the narrative machine.

I don’t want legitimate media to replicate that disinformation. And they don’t need to.

We have a dead, sex-trafficking pedophile and a tree root ecosystem of possible threads. And a man with a mountain of convictions and allegations. Who is President of the United States. Is that not worthy of exploration?

There’s a reason true crime mysteries dominate podcasts and TV series. And the gentle outlines of conspiracy culture. It’s what people can talk and debate about. Once known as water cooler talk. It’s political gawker traffic. But, it moves through society at a different level, and at a higher speed.

So, yes, MSNBC anchors, throw away your scripts and jump on a legitimate story with a mile of validity under the surface. Is it old and accepted news that Trump is a sexual predator? Does something that points to even more of that not merit investigation or discussion?

I’m not looking for a network or news organization to follow my politics. I’m simply asking for a semblance of journalistic integrity. And frankly, morality.

Dem Party Fail

The old saying is that It takes two tango, and my Democrats are not heeding the call.

I’m not going to shit on everyone. A number of Democrats have stepped up to take on Trump on a number of issues. But not enough of them and not on enough issues.

We need and everything, everywhere, all the time approach to taking on Trump. And this is an issue that resonates — even if it is tawdry by its very nature.

During said MSNBC coverage someone played a recent bite from Rep. Dan Goldman making somewhat strong statement about how the Trump administration might cover up any Epstein answers. It was old and not nearly enough. The day after this all went down we needed Democrats of stature offering to go on these shows (or have news conferences) and take the gloves off and go for the jugular. It would have forced more coverage.

Was Trump not found guilty of rape and credibly accused by dozens of other women they might ask? Oh, it wasn’t technically rape under New York law? Let’s have that semantic argument and draw Trump and his MAGA enablers into that. Let them start yelling and bringing more and more attention to the story.

Or maybe take a page from the FOX pundit playbook and simply ask questions. How about this one: Weren’t Trump and Epstein accused of raping a 13-year-old-girl in a case that was mysteriously dropped? What happened to that story?

See how that works?

Throw that shit into the media bloodstream. Use it as chum to bring out MAGA. Maybe Trump will threaten a lawsuit.

Now you’ve added even more days to the story. And who know, maybe some actual investigative journalism might lead to real answers that could be impossible to ignore.

Suddenly its a new story. Not old news. And more and more people are talking.

Many folks say that MAGA doesn’t care. They’re both right and wrong. It’s true that the core Trump cultists are in denial or don’t care. But, not all of them. And there are Trump voters and non-voters who can be moved.

You can never quantify how many people that will be, or what story or issue finally changed their minds. That’s why this fight needs to take an all-in approach. And both legitimate media and Democrats of all stripes need to step up and get their hands dirty.

Our Democracy hangs in the balance.

Note: I did not watch cable news yesterday. I hope that maybe they covered this story more. If so, great. They should keep going.