The UK and Other Democracies Hold the Epstein Elite Accountable

America’s tolerance of Epstein associates is a national disgrace

JENNIFER RUBIN FEB 23

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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, was arrested last week for his conduct in connection with child rapist Jeffrey Epstein. (“Documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of the Epstein Files Transparency Act revealed that Andrew leaked details he learned from meeting with bank executives in the wake of a $45 billion bailout,” wrote Julie K. Brown, who revived the coverage of the Epstein story she began for the Miami Herald roughly 10 years ago. “Andrew also allegedly passed on other sensitive information he learned to a banker friend, according to the Telegraph.”)

Other members of the Epstein class have faced punishment. Thorbjørn Jagland, a former prime minister of Norway, was charged with “gross corruption.” Former British Ambassador Peter Mandelson was fired, and Morgan McSweeney, the former chief of staff to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, was forced out. French, Slovak, and Latvian officials are under investigation and/or have been forced to resign. Academics and businesspeople have been cut loose after their ties with Epstein were revealed.

Britain’s former prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (left), was arrested last week on charges that he might have shared improper financial information with Jeffrey Epstein. (Department of Justice)

And yet in the United States, Donald Trump remains in office, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appears secure in his job, and cover-up stooges Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche have faced no consequences for failing to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act (or their preferential treatment of convicted child sexual abuser Ghislaine Maxwell). Longevity guru Peter Attia remains employed by the Trump-subservient CBS News, which purports to cover the Epstein story.

This disgraceful lack of accountability underscores the rise of a malignant oligarchy that has attained far too much wealth and power in the United States. The New York Times reported:

In unsparing detail, the documents lay bare the once-furtive activities of an unaccountable elite, largely made up of rich and powerful men from business, politics, academia and show business. The pages tell a story of a heinous criminal given a free ride by the ruling class in which he dwelled, all because he had things to offer them: money, connections, sumptuous dinner parties, a private plane, a secluded island and, in some cases, sex.

The chasm is vast between how functional democratic societies (even ones with a monarch) are responding and how the United States is coddling the Epstein elite. As Brown put it, “It’s astonishing how much accountability seems to be possible once you cross the Atlantic.” She observed, “Meanwhile, neither the U.S. Justice Department or the Treasury Department seems to have made an effort to ‘follow the money’ involving some of Epstein’s friends and associates.”

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At least two factors may account for the abhorrent lack of consequences for MAGA political elite. Most critically, the entire Republican Party, which controls all three branches of government (yes, the Supreme Court, too) has been captured by a corrupt, authoritarian movement in which loyalty to Trump supersedes any legal or moral obligations. Every Republican who continues to support Trump and Lutnick — e.g., refuses to call for independent legal investigation and for their resignation (at the very least for dissembling to voters about the extent of their Epstein ties) or countenances Bondi and Blanche — is an Epstein enabler. Only when the MAGA Republican Party is forced from power and compelled to reconstitute as a normal, pro-democracy party embracing the rule of law and simple decency can we hope for accountability for the Epstein elite.

Second, the legacy media has utterly failed to hold the MAGA political elite accountable, insisting on maintaining a pose of “objectivity” even in the face of a pedophile coverup, authoritarian repression, and abject corruption. So long as they refuse to confront Trump, other MAGA officials, and Epstein-connected characters at every opportunity on Epstein, the patina of business as usual will continue.

This phenomenon need not persist. Democrats, responsible media outlets, civil institutions, and all decent Americans need to lay down some markers. First, there should be broad-based, bipartisan agreement that Lutnick, Bondi, and Blanche must resign, be fired, or face impeachment (the need for the latter alone would justify booting out MAGA GOP majorities in both chambers of Congress). Second, a fully independent and credible investigation (e.g., a bipartisan committee of Congress or state or local prosecutors) must investigate Trump’s relationship with Epstein, find out what he knew and when he knew it, and determine whether he lied about his association. If, as some documentation suggests, Trump knew or should have known about Epstein’s pedophilia ring and/or misled Americans about the extent of his relationship or knowledge, Americans should demand that Trump — like so many other world leaders — leave office in disgrace. (Will that happen? Don’t count on it, but then consider what that says about our broken legal and political system.)

In sum, the persistence of the untouchable political Epstein elite is the most vivid evidence of the decrepit state of our democracy. If we want the rich and powerful to be held to account (i.e. everyone is treated equally under the law), then we need to replace a system dominated by authoritarian-minded oligarchs with one responsible to the voters.

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Stepping Back

I don't know how anyone can blog every day.  I know I tried it in December but I chose an easy topic to address day after day: Christmas ornaments & decorations.  I could write more than one of those a day and schedule them for posting.

I can't live on this computer - there's just too much else requiring my attention.

Exercising at least 4x a week is one of those things.  If I'm going to do it I must get to it in the morning. Afternoon is much too late.

