None of those Trump/MAGA people have any friends, as you say, because they are incapable of being friends. They don't like, let alone love, anyone, not even themselves. They don't have any awareness that people have inherent value. But they don't only enable Trump. They are also trying to enable themselves by hanging out with him in hopes they can eventually gain something for the pain of needing to do that to try to get ahead.
The only values they cling to are the artificially assigned values that money and material goods have and that power over others has. They don't even value themselves except in terms of how much material wealth and power they can accumulate. But it's never enough to make them feel truly worthy so their craving and lust for ever more wealth is insatiable.
Bottom line is that they are all using each other in any ways they possibly can. But if things go sour, they are easily capable of throwing each other under the bus, as Trump and others have so often been doing. They are like a den of thieves where no one trusts anyone yet they might be fortunate enough to gain something through their association. All of their relationships are transactional.
The reason behind all of this is that none of them have heart-quality. The have no empathy, compassion, care, kindness, respect, value for life, or love. They are strictly limited to playing mind-games that are totally focused on wealth and power that they can get by exploiting others and natural our resources.
He likes to put his name on things, so there ya go. They should be addressed as the Trump-Epstein Files from here forward. That would just burn his ass!!
The article portrays MTG as another of trump’s victims, and doesn’t address the enormous role she’s played in promoting, defending, and advancing trump’s agendas. She’s just a new member of the Leopards-Eating-Faces Club, experiencing what she, MAGA, and trump have visited on countless others.
It does address it, but as something of an aside, and she seems less than genuinely contrite about it. The last thing she did was target the LGBTQ+ community, after all, with a heinous bill.
Someone might tell Bondi that it is so easy to track an email to its source that to not do so at her level is tantamount to conspiracy to cover up the original crime of sending a threatening letter to a congress critter (I don't know the name of this crime, so I'll just call it "Sending a threatening Letter to a Congress Critter.")
I mean, sheeeeit. If she sent me a copy of the email, ***I*** could probably do it. Most of the clues are in the header (email apps like Gmail hide this from you by default but you can see it by clicking the right magic buttons).
For sure, the DOJ can find out who sent it. In about 15 seconds, probably, now that Palantir is on their side.
All the more reason to hold Bondi accountable for not attempting to track it. There are very, very few ways to hide an IP from a server log from a dedicated law enforcement cyber crime unit.
But not from the server receiving the email. Law enforcement can track the IP via the server logs.
Generally, viewing the raw header in the email will reveal the IP unless the sender is using a VPN, which can, regardless of what a VPN provider might tell you, also be traced if law enforcement submits a subpoena.
Which was sort of my point - Bondi can find out who it was, especially if it is an unsophisticated actor, which it most likely was. If it was a more sophisticated actor, or even someone in government, then it's a moot point, because she won't bother looking, but that also goes to my point. Her not taking action is itself an actionable offense, in my opinion. Now, I don't know. Maybe she HAS taken action, but if she has, it would be out of character.
Trump really has no friends. He has acquaintances who are useful to him sometimes until they are not. None of these people see Trump as their friend either. He’s useful until he’s not. They will drop him like a bad habit if that’s necessary and that’s what Trump fears and understands. At least that’s what many fine people have told me!
And everyone is saying it! And they are saying it very strongly, too. They are telling me, "Sir, we have never seen anything like it before. It's incredible." And they say it with tears in their eyes.
It's truly astonishing to me that we've gotten to this point--nearly a decade after Epstein's second arrest, no one has been charged outside of Epstein and Maxwell. Why didn't anything happen with these ten co-conspirators? I can't help but feel that this simply wasn't a priority for Garland's DOJ, and it doesn't feel like it's as simple as him not wanting to appear political. If anyone has a better explanation, I'd love to hear it.
Thank you for this terrific summary. I have no doubt that this could bring down dozens, if not hundreds, of men at the very center of power in all sorts of institutions. And that doing so is essential to the survival of our country.
