Jul.17

electoral-vote.com

Dem 47

   

GOP 53

Democrats Are Warming to Using Epstein as a Wedge Issue

Yesterday, we had a long item on the "Epstein Files," which are starting to take on a life of their own. It has become a hot media item during the summer news doldrums. Former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori, now a senior writer for Politico Magazine, can't figure out what the true story is either, but has three plausible scenarios, as follows:

1. The Double Exploit: Donald Trump and others knew all along there were no files and exploited the tragedy of Epstein exploiting underage girls for their own political and financial benefit. They knew there was nothing there and no coverup but feeding the base red meat made the base happy. The whole thing is corrupt to its core.
   
   
2. Trump Was a Client: A DoJ investigation showed that there are references to Trump somewhere in connection to Epstein. Josh Marshall at TPM wrote a piece saying that a somewhat-respectable journalist, Michael Wolff, claims to have taped interviews with Epstein years ago. Marshall is a legitimate journalist but he was skeptical about Wolff's claim. Still, maybe there is something out there and Trump, AG Pam Bondi and others are desperately trying to cover it all up.
   
   
3. They drank the Kool-Aid: Maybe Trump and others genuinely believed the rumors and really thought there was a "client list" and wanted to get a hold of it to hurt the Democrats. Then they investigated and are now dumbfounded that there is no such list and Epstein never blackmailed anyone. But they are now stuck and have to explain to the base that they were taken in initially and they—and the base—were wrong from the get-go.

Now the Democrats are starting to see they can make hay from this whole sordid tale and drive a wedge deep into the heart of MAGAworld. The theme would be "Powerful (Republican) politicians are covering up the misdeeds of other powerful (Republican) politicians, and this is why they are saying there is no 'there' there and we should move on." To your average garden-variety conspiracy theorist, this is a very simple explanation and one they can easily swallow whole.

As we noted on Tuesday, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) introduced an amendment in committee to a bill to force the administration to publish the "Epstein files" within 30 days. Every Democrat was for it and all but one Republican was against it. This was the starting gun for "What are the Republicans trying to hide about Epstein?" campaign.

Now other Democrats caught on and are running with it. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) suggested that Trump's remark about stripping Rosie O'Donnell (who was born in New York) of her citizenship was a ploy to distract people from noticing that he is hiding the Epstein list:

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said: "The American people deserve to know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth as it relates to this whole sordid Jeffrey Epstein matter." Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) told reporters on Tuesday: "Where is that client list? What is Attorney General Bondi hiding? This is the case of the powerful protecting the powerful. We need to have those files released." Harping on "the powerful protecting the powerful" really strikes a chord with the base. It might be one of the few things Democrats can talk about that actually gets through.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), who has a tough race next year, also chimed in: "Did anyone really think the sexual predator president who used to party with Jeffrey Epstein was gonna release the Epstein files?" What Ossoff's and other Democrats' remarks do is make the implicit assumption that such a list exists. If Democrats can convince the Republican base that such a list really exists, then they are halfway home. Then Trump will be under constant pressure to produce a list. If he produces a fake list, there will be defamation lawsuits, discovery motions, subpoenas, depositions, and more. That will dominate the news and put Trump on the defensive.

The DNC is tweeting daily about how the administration is covering up for Trump. The House Majority PAC has rolled out a list of Republicans who are either helping the cover-up or at least tolerating it without speaking out. It's a long list.

Pat Dennis, president of American Bridge, a Democratic oppo team, said: "It's an interesting foot in the door to the overall case that he doesn't have your back on Medicare, on health care, on veterans. Maybe this guy doesn't have your back." It could work. It's a strange world when "dead sex offender" has more salience than "you're going to lose your health insurance to pay for tax cuts for millionaires," but that's the reality in which the blue team has to operate.

Oh, and there is this photo of Epstein and Trump together, with Trump's hand on Epstein's shoulder. This photo, like the one with Epstein, Trump, Melania, and Ghislaine Maxwell, doesn't exactly scream "Never met the man." The more circulation it gets, the harder it becomes for Trump to separate himself from Epstein:

Historically, Republicans have used "wedge issues" (like gay rights) to divide Democrats. This is a wedge issue Democrats can use to divide Republicans. It can put Trump and Bondi on one side and Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer on the other. Will this actually have legs? It could. Internal polling by a Democratic firm obtained by Politico shows that 61% of Trump voters think Trump is hiding information about Epstein. Maybe it isn't exactly 61%, but internal polls are generally not biased. The politicians paying for them actually want to know the truth; they may just decide to keep some polls under covers and publish others. A CNN poll puts the number at 40%. The discrepancy could be due to timing or question wording, but clearly this issue strikes a chord with many Republicans.

Democrats will milk this issue for all it is worth now and will try to keep it going for a few months (or more). The goal is to seed some doubt in Trump's supporters' minds. The idea is: "If he lied to us on this, maybe he lied to us on other things as well." The current plan is to make the midterms about the BBB, but if Trump makes an unforced error dealing with this, that could change everything.

Trump is clearly very worried about EpsteinSCAM. Yesterday, he posted a message to his boutique social media site containing this passage: "I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country's history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax. Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don't even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don't want their support anymore!" The weaklings here are his own supporters who are demanding the Epstein files. Trump is worried and doesn't know what to do to put the fire out.

Not convinced that Trump is upset? How about this news tidbit. Yesterday, a federal prosecutor at the SDNY, Maurene Comey, was fired out of the blue. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and has been working at the SDNY for 9 years with no problems. In fact, she worked on the criminal cases of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell with success. Sounds good to us. Nevertheless, yesterday she received a letter firing her, citing only the powers of the president according to Art. II of the Constitution. Oh, and she is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. Any more questions? (V)