My exercise routine includes this one.

HERE 

2 miles - 30 minutes.

Homeschooling Granddaughter #1 once a week, usually Thursdays, is another time commitment.  

Yesterday was a lighter day for me because she had a standardized math test to do on line.  It's still required my being present and dealing with the laptop when it froze up.  A call to testing center brought her back on line to complete the test.

Next week I have Granddaughters #3 & #4 here all week from Buffalo.  Sunday we drive to Utica to meet up then return home.  We repeat that the following Sunday.

I'll be lucky to even turn on my computer while they are here.

I know I've been resorting to reposting The Contrarian articles and below is a portion of today's:

Undaunted in Georgia

A rising star looks like a winner for 2026.

JENNIFER RUBIN FEB 13

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Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) has found his voice and his moment in his reelection campaign. In a recent rip-roaring speech, he clobbered the Trump regime for its economic blunders, moral rot, and increasing inability to hide either from the American people.

His most memorable line hit the regime’s connections to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the wider lack of accountability from rich, powerful men. “Now, you remember we were told that MAGA was for working-class Americans. Do you remember that? But this is a government of, by, and for the ultra-rich,” he said. “It is the wealthiest Cabinet ever. This is the Epstein class, ruling our country. They are the elites they pretend to hate.” The powerful analogy to Epstein goes beyond the subset of men who had direct dealings with him. It points to the billionaire class that plunders the economy, compromises institutions (e.g., news outlets), and supports a cruel, racist autocrat.

Ossoff continued ticking off Trump’s domestic outrages. “So, prices are up, jobs are going away, Medicaid and school lunches are slashed, nursing homes are getting defunded. If you’re Steve Bannon and your pitch was Trump for the forgotten man and woman, how do you sell any of this?” Instead of fighting for average Americans, Trump is “literally closing rural clinics and hospitals to cut taxes for George Soros and Elon Musk,” Ossoff observed.

His forcefully delineated Trump’s racism, sickness, and corruption:

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com

Ossoff: "You're seeing what I'm seeing, right? The president posting about the Obamas like a Klansman."

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 23:38:48 GMT

View on Bluesky

On ICE he thundered: “Why are roving gangs of masked men — who look like they couldn’t pass the Army physical exam — dressed up like pretend Delta Force operators on our streets, demanding papers, dragging people from their cars, and shooting people to death?” (Though Ossoff has been a strong critic of Trump’s draconian and illegal immigration raids, he did not dismiss voters’ legitimate concerns about a secure border. “The American people demand and deserve secure borders,” Ossoff said last month. “The American people also believe every human being should be treated with dignity and respect.”)

But I'm not going to keep this up or at least not post the articles in entirety. For the rest of this article go to The Contrarian  here.

I haven't even set up my Books Read for 2026.  Maybe I'll skip it this year.

Any way you'll be seeing less of me for while.  If I'm able to I'll try to stop by your blogs.

Words & Phrases

‘Accountability’ has to mean something

JENNIFER RUBIN FEB 10

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If there are never adverse consequences for those who abuse others, break laws, and lie about their misdeeds, we should stop promising “accountability.” With every revelation from the Epstein-Trump files and every maddening redaction of a perpetrator’s name, we see there is very little to no “accountability” for those who preyed on children, feigned ignorance of child rape, and/or continued to pal around with Jeffrey Epstein after he plead guilty to two charges, served (cushy) prison time, and registered as a sex offender.

(Credit: Christopher Ames)

Before any files were released, the perpetrators’ apologists said we did not know the names of those to hold accountable. Now, with so many perpetrators’ and enablers’ names revealed, some will no doubt argue we cannot hold anyone accountable. “Where will it end?” Well, when every single person receives punishment commensurate with their conduct. Indeed, the number of Epstein associates is evidence of a monstrously extensive pedophilia racket — not the excuse for doing nothing. We are left to grapple with a horrifying reality: Throughout the worlds of politics, finance, sports, and academia, child rape has been all too common and tolerated.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s infamous assertion is bone-chilling in its moral obtuseness. “It isn’t a crime to party with Mr. Epstein,” he said. For starters, what one did during the “partying” may certainly have been illegal. Beyond that, the notion that everyone not convicted of a crime escapes all blame is morally obnoxious and repulsive. Obviously, criminal punishment for those who raped or facilitated rape provides accountability for one segment of the cesspool of wrongdoers. But there must be some form of accountability for those who knew rapes were occurring and did nothing, as well as for those who, after Epstein’s crimes were made public, continued to socialize with him, thereby normalizing his conduct.

