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Epstein and The Death of Accountability [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-07-24

I think I am going to make a few people angry with post, but that is not the intention. I do, however, want to discuss what I think is killing our society faster than any polarization: lack of elite accountability.

Why do people in QAnon believe that there was a child sex ring run by democratic leaders under a pizza parlor? Lots of reasons of course, varying from individual to individual. Some are not overly thoughtful. Some like the idea of making liberals outraged. Some have mental issues that manifest in susceptibility to conspiracy theories. But some look at Jeffery Epstein and the sweetheart deal he got for abusing children and think, not entirely unreasonably, if that was allowed to happen with no punishment, why is the pizza theory so outlandish?

We have a media environment, yes, that encourages rage for engagement and allows like-minded conspiracy nuts to build relationships and readerships. But we also have an environment where the wealthy and powerful consistently get away with things that would have ruined normal people. Trump, of course from the time when his father bailed out his casino illegally to the fact that he tried to violently overthrow the US government, is a prime example. Trump, however, does something that most politicians do not — he pretends that he knows about the corruption and that he can expose it. This, as the Epstein case is making clear is complete nonsense, but it is also part of his appeal. He says, among other things, that I know where the bodies are buried and I will dig them up and hold their killers to account. He is lying, again, as Epstein makes clear, but it is a compelling message.

The 21st century has been a terrible one for people who care about accountability and justice. We were lied into a war, a war in which the US government operationalized torture. No one paid a price for that torture regime, and politicians from both parties who supported the war carried their respective party’s banner in most national elections. We had a massive financial crisis largely built on fraud and only one low-level person went to jail. We had NRA money buy enough GOP politicians that the literal murder of children in Newtown resulted in fewer not more or more restrictive gun regulations — and school shootings are now a regular part of the school calendar. The Supreme Court redefined bribery into non-existence, and then said the President was above the law. And of course, Trump has been able to accept bribes while in office. At every turn, this century has been a class in how the powerful and the rich can do what they want.

This is not a new idea of course, but it seems to disappear anytime we discuss the prevalence of conspiracy thinking or the general distrust of government and business. It is very clear that there really are two Americas — one for the powerful and one for the rest of us. And the fact that the Dems have allowed Trump to take the mantle of reforming is an indictment of their complicity in this issue.

The NYC mayoral primary featured a host of more or less progressive candidates and Andrew Cuomo, the disgraced former governor. Cuomo is a sex pest, and yet a significant portion of the Dem NYC establishment lined up behind him. He lost to a more progressive candidate. Now, imagine if the Dems had drummed Cuomo out of the party when they had the chance, made it clear that his actions were unacceptable. Those in the party that wanted an alternative to the progressive candidates would have a much better option. They would not have had to spit in the face of female voters, a critical demographic for them, by supporting a well-known sexual harasser. They may not have won, but they would have a much better chance. And they would not have weakened their own brand by insulting voters and playing into the “all the parties are the same”, because they would have actually been different.

Anti-corruption politics, if believable, are not only morally correct they are politically useful. A party that taps into the anti-corruption mood will be in position to significantly increase their share of the electorate. Doing so in. convincing way likely means big, bold moves that the current Democratic leadership is not comfortable with. It means gumming up the works as much as possible until trump returns his bribe money. It means withholding the budgets for appointees who are corrupt in some fashion. It means no more money from corporations or millionaires. It means no support for people credibly accused of crimes or harassment. It means, in short, walking the anti-corruption walk in a way that no party has done in living memory.

It will not always be easy, and it will likely drive some people’s favs out of political life. But the alternative is continuing to ignore corruption and creating a world in which people believe nonsense because the real world teaches them to.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/24/2334888/-Epstein-and-The-Death-of-Accountability?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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