Felons Epstein & Trump: Different Crimes, Identical Character
Trump’s association with a notorious child sex predator is well-documented and disgusting. But he’s not just connected to Jeffrey Epstein – in many ways he *is* Jeffrey Epstein.
You’re probably familiar with a 2002 quote in which Donald Trump profusely praised child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, but it’s worth a fresh look. Here’s what Trump said:
“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It’s even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
Gross. Trump’s guilt by association with child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein is about as damning as guilt by association gets. But association is only the half of it. Many of us are associated with a relative who expresses regrettable views on social media, but we don’t hold those views. In fact, we distance ourselves from them.
Do Donald Trump’s views about women diverge in any way from Epstein’s? Of course not. Trump’s connection to Epstein is horrific on its own, but it’s only half of the horror. Stop at Trump’s Epstein association and we let him off the hook for his Epstein emulation.
Trump’s quote above doesn’t just associate himself with Epstein; it reveals something vile about himself. It’s guilt by association as well as guilt by admission. To Trump, a peer’s pursuit of “beautiful women” who are notably “on the younger side” is a demonstration of virility to be coveted and admired. That’s disgusting.
Epstein was “terrific” and “fun” to Trump because of his womanizing – not in spite of it. Trump embraced Epstein’s flawed character because Trump has Epstein’s flawed character.
Male wealth, property, power and celebrity, in Trump’s mind, make him and people like “Jeff” superior beings animalistically entitled to females of their picking. Palling around with like-minded men reinforces and normalizes Trump’s warped sense of self and his objectification of women he openly rates from one to 10 on physical appearance alone.
An employer and father of then-young daughters (and now young granddaughters) talking so derogatorily about women as Trump has done for decades, openly and on the record no less, is downright vile.
Trump’s friendship with a man later revealed to be a child sex predator was not the one-off lapse in judgment Trump would have you believe. It was a reflection of the company Trump kept and keeps – men who think and behave just like him.
How pronounced is Trump’s own obsession with “women… on the younger side”? Brace yourselves:
Donald’s first wife? Only three years younger than him. Too old, apparently.
His second wife? 17 years younger. Still too old, it seems.
Current, third wife? 24 years his junior. If only he stopped there…
Melania was pregnant during Trump’s allegedly brief sex with an adult film actress 33 years younger than he.
Incest was “perhaps” all that kept him from dating his daughter Ivanka. 35-year age gap there.
Youngest of all? The alleged “pageant creep” reportedly “walk[ed] into a teen dressing room” and “jok[ed] about his obligation to sleep with contestants.”
Feel free to sanitize your phone and brain after reading that rundown.
In 2004, Trump and Epstein ended their wingman bromance. No more joint soirees at Mar-a-Lago. Why? Trump aides offer a copy-and-paste response, which was presumably attorney-vetted.
“The President kicked him out of [Mar-a-Lago] for being a creep,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told The Independent. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed Cheung’s “kicked out creep” statement.
This is bullshit, of course. Epstein was always a creep. Trump’s New York Magazine quote from just two years prior to Epstein losing his omelet stand privileges implied as much. Creepiness brought these two creeps together.
But this week, Trump contradicted that message, providing a new explanation for ousting the “fun to be with” Epstein from his property:
“He stole people that worked for me. I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ He did it again, and I threw him out [of Mar-a-Lago]...”
Epstein “stole people”? That’s how child sex traffickers talk. That’s how enslavers talk. That’s how monsters talk.
Trump’s explanation, consistent with his notorious pettiness, is more believable than his White House aides’ spin, but it still falls apart when put up next to a timeline of what really happened.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for sex and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. But that was just the beginning of Epstein’s – and later Trump’s – troubles.
Bravo to my friends at MeidasTouch who uncovered video of a 2010 deposition in which Epstein was questioned by a victim’s attorney.
“Have you ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18?” the attorney asked.
“Though I’d like to answer that question, at least today I’m going to have to assert my Fifth, Sixth and 14th Amendment rights, sir,” Epstein responded.
What?! That’s a lot of Amendments! And Epstein’s wording sounds like a warning shot to Trump, who later became president knowing his one-time party partner had some level of dirt on him.
As Trump later ran for– and won – the 2016 election, his ties to Epstein surfaced in some headlines. Scrutiny was tepid despite mounting evidence of additional, more serious Epstein crimes and a slew of revelations about Trump’s own horrific behavior towards women 18 years of age or older.
In 2019, Epstein was arrested on charges of sex trafficking. Trump, then in his first term, offered this bald-faced lie in response:
“I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him… I haven’t spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his.”
Oh really? What happened to “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years” or how he’s a “terrific guy” and “fun to be with”?
When it comes to Epstein’s crimes, some are asking a famous American political question: What did the President know and when did he know it?
Maybe we should instead be asking: In what ways is the President very similar to known child sex predators, such as the ones with whom he is directly connected?
Epstein died in federal custody, under suspicious circumstances ruled a suicide while Trump was president. The answer Epstein seemed eager to give at some point – whether he socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18 – went to hell with him. Things sure played out nicely for the man in the Oval Office.
I’m not saying Trump or those close to him had anything to do with Epstein’s death. A lot of unanswered questions, non-continuous surveillance video, un-raw footage released by Trump’s best people, and a refusal to declassify the files in which Trump is named… none of that is conclusive evidence of anything… it’s just shady as fuck.
What would American observers conclude if similar events had played out in Russia? Epstein’s death sure reminds us of all those Putin aides who fell out of windows.
Trump has not been accused of crimes in connection to Epstein.
Rest assured Miss Universe contestants are by rule at least 18 years old. Rest assured when Trump bragged about grabbing female genitalia, he was referring to the genitalia of those at least 18 years old. Rest assured Trump may have befriended a child sex predator and endorsed another child sex predator for U.S. Senate but there is no concrete evidence yet that Trump, himself, is a child sex predator. He was, however, held liable for sexual assault of an adult woman.
It is an unsettling truth that Trump was close friends with Epstein. It’s even more unsettling to consider why. Trump has long shared Epstein’s ungentlemanly lust for much, much younger women. Regardless of whether Trump has been accused of committing Epstein-level crimes – again, he has faced no such accusations – Trump, Epstein, and others like them were/are womanizing birds of a disgusting feather and pigs in a common sty.
The differences between the men’s respective, known transgressions (most critically, the ages of the females they are known to have harmed) are relevant. But so too are the similarities in their reprehensible (if non-criminal) behavior, character and attitudes.
Let’s not allow any reader, listener or viewer to harbor a fallacy that Trump and Epstein merely attended the same parties or that declassification is the full story here. The Epstein saga’s revelations about Trump run far deeper, and the full story requires a thorough, industry-wide, deeper-dive into Trump’s treatment of and attitudes toward women.
We’ll do our part here at The Alt Media.
It should also be noted that when he and his daughter Ivanka went on one tv talk show (I believe it was The View), they were asked what they have in common. Ivanka answered golf and real estate. Trump answered, “Well, i was going to say sex….”
I’m ashamed that he is president.
Thank everyone who contributed to this excellent reporting and analysis… it is important albeit disturbing information.