A Highly Valued Friend
However Jeffrey Epstein first secured his wealth, it now seems clear that his primary occupation was pimp for the global elite. While I have not read anything more than a small portion of the millions of Epstein pages dumped on an exhausted public last night, the ones I perused read like parasocial mash notes from groupies.
“A highly valued friend,” wrote Noam Chomsky about Epstein. A “steadfast, generous and supreme friend, wrote Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York and ex-wife of Prince Andrew, seen here on all fours, hovering over what appears to be in an incapacitated female.
Human pompom Howard Lutnick, after claiming to have severed all ties with Epstein in 2005, hoped to visit Epstein’s island with his wife and children in 2012. Probably innocent, but beyond damning in terms of Lutnick’s credibility. (Their association continued until at least 2018.) All of this after Epstein went to prison for “procuring a child for prostitution” in 2008.
I just want to emphasize that point for a moment: procuring a child for prostitution.
One has to strain to find anything innocent about Elon Musk asking, in 2012, “What day/night will be the wildest time on [y]our island?” Or the note included in his 50th birthday book from the former British ambassador to the US, Lord Peter Mandelson, who wrote that Epstein was known for “taking you by surprise… in one of his glorious homes he likes to share with friends (yum yum)”.
When George Carlin famously said, about America, “It’s a big club and you ain’t it,” I suspect even his cynical ass did not anticipate that the club to which he referred has, in its bylaws, a blasé acceptance of child/young adult sex trafficking among the world of bold-faced names. The owner of the Giants, Steve Tisch wrote to Epstein:
Tisch: “Hi Jeffrey, I just had lunch with your assistant’s friend Very sweet girl. Do you know anything about her?”
Epstein: “no, but i will ask [redacted] I will get all info, did you contact the great a-- fake t-- shes a character, short term, has an older boyfriend going to acting school, a 10 a--. I am happy to have you as a new but obviosly shared interest friend.”
Tisch: “Thanks Jeffrey Curious to know about [redacted] I will contact … pro or civilian?”
Epstein: “Send me a number to call I don’t like records of these conversations.”
Nothing inherently illegal there other than the question about whether the female in question is a prostitute, followed by Epstein telling Tisch he doesn’t like to keep records of “these conversations.”
New CBS medical correspondent Peter Attia has not been accused of wrongdoing but complained to Epstein in an email whose subject line is “Got a fresh shipment” that “the biggest problem with becoming friends with you? The life you lead is so outrageous, and yet I can’t tell a soul.”
After her poorly-rated townhall with Erika Kirk, perhaps Bari Weiss could hold a similar one with her flashy new hire, Attila. I can think of several questions to kick things off, beginning with a question regarding the nature of the “fresh shipment” in the email’s header. Do it, Bari. I guarantee the ratings will be higher for this one.
Then there are the far-darker allegations of murder, strangulation, and snuff films. Some of those allegations involve our president. I don’t know what to make of them, but the part of me that would have dismissed that stuff out of hand before no longer does so. Trump’s gluttony in all things is well-established. It’s entirely possible the current President of the United States is, in addition to being a felon and sexual offender, is also a pedophile and murderer or is at least murderer-adjacent.
Again, I don’t have an opinion about whether such allegations against Trump are true, but the fact that we’re even having the debate shocks a conscience I thought was no longer capable of being surprised by this man’s depravity.
Is it possible my opinion of Donald J. Trump was actually too high?
MAGA world remains, of course, mum on all things Epstein for the same reason Epstein was able to get away with it for so long – because money and power are more important than the humanity of girls.
Possibly, boys too. I don’t think that’s been confirmed yet, but a man named Sascha Reilly claims to have been trafficked by Epstein and raped by Trump. His story is all over the internet and very public. At the very least, Riley appears to be who he says he is. Beyond that, I have no opinion as the validity of his claims, but you can listen to Reilly tell his story below but I warn you the details are worse than you can imagine. For a third time, I just want to reiterate that it’s entirely possible Riley’s entire story is a fabrication.
I suspect very little will happen to anybody associated with Epstein. These guys are too rich, too well-connected, too insulated from accountability. Maybe somebody loses a job or resigns from a board, but these guys will continue to rape and pillage their way across the globe. They will take everything they can - and as much of it as they can - because at least a few of them are literal psychopaths. They’re who the Tate Brothers aspire to be. And most of them are friends with the President of the United States. Because the current President of the United States is one of them.
Powerful dissection of how the Epstein network wasn't just about one person but a whole ecosystem of enablers. What gets me is the "blasé acceptance" part, like Steve Tisch asking if someone's pro or civilian and then Epstein wanting no record of it. Back when I followed some similar scandals in finance, the most chiling thing was always how transactional these guys were about everything, including people.
You were right to emphasize the importance of 2008. There are of course many people who would have interacted with him in different ways prior to that and may not have known what he was doing. But after he pleaded guilty to procuring a child for prostitution, everything changes. Anybody who spent time on his island or did anything transactional with him past that point is disgusting even if they didn’t do anything illegal. And I know so much of this will never be confirmed and many of the rich and powerful will continue to get off the hook. But we still need to shame these people that associated with him knowing what he did. I hope there are consequences for some of them at least.