Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Documented pedophile, sex trafficker, business dealing con artist Jeffrey Epstein was found dangling in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City six years ago. To be exact, he killed himself on August 10, 2019.
He is a long dead convicted felon. Yet in the media and much of the public’s feeding frenzy eye he is anything but that. In any other season, Epstein would garner maybe an occasional titillating scandal mongering tabloid scrawl. But no more except for one thing–Trump.
The name of the game with Epstein-Trump is the desperate hunt for a scintilla of a smoking gun finger point at Trump for some damning maybe even criminal wrongdoing. Now bear in mind in the mountain of articles, op-eds, social media chatter, endless musings of political analysts and wild speculation by much of the public on Epstein-Trump, there is nothing remotely close to that cherished and much sought after smoking gun to nail Trump. And there won’t be.
Epstein killed himself. He was not the victim of some murky assassin hit team or a jail house cover-up. The bulk of his illicit money grab, laundering, business dealings, global sex trafficking, racket complete that implicated some big-name clients and of course his clinical pedophilia is well-documented. The clamor for Trump to open the much debated and speculated about sealed Epstein files almost certainly will show other criminal activities heretofore not publicly disclosed. But there’s nothing to indicate that Trump had any part in those criminal activities.
Trump, in what is an extreme rarity for him, actually told the truth when he said he had no dealing with the guy in years. The record showed that most of the Trump-Epstein cavort was in the 1990s. That was long before Trump dreamed he would or could ever land in the White House. Yes, there are the pictures of Trump partying, plane joy riding, and ad nauseum teeny bopper youngster women womanizing with Epstein. There are Trump’s alleged prurient notes, letters, and leud sexually explicit drawings that’s been endlessly shoved before the public.
The problem with that, actually two problems, is one that doesn’t rise to the level of a criminal offense, Two, it’s Trump being what he is and doing what he does and that everyone and their Aunt Suzy and Uncle Fred by now well know. He’s a virtually self-admitted serial, scummy, grifting, lying, long standing lecherous, sleaze artist.
The brutal reality is that tens of millions of voters held their noses and voted for him not once but twice for the presidency. The even more disgusting brutal reality is that more than a few of those tens of millions secretly and not so secretly saw nothing wrong, even got and get their kicks off on his decadent, flaunt of all normative behavior expected of a public official let alone the president.
It’s a case of a guy at the top thumbing his nose at the so-called much maligned Eastern liberal, left, radical Marxist, beltway establishment. So, what the Epstein flap really comes down to is that it’s a cause celebre issue not just because Trump was for a time a partying, sexual perversion, business wheel and deal with Epstein. It’s a tailor made, manufactured, opportunity long pined over and sought to hit back at him by a media that Trump has routinely bullied, badgered, intimidated, and cowered.
It’s a chance for Democrats that have been desperately searching for something, anything to smear Trump with and allow them to even the political playing field with the crucial midterms around the corner. It’ a chance for the millions of Trump loathers to finally rock Trump back on his heels, watch him squirm, and sweat over an issue that he for once can’t sleaze his way out of. It’s a chance for the many inveterate conspiracy theorists, a big share of whom are Trumps’s MAGA backers, to have a field day concocting yet another conspiracy theory about assassins, cover ups, and deep state shenanigans.
It’s a chance for the handful of Republicans that have held their noses at Trump’s political and legislative outrages to quietly get their revenge by gingerly joining the chorus of those demanding the full release of any and all documents on Epstein’s doings.
The problem again with all of this is that it all makes for enjoyable reading, fuels tons of chatter and speculation, and endless cries of cover up. But again, when the smoke clears it does not leave in its wake smoke from a proverbial gun of hard evidence that will irrefutably condemn Trump.
In the absence of that, Epstein remains nothing more than a long dead convicted felon that Trump some years back had a partying, and lecherous good time with and attempted a few dubious money grab business deals with. In that sense, the Epstein-Trump connect will until further notice remain much ado about nothing.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His forthcoming book Trump for Sale (Middle Passage Press) He is the host of the weekly The Hutchinson Report Facebook Livestream His political affairs commentaries can be found weekly on thehutchinsonreport.net.