Agree on all points, Annie, especially about Garland's lack of action and about the reach of the Epstein cadre. I'd actually go further and say that the web has a global span.
There is definitely an international element. We already know Andrew (formerly known as Prince) was heavily involved, and evidence also points to former PM of Israel Ehud Barak. I wonder if some of Trump’s Middle Eastern buddies weren’t also neck deep. MBS, perhaps? He’s certainly a nasty enough piece of work.
Garland was almost criminally negligent in his approach towards prosecuting this massive crime ring that is Trump. From Day 1 of Biden's term, he knew what Trump was, and he delayed and delayed and delayed, theoretically to cross every T and dot every I, but with this Epstein negligence I'm starting to wonder if something else wasn't at play. With a million more documents on the way, it won't surprise me to see his name turn up, too.
MTG, yes, she is no saint but for her family to be clearly targeted does not balance anything. In fact, her coming forward will be treated in years to come by historians as an act of desperate bravery. For right now, she is very much on her own, something she manifested years ago, but she does make for an enticing headline.
True, but this cornered rat is sick, moronic, and already on the verge.
One other thing, he is weak, very weak; the charade of being a strong man has dissolved. But we can't lessen the pressure, we need his "friends" to see that they, too, are now in our sights.
I hope that we're reading about the celebrations in the streets of the world after his death - the likes before had never been seen. I also hope that we're reading about how the GOP and the people who voted for him denied voting that way.
Haven't read the NYT article yet, but I will. What's been dribbling out about it is interesting, to say the least. Never been an MTG fan...but threatening her son--anyone's son--is beyond the pale. Her departure from Congress may be a calculated (political) move (probably is, actually), but under these circumstances, it is also perfectly understandable.
It was a disappointing puff-piece and my regard for the Times went down a notch, although it will never go so low as my regard for the Washington Post.
Given the *actual* “puff pieces” that have been published in the NYT during the Trump administrations (in response to which I cancelled my subscription), I’d have to disagree with you on your assessment, Anne.
Was it a “hard hitting” piece of investigative journalism? Nope. I think the author let her off too easy on many of her previous actions, like her despicable behavior with David Hogg, a Parkland massacre survivor. However, that said, he did get her to admit quite a few things that maybe being more adversarial wouldn’t have “gotten out of her”. Given the Times current “soft journalism” trend, I thought it was FAR better than I expected and has clearly led to MANY further articles and analysis by writers I respect, like Jay!
(PS: being naturally skeptical, I do have to wonder if MTG is “pivoting” for a career change and trying to “clean up” her wacked out persona in advance. Running for President in 2028? Or maybe just a Fox contributor…)
I agree with your assessment of what happened with the NYT piece. And I am *certain* that MTG has a plan...of some kind. Whether it's to run for president in 2028 or something else, I am not sure. But I do think that when she leaves Congress, she will already be plotting her next move.
I really like your label of "Mob Boss" ... we should use it more often. It conveys the rationale for his perspective and it is a label that the far right will understand .... it could become an excellent rallying cry and might actually bring the left and the right closer together ....
I always thought "No Kings" was a little soppy for a protest slogan. It's no longer 1776 and the word "King" doesn't have the visceral downside that "Mob Boss" does. "No Mob Boss" is much more powerful. That's my slogan and I'm sticking to it.
I think the million new “files” will prevent us from seeing any of them. The administration will claim they need a year or two to sort them. Just impeach the creep.
After 2 failed impeachment trials in his first term and now with a Republican House and Senate, why do you not get how difficult, nay impossible, it is to impeach the Orange Turd?
I thought the most interesting part of the article was the description of her current politics: very populist and anti-oligarchy, almost left wing, in terms of economics, but very, very right-wing (anti-abortion and anti-trans-rights) culturally. I suspect there is a large part of our population that shares her views. So my question, from the point of view of someone who wants to organize for real change is: how do we go about facilitating a change in those right-wing cultural views sufficiently so that people can unite in one large movement for change?
