Please, Mr. President, Keep Talking Epstein
Trump's latest ‘defense’ of his old Epstein relationship may be his grossest yet.
Much of the Pacific coast spent the night on high alert after a massive earthquake off the coast of Russia sent tsunami waves rushing toward Japan, China, Hawaii, Alaska, California, Canada, and Russia itself. Millions scrambled to evacuate. As of now, much of the danger seems to have passed, and tsunami warnings have been downgraded to advisories in many regions. Still, experts warn waters can surge again in the hours after a tsunami initially hits—if you’re on the Pacific coast, stay sharp and stay safe. Happy Wednesday.1
Don’t Stop Now! You’re Doing Great!
by William Kristol
Donald Trump likes to hear himself talk. Really, who can blame him? Talk may be cheap (and we know Trump hates paying his bills), but it’s been his key to a life of fame and fortune. He’s become rich because of his skills as a con man. He became president because of his talent as a demagogue. And what makes a con man and a demagogue successful is the ability to talk persuasively—even if untruthfully.
So talking has served Trump well. He has confidence in his ability to talk his way to money and power—and he has confidence in his ability to talk his way out of a jam. He’s done it often enough.
He now thinks that he can do it again. So he talks about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal virtually every day. That includes yesterday, on Air Force One, when he walked over to talk to the press.
Trump was asked about his comment the day before in which he said he had cut ties with Epstein not, as he had previously maintained, because of a real estate dispute, but because Epstein “stole people who worked for me.”
Reporter: You’re saying Epstein poached two of your staffers?
Trump: . . . Yeah, he took people and because he took people, I said don’t do it anymore—they work for me. Beyond that, he took some others and once he did that, that was the end of him.
So Trump knew that Epstein “took” multiple “people” from Mar-a-Lago.
A reporter asked the logical next question: “Were some of the workers taken from you, were some of them young women?”
Trump began by answering, “Well I don’t want to say.” Perhaps Trump had an instinct he was getting into deeper waters. But he couldn’t resist continuing to talk. “Everyone knows the people who were taken.” So, he went on, “the answer is yes, they were.” And Trump provided a little more detail as he continued talking: “People were taken out of the spa . . .’”
Of course, it’s well known that when Ghislaine Maxwell approached Virginia Giuffre at Mar-a-Lago in 2000, the then 16-year old Giuffre was working at the spa. So a reporter asked: “Was one of the stolen people Virginia Giuffre?”
Trump kept on talking. “I think so. I think that was one of the people. He stole her.”
So: Trump knew that Epstein (and Maxwell) had “taken” or “stolen” Virginia Giuffre and “some others” from Mar-a-Lago. And, of course, Trump knew about Epstein’s proclivities for younger women at the time. Two years after Giuffre was “stolen” from him, he infamously told New York magazine that Epstein liked “beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” Or as he reportedly wrote in his now-famous 50th birthday note to Epstein a year after that, in 2003, “Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?”
Trump knew what Epstein was up to. He was fine with it. He didn’t care.
The only reason he now claims to have cared, as he said yesterday, was that:
Other people would come and complain. . . . I told him [Epstein], I said, “Listen, we don’t want you taking our people, whether it’s spa or not spa.” I don’t want him taking people. And he was fine, and then not too long after that, he did it again, I said, “Out of here.”
If Trump cared at all, it was, by Trump’s own account, because Epstein was “taking [Trump’s] people”—not because of what Epstein was then doing to them. It’s clear that Trump never cared about Epstein’s and Maxwell’s victims. It’s clear that he still doesn’t care about the victims. Trump can’t even bring himself to pretend to care. He’s discussed the Epstein matter many times. He’s expressed concern for Maxwell. Has he ever expressed concern for the victims? Trump feels aggrieved that Epstein stole his “people.” He feels no empathy for those people—girls who were then trafficked and raped.
So, as Trump has talked and talked over the last few weeks, these facts have become clearer:
Trump knew what Epstein was up to.
He didn’t care about what Epstein was doing.
And he still doesn’t care about Epstein’s victims.
We know that Trump does care about himself. And it’s obvious that he cares a lot about keeping the files under wraps. What’s in them that’s more damning than what we already know? Trump presumably knows. He talks and talks, but he doesn’t want us to find that out.
Still, the files remain a silent but looming presence. They are the ghost who might tell the truth at Trump’s banquet. Trump fears those files. But he has confidence in his ability to talk. His fear and confidence combine to lead him to keep on talking.
Some of his staff must be worrying that the president doth talk about Epstein too much. To which all I have to say is this: Mr. President, don’t listen to them. Keep on talking!
AROUND THE BULWARK
Trump’s Unqualified Hires Are Making America More Vulnerable to Attack… GABRIEL SCHOENFELD on how the most serious jobs are being filled by the most unserious people.
