Letter to Editor: The Memo to MAGA is that Epstein is not News

While you may or may not be distracted by the unholy Jeffrey Epstein fixation the splintered Republican party shares with a breathless news media, here’s some of what you might’ve missed. Last Friday, July 11, President Trump held an afternoon press conference following his tour of scenes of destruction and death from the Hill Country flash floods in Texas.

The death toll as of Tuesday, July 15, was 132, with at least 160 more still missing. A reporter at the news conference preceded her question by stating that “families were upset because they say warnings didn’t go out in time.” Then she asked simply: “What do you say to those families?”

The president responded: “Only a bad person would ask a question like that, to be honest with you. I don’t know who you are but only a very evil person would ask a question like that.” 

I don’t know how I can still be shocked that this man seems immune to any shred of empathy or compassion. Sure, he made some decent remarks beforehand, which are usually scripted. But by implication, Trump’s answer to families of loved ones – many of them children confirmed dead or whose fate still tortures other families day by day in hopeless not-knowing – Trump’s answer to them is “only a very evil person would ask such a question.” My question, Mr. President, is “Who’s evil?” The one who raised the question or the one who answered with dismissive cruelty. 

More such questions will be raised, Mr. President, in the coming months and years as your DOGE-ravaged agencies and your “Big Beautiful” elimination of programs – from FEMA to the National Weather Service, from USAID to Medicaid – are far less able to supply rescue, recovery, restoration or even competence.

But this very telling degradation straight from the president’s mouth is just a part of what the Jeffrey Epstein brouhaha is intended to achieve – deflect with shiny objects our attention from bad news about which we’re now too numb to feel outrage. 

What about the Russian blitzkrieg on the civilian population of Ukraine? Trump claims to be “surprised” by Vladimir Putin’s war criminality. He says he intends to send crucial weaponry to help Ukraine defend its airspace. But can we trust a man who says he was unaware that the U.S. had stopped sending such weapons? Or that he allowed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to delay or ignore his orders? Which is worse? That Trump didn’t know or that he did know and hasn’t done much about it. Like firing his Defense chief. 

What about his on-again off-again threats of tariffs or his suggestion that China or whoever else he imposes them on will pay. Sure, just like Mexico would pay for the border wall. No wonder it hardly got built. Or how about  Trump’s obsession with immigrants? Don’t listen to Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security and admitted pet assassin who claims only murders, rapists and child molesters are rounded up for mass deportation without so much as hearing. Due process is overdue for them and the clock has run out. I would remind Trump that – except for Alaskan eskimos and native American Indians, we are all immigrants or beat to the rhythm of our immigrant heritage, including me whose father is descended from the first English-speaking settlers of Jamestown – 21 generations ago. But I’m still a descendant of immigrants. Let’s never forget that immigration, even forced immigration, helped make America great. 

And, finally, leaving out lots of other bad news, let’s not forget RFK Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, who would bring back measles, polio and, who knows what the next pandemic may bring? Millions will die worldwide, in part, because he thinks the best course is to let whatever infects us have its way until it kills you and everyone you may infect as well. Sure, Bobby. Vaccines are an “evil” inflicted on us by a “deep state” populated by sex-trafficking Democrat commies.

All of which brings us back to Jeffrey Epstein, who died in August 2019 of an apparent suicide by hanging in a New York City prison cell. He was convicted first in July 2008 in Florida state court of soliciting prostitution and procuring a minor for prostitution. He died at 66 in prison while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges, possibly resulting in what would amount to a life sentence. (An accomplice and ex-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, is now serving 20 years on similar charges.)

But the current uproar pits the MAGA wing of the Republican Party against others, including Trump himself, who are trying to distance themselves from it all. FBI director Kash Patel and his deputy Dan Bongino – both Trump appointees – are demanding that the Justice Department unearth dirt from a so-called list of Epstein clients. Attorney General Pam Bondi recently said she had a list of names on her desk. Expecting that the list would include names of prominent Democrats, Bongino threatened to resign if it is not released. The conspiracy-minded MAGAs think there is incriminating evidence about former Presidents Bill Clinton and Joe Biden. 

A photo depicting Clinton with Epstein was de-authenticated as a photocopied composite of separate images. A 1997 photo of Trump with Epstein is apparently real as is a party video from roughly the same period. Neither is incriminating, but Trump’s denial of their relevance falls far short of changing the subject. The darkest conspiracy memes suggest that Biden ordered Epstein murdered in a political coverup. Never mind that Trump I occupied the Oval Office at the time. All of which is to say that the MAGA GOP likes to throw up juicy smokescreens to lure us away from real news about what actually affects the lives of Americans who have no stake in alleged scandals.

We all have a big stake in the Trump dismantling of the federal government with no thought of adverse consequences, very much including life and limb, not to mention freedom to be Americans. 

Steve Parks
Easton