Well, "divide and conquer" has been the strategy of the "ruling class" for a long, long time. When we realize that we have more in common despite our differences, they can't keep us from working together and we become very powerful.
From my years, long ago, of working with union organizing in the South, I think that sometimes you can. But, you can't "reason" with people. The key is that you have to get people together, working at something where the goal is important enough that they can work together, at least minimally, to accomplish that goal. And then, as they get to know each other, certain stereotypes don't apply any more. But, as long as we live in different worlds, read different media, etc., etc. and don't need to interact with each other, yes, no one is going to change.
You make a lot of good points. Trump is a manipulator and reaches people through emotion. There are ways to reach them. Steve Hassan has written a lot about cults and has a good perspective.
Trump has no friends, just people who enable him and know where the truth is hiding in the Epstein files.
None of those Trump/MAGA people have any friends, as you say, because they are incapable of being friends. They don't like, let alone love, anyone, not even themselves. They don't have any awareness that people have inherent value. But they don't only enable Trump. They are also trying to enable themselves by hanging out with him in hopes they can eventually gain something for the pain of needing to do that to try to get ahead.
The only values they cling to are the artificially assigned values that money and material goods have and that power over others has. They don't even value themselves except in terms of how much material wealth and power they can accumulate. But it's never enough to make them feel truly worthy so their craving and lust for ever more wealth is insatiable.
Bottom line is that they are all using each other in any ways they possibly can. But if things go sour, they are easily capable of throwing each other under the bus, as Trump and others have so often been doing. They are like a den of thieves where no one trusts anyone yet they might be fortunate enough to gain something through their association. All of their relationships are transactional.
The reason behind all of this is that none of them have heart-quality. The have no empathy, compassion, care, kindness, respect, value for life, or love. They are strictly limited to playing mind-games that are totally focused on wealth and power that they can get by exploiting others and natural our resources.
Right on 🎯
And enrich him and his family.
Psychopaths are incapable of true friendship.
Except the 30% that don’t have a clue :D
💯
“The Trump-Epstein Files”
We could just short-cut and say The Trumpstein Files. I’m sure this isn’t the first time this has been used … 🤪
Indeed!
If he was part of it the demonicrats would have exposed it dumbass
Dumb -ass yourself. 😂
No, I've already been in several conversations using the terms "Trump-Epstein Files", "Trumpstein Files" &/or "Trumpenstein Files".
He likes to put his name on things, so there ya go. They should be addressed as the Trump-Epstein Files from here forward. That would just burn his ass!!
The article portrays MTG as another of trump’s victims, and doesn’t address the enormous role she’s played in promoting, defending, and advancing trump’s agendas. She’s just a new member of the Leopards-Eating-Faces Club, experiencing what she, MAGA, and trump have visited on countless others.
It does address it, but as something of an aside, and she seems less than genuinely contrite about it. The last thing she did was target the LGBTQ+ community, after all, with a heinous bill.
I will never forget how she threatened and harassed the teenage school shooting victim. Her cries against political violence are ringing hollow.
Someone might tell Bondi that it is so easy to track an email to its source that to not do so at her level is tantamount to conspiracy to cover up the original crime of sending a threatening letter to a congress critter (I don't know the name of this crime, so I'll just call it "Sending a threatening Letter to a Congress Critter.")
I mean, sheeeeit. If she sent me a copy of the email, ***I*** could probably do it. Most of the clues are in the header (email apps like Gmail hide this from you by default but you can see it by clicking the right magic buttons).
For sure, the DOJ can find out who sent it. In about 15 seconds, probably, now that Palantir is on their side.
Prolly came from trump's own VPN account, virtually untraceable.
All the more reason to hold Bondi accountable for not attempting to track it. There are very, very few ways to hide an IP from a server log from a dedicated law enforcement cyber crime unit.
I heard that a bunch of people were fired from that unit.
I am pretty sure you heard correctly.
iPhones have a feature that can hide your ip address and location and hide a email address.