Dan Bongino, an Emotional Wreck, Throws QAnon a Bone… In False Flag, WILL SOMMER reports on Deputy Director Dan’s conspiratorial feelies, and takes a gander at Nick Fuentes and Tim Pool rethinking their looks.
The Coming Trump Counterattack on Epstein… On Just Between Us, ANDREW EGGER joins MONA CHAREN to discuss the terrible polls for Democrats and speculate on what strategy Trump will use to defuse the Epstein scandal.
The Biggest House GOP Bullies Are Now Impotent… In Press Pass, JOE PERTICONE documents the neutering of the House Freedom Caucus, and a tip for aspiring Senators: Make sure to spell your state’s name correctly before jumping into a Senate race.
Quick Hits
BOVE TRIUMPHANT: Donald Trump, in theory, will be out of office come January 2029. But at least one of his personal sycophants—his former defense attorney Emil Bove—will be making his mark on the government long after that. Last night, the Senate confirmed Bove, who is currently a top official at the Justice Department, for a lifetime appointment to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The vote was 50-49. The AP has more:
Democrats have vehemently opposed Bove’s nomination, citing his current position as a top Justice Department official and his role in the dismissal of the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. They have also criticized his efforts to investigate department officials who were involved in the prosecutions of hundreds of Trump supporters who were involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Bove has accused FBI officials of “insubordination” for refusing to hand over the names of agents who investigated the attack and ordered the firing of a group of prosecutors involved in those Jan. 6 criminal cases.
A series of Justice Department whistleblowers came forward to accuse Bove of severe misconduct during his confirmation process, most notably saying Bove had urged the department to ignore court orders. But most Republicans serenely ignored such little quirks. It remains to be seen whether Bove’s opinion of court orders will improve, now that he’s set to be the one writing them.
BREAKING BAD: Of the young, inexperienced “DOGE bros” Elon Musk deployed to take a chainsaw to the federal government earlier this year, perhaps the most interesting was Luke Farritor, a star young coder who had previously won a major prize for helping write an AI program to decode previously illegible ancient scrolls. Bloomberg News has a remarkable profile of Farritor up this morning that explores how a promising kid with an independent streak and a desire to solve people’s problems ended up an agent of destruction who, among other things, helped ultimately destroy USAID:
At first they slept on the sixth floor of the General Services Administration building; one supporter sent biotracking covers for their mattresses. Some moved into an Airbnb known as DOGE Town, dined out together. “They come as a group,” says the former senior government official. “That’s the whole DOGE thing. It’s all DOGE all the time. Like they’re literally not given the mental space to go have an independent life experience and perhaps reflect on what they’re doing.” . . .
They were busy—and Farritor may have been among the busiest. “Good God. You’d see him and think that he must be harmless,” says a current government employee. “And I guess he would be if other people weren’t giving him an obscene amount of power and access and telling him to move fast and break things.”
TENNESSEE BOUND? How do you get out of a job you’re slowly discovering you’re terrible at? How do you do so without losing your dignity? Pete Hegseth might have a notion, as NBC News reports:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has privately discussed the idea of running for political office next year in Tennessee, according to two people who have spoken directly with him about it.
If Hegseth were to follow through on the discussions, it would amount to a major leadership shake-up at the department that oversees the American military and millions of federal employees. The Defense Department bars civilian employees from running for political office, meaning Hegseth would have to resign to do so.
In a statement, Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said, “Hegseth’s focus remains solely on serving under President Trump.”
Such a move would be interesting for Hegseth. There is a different type of power one has when going from secretary of defense to possible governor of Tennessee. Then again, there are some clear upsides. Candidates for governor are allowed to use Signal to message pretty much anybody they’d like, and nobody usually gets mad at them at all.
Cheap Shots
Correction, July 30, 2025, 12:00 p.m.: This newsletter originally wished readers a happy Thursday. It’s Wednesday.
Collins is up for re-election next year; time to take her down. She voted to move Bove out of Committee, knowing full well Trump would have the votes to get Bove’s nomination through.
This is the Republican’s idea of leadership. Put a hack through committee and then vote against the person on a floor vote for confirmation. And now she’ll claim she’s “shocked,” just shocked a nefarious, sadistic and corrupt person will have a lifetime appointment to the Circuit Court and will most likely be Trump’s first SCOTUS pick when either Alito or Thomas retires.
Let’s make sure to hold her to account: At best, she lacks good judgment, and at worst; you can fill in the blank.
Additionally, how’d her three SCOTUS picks turn out? Oh wait, they didn’t honor precedent when it came time to uphold Dobb’s! Exactly!
I hate to sound like a broken record, but Trump's going to get away with this, too. And the reason why is because his supporters are morally degraded and would rather have a pedophile in the White House than your median Democrat. Even if there is 100% proof that Trump engaged in the worst possible stuff we can imagine, do you even doubt that someone like Catturd will land on "pedophilia is good"? Or his more religious supporters will describe pedophilia as the "natural order of things" because it establishes the dominion of man over women and children?
Think I'm crazy?