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Where do we start? Complete transparency is essential. Every non-victim’s name must be disclosed. When criminal prosecution (state or federal) is possible, that should be vigorously pursued. Members of the administration who continued to cover up elite men’s association should be fired, face impeachment, and/or be referred for professional conduct. But all facets of society need to be engaged for those who frequented Epstein’s parties with underage girls and/or continued to socialize with him after his conviction. Professional associations and licensing bodies must examine their members’ conduct; government departments must create guidelines to assess their employees; sports leagues must review franchise owners’ and players’ conduct; and shareholders and boards of directors must establish standards for management.

Beyond Epstein’s pedophilia cover-up, we must face up to the entire culture of impunity, cruelty, and unaccountability that defines the Trump regime. What will we do about all those who committed crimes, undermined democracy, and lied to the American people? Real accountability must not stop at Trump and his Cabinet but extend to larger circles of policy implementers, party supporters, and civil society enablers.

(Credit: busra İspir)

History provides some guidance. When the Nazis fell from power, the apartheid government in South Africa collapsed, and Communist governments crumbled, thousands and thousands of people had blood on their hands. The successors to those regimes did not throw up their hands, declare, ‘Too many evil people, too hard to punish!’ or propose that it was “time to get onto something else” (as Trump demands we do with Epstein). Even when the perpetrators technically were following laws of those regimes (unlike Epstein’s grotesquely illegal child rape ring), the successor governments employed trials and criminal punishment, public naming and blaming, and ostracism from leadership roles in the new society to reckon with the past. Entire countries wrestled with the issues, and mass public education began (and continues to this day), with the aim to deter such conduct in the future. We had better start thinking about and enforcing “accountability” if we hope to see any for the Trump regime.

The task seems especially daunting in the case of the MAGA regime, given the hundreds — if not thousands — who are abusing immigrants, engaging in corruption, lying to courts, and/or violating their oaths of office or professional ethics. When we consider that Trump likely will pardon hundreds (thousands?) of his minions (and we can only imagine the hue and cry that we move on, rather than dwell on the past), the urgency of actually addressing “accountability” becomes clear.

When it comes to Trump regime lawbreakers, accessories to torture at hellholes like CECOT, corrupted prosecutors pursuing Trump’s enemies, officials lying under oath, or plotters aiming to steal the 2026 election, accountability must begin with a collection of facts. Congress, bar committees, commissions, state and federal prosecutors, and other bodies can assemble evidence and encourage whistleblowers to come forward. 

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In 2022, Protect Democracy issued a report, “Toward Non-Recurrence,” to grapple with how countries “emerging from periods of autocratic abuses of power” deal with accountability. Protect Democracy’s report explained that: 

Mechanisms ranging from commissions of inquiry to public apologies and professional sanctioning of dangerous behavior should be considered as part of broader accountability schemes working towards non-recurrence. These mechanisms should be viewed as self-reinforcing rather than competing. 

We have done this before, be it through the Warren Commission, the 9/11 Commission, the Jan. 6 Committee, or the Church Committee.

Findings should be disclosed publicly so we can rebut disinformation, victims can pursue their tormentors (as happened when KGB and Stasi files were opened), policy makers can undertake reforms, and, in the case of Trump’s despotism, public education can begin.

Once we know who did what to whom, it will be necessary to determine gradations of wrongdoing. Who broke the law? Who went along with orders? Who helped normalize/protect the worst offenders?

Accountability does not necessarily mean criminal prosecution. Accountability can be in the form of civil damages, firing from government and positions of trust, permanent disqualification from government service, disbarment (for lawyers), military justice (for current and former military), disqualification from management of publicly traded companies (in cases of bribery or other corruption), suspension from government contracting, and private sector sanctions (e.g., loss of tenured faculty positions or law partnership).

As the Protect Democracy report put it, “Unearthing a full and truthful record of wrongdoing, rebuilding robust social norms governing acceptable political behavior, and constructing a shared narrative may be just as important as enforcing consequences for transgressions.”

Compelling Americans not to avert their eyes from the real harm done to individuals, groups, and our democracy might help us re-establish a culture of accountability and reach consensus about standards of public ethics. (For example, we may want to impose government censure and/or civil liability for those in government who fail to report wrongdoing.) That national reckoning could help avoid a repeat of the calamitous Trump regime.

In short, we need to get serious about accountability…or get rid of the term. Vaguely promising accountability without discussing what that entails and with no consideration of concrete mechanisms to achieve it will only perpetuate cynicism, loss of trust, and a general atmosphere of impunity. That applies to the Epstein cohort — and to Trump’s entire anti-democratic regime.

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I've known he is a racist.

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They’ve Always Known He is A Racist...

They just never cared

JENNIFER RUBIN FEB 9

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Why did it take Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) until Friday, after Trump had posted a video portraying former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes, to acknowledge that Donald Trump is a hard-bitten racist? And why has legacy media for so long avoided calling Trump racist? 