But not from the server receiving the email. Law enforcement can track the IP via the server logs.
Generally, viewing the raw header in the email will reveal the IP unless the sender is using a VPN, which can, regardless of what a VPN provider might tell you, also be traced if law enforcement submits a subpoena.
Which was sort of my point - Bondi can find out who it was, especially if it is an unsophisticated actor, which it most likely was. If it was a more sophisticated actor, or even someone in government, then it's a moot point, because she won't bother looking, but that also goes to my point. Her not taking action is itself an actionable offense, in my opinion. Now, I don't know. Maybe she HAS taken action, but if she has, it would be out of character.
Trump really has no friends. He has acquaintances who are useful to him sometimes until they are not. None of these people see Trump as their friend either. He’s useful until he’s not. They will drop him like a bad habit if that’s necessary and that’s what Trump fears and understands. At least that’s what many fine people have told me!
And everyone is saying it! And they are saying it very strongly, too. They are telling me, "Sir, we have never seen anything like it before. It's incredible." And they say it with tears in their eyes.
Bwahahahahaha!!!
It's truly astonishing to me that we've gotten to this point--nearly a decade after Epstein's second arrest, no one has been charged outside of Epstein and Maxwell. Why didn't anything happen with these ten co-conspirators? I can't help but feel that this simply wasn't a priority for Garland's DOJ, and it doesn't feel like it's as simple as him not wanting to appear political. If anyone has a better explanation, I'd love to hear it.
Thank you for this terrific summary. I have no doubt that this could bring down dozens, if not hundreds, of men at the very center of power in all sorts of institutions. And that doing so is essential to the survival of our country.
Agree on all points, Annie, especially about Garland's lack of action and about the reach of the Epstein cadre. I'd actually go further and say that the web has a global span.
There is definitely an international element. We already know Andrew (formerly known as Prince) was heavily involved, and evidence also points to former PM of Israel Ehud Barak. I wonder if some of Trump’s Middle Eastern buddies weren’t also neck deep. MBS, perhaps? He’s certainly a nasty enough piece of work.
Garland was almost criminally negligent in his approach towards prosecuting this massive crime ring that is Trump. From Day 1 of Biden's term, he knew what Trump was, and he delayed and delayed and delayed, theoretically to cross every T and dot every I, but with this Epstein negligence I'm starting to wonder if something else wasn't at play. With a million more documents on the way, it won't surprise me to see his name turn up, too.
I don't think that Garland is in the files. It may have something to do with Israel's part in all of this.
He doesn't seem like the type. But his slow roll was frustrating.
MTG, yes, she is no saint but for her family to be clearly targeted does not balance anything. In fact, her coming forward will be treated in years to come by historians as an act of desperate bravery. For right now, she is very much on her own, something she manifested years ago, but she does make for an enticing headline.
"Even a cornered rat is dangerous." - Winston Churchill. Methinks there is a cornered rat in the White House.
True, but this cornered rat is sick, moronic, and already on the verge.
One other thing, he is weak, very weak; the charade of being a strong man has dissolved. But we can't lessen the pressure, we need his "friends" to see that they, too, are now in our sights.
Jay, thank you for keeping the spotlight on this piece. It's so revealing of trump's desperation.
Hopefully next year at this time, we’re reading his obituary, good riddance
Before that would be preferable.
I’d prefer he died in prison, but will take what we can get. ☹️
I hope that we're reading about the celebrations in the streets of the world after his death - the likes before had never been seen. I also hope that we're reading about how the GOP and the people who voted for him denied voting that way.
Haven't read the NYT article yet, but I will. What's been dribbling out about it is interesting, to say the least. Never been an MTG fan...but threatening her son--anyone's son--is beyond the pale. Her departure from Congress may be a calculated (political) move (probably is, actually), but under these circumstances, it is also perfectly understandable.
It was a disappointing puff-piece and my regard for the Times went down a notch, although it will never go so low as my regard for the Washington Post.
Given the *actual* “puff pieces” that have been published in the NYT during the Trump administrations (in response to which I cancelled my subscription), I’d have to disagree with you on your assessment, Anne.
Was it a “hard hitting” piece of investigative journalism? Nope. I think the author let her off too easy on many of her previous actions, like her despicable behavior with David Hogg, a Parkland massacre survivor. However, that said, he did get her to admit quite a few things that maybe being more adversarial wouldn’t have “gotten out of her”. Given the Times current “soft journalism” trend, I thought it was FAR better than I expected and has clearly led to MANY further articles and analysis by writers I respect, like Jay!
(PS: being naturally skeptical, I do have to wonder if MTG is “pivoting” for a career change and trying to “clean up” her wacked out persona in advance. Running for President in 2028? Or maybe just a Fox contributor…)
I agree with your assessment of what happened with the NYT piece. And I am *certain* that MTG has a plan...of some kind. Whether it's to run for president in 2028 or something else, I am not sure. But I do think that when she leaves Congress, she will already be plotting her next move.
Threatening someone’s kid, when you have a kid yourself, is a pretty stupid thing for a parent to do.
I really like your label of "Mob Boss" ... we should use it more often. It conveys the rationale for his perspective and it is a label that the far right will understand .... it could become an excellent rallying cry and might actually bring the left and the right closer together ....
I always thought "No Kings" was a little soppy for a protest slogan. It's no longer 1776 and the word "King" doesn't have the visceral downside that "Mob Boss" does. "No Mob Boss" is much more powerful. That's my slogan and I'm sticking to it.
I completely agree that he's acting like a mob boss, because he was in deep as a real estate developer. Here's one in depth article: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-mob-organized-crime-213910/
Unfortunately, I don't think you'll get many on the right to give a 💩...
yipes - that's quite an article! thanks for sharing ... still very hard to believe we actually elected him.
I think the million new “files” will prevent us from seeing any of them. The administration will claim they need a year or two to sort them. Just impeach the creep.
After 2 failed impeachment trials in his first term and now with a Republican House and Senate, why do you not get how difficult, nay impossible, it is to impeach the Orange Turd?
Wishful thinking on my part. It sounds easy enough.
I wish it were easy!
I thought the most interesting part of the article was the description of her current politics: very populist and anti-oligarchy, almost left wing, in terms of economics, but very, very right-wing (anti-abortion and anti-trans-rights) culturally. I suspect there is a large part of our population that shares her views. So my question, from the point of view of someone who wants to organize for real change is: how do we go about facilitating a change in those right-wing cultural views sufficiently so that people can unite in one large movement for change?
I, too, noticed that dichotomy in her politics in the NYT article. I suspect religion has a lot to do with it.
Well, "divide and conquer" has been the strategy of the "ruling class" for a long, long time. When we realize that we have more in common despite our differences, they can't keep us from working together and we become very powerful.
Good point.
And her constituents in NW GA. She does represent them and it’s not a stretch to imagine this is a common way of thinking there.
You can't change those right-wing cultural values. They're not susceptible to reason. I know from years of experience with ultra-religious types.
From my years, long ago, of working with union organizing in the South, I think that sometimes you can. But, you can't "reason" with people. The key is that you have to get people together, working at something where the goal is important enough that they can work together, at least minimally, to accomplish that goal. And then, as they get to know each other, certain stereotypes don't apply any more. But, as long as we live in different worlds, read different media, etc., etc. and don't need to interact with each other, yes, no one is going to change.
You make a lot of good points. Trump is a manipulator and reaches people through emotion. There are ways to reach them. Steve Hassan has written a lot about cults and has a good perspective.
She's just covering all her bases for her next run at politics.
“Friends will get hurt.” Yeah. “Me, myself & I”
It's a slow-motion train wreck with The First Felon tied to the tracks, to mix metaphors, and ultimately he can only slow it down.
ETA: It may take months but it won't go away.