Perhaps if Scott, or any number of lawmakers, had spoken up as strongly when Trump questioned Obama’s birth certificate or rode down the golden escalator in 2015 and launched his campaign while calling Mexican immigrants drug dealers, criminals, and rapists, Trump would not have won the presidency the first time. Perhaps if the legacy media had identified Trump as a shameless racist years ago, the political, media, and business elite might have found it harder to normalize him and his neo-Confederate MAGA cohort.

The evidence of Trump’s abject bigotry has been out in the open for decades, from his determination to assign the death penalty to the exonerated Central Park 5 to his nonstop racist commentary about immigrants. His attack on DEI is rooted in this same racism, although the legacy media and timid politicians dare not call it that for fear of being labeled “woke.” Blaming the 2025 D.C. plane crash on DEI; taking down a tribute to Jackie Robinson; replacing MLK, Jr.’s birthday as a federal holiday with his own at our National Parks; trying to write slavery out of the Smithsonian; and arresting Black journalists…are plainly efforts to demean and erase African Americans from our history.

Even before Trump took office in 2025, the ACLU aptly described precisely what he was doing: 

This attack on DEI is part of a larger backlash against racial justice efforts ignited by the 2020 killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, and the nationwide protests — unprecedented in size and diversity — that followed.

The ACLU explained that anti-DEI ideologues frame “their attacks as a strike against ‘identity politics’ and weaponizing the term ‘DEI’ to mean any ideas and policies they disagree with — especially those that address systemic racism and sexism.” This is nothing more than a tactic in “a larger effort by right-wing foundations, think tanks, and political operatives to dismantle civil rights gains made in recent decades.”

Trump has turned the top ranks of civilian and military personnel into a virtually all-white boys club. He has restored the names of Southern slaveholders to military bases; while refusing to appoint a single Black woman to the federal bench in his second term. He has repeatedly hired neo-Nazis and elevated White Nationalist sympathizers. He selected primarily Black and Muslim countries to enforce restrictions and provoke adverse treatment on visas. 

Furthermore, his constant insults directed at women — evidenced by the E.J. Carroll sexual assault verdict, or his ongoing mistreatment of female reporters— leave no doubt about his misogynistic venom. His compulsive dehumanization of immigrants and resorting to enabling White supremacistshave been at the heart of his presidency. It is hard to conjure what more proof of deep-seated racism and misogyny would be sufficient to persuade those who feign inability to know Trump’s real motives.

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It should be noted that, on Friday, in a candid and refreshing move, the New York Times did report: “President Trump posted a blatantly racist video clip…then deleted it after an outcry, including from members of his own party.” The paper also acknowledged the endemic nature of Trump’s racism: “Mr. Trump has a history of making degrading remarks about people of color, women and immigrants…. Across Mr. Trump’s administration, racist images and slogans have become common on official sites.” However, the Times and other legacy media reporters do not persistently grill him on this topic. In failing to put serial examples of his racism in context, they allow Trump and MAGA politicians to skate along with formulaic denials.

Even now, the regime slides by without serious confrontation. The press should continue interrogating the White House press secretary as to why she originally stated that the Obama video clip elicited “fake outrage.” She needs to be pressed to identify the mystery aide who allegedly posted it erroneously (has that “aide” been fired?) This should be the focus when she returns to the briefing room.

Beyond this incident, corporate/legacy media could confront MAGA politicians, examine the racist views of Trump’s voters, or explain that his policies, however rationalized, are racist. The crusade to destroy the Voting Rights Act could be identified as part and parcel of Trump’s aim to return America to Jim Crow politics, and his plan to make the country whiter through mass deportation could be labeled as the full expression of White nationalism. They could reject his excuses (e.g., DEI is all about “merit”) and refuse to let Republicans scamper away or appear on TV without answering about the most recent racist comment.

Cowed for fear of being labeled as “woke,” elected leaders, sports champions, business leaders, and other prominent figures must stop ignoring the regime’s racist underpinnings, the MAGA party’s White nationalism, and the wholesale assault on pluralistic democracy — which the Supreme Court has aided and abetted (e.g., eviscerating the Voting Rights Act, ending affirmative action). They should follow Judge Ana C. Reyes’ example: look to Trump’s own words to discern his motives. We need to stop pretending there are benign reasons for policies and personnel decisions that (wow!) just so happen to bolster white men at the expense of all those easily classified as “others.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had it right in demanding his enablers and sycophants aggressively denounce Trump.

Trump might be president, but the time for mincing words and normalizing his ethnic cleansing campaign (disguised as “immigration policy”) has long passed. All decent citizens should ostracize him when he prioritizes frivolous social functions at Mar-A-Lago rather than attending to the needs of the nation (see: snoozing through the Melania premiere while the country grappled with Alex Pretti’s devastating, baseless murder). 

Let’s say it: Trump is a racist. The Republican Party tolerates — if it does not actively endorse — his racism. Those who normalize him enable racism. His agenda is grounded in racism. 

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