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I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people, not at all referring to the immoral of this world or the greedy and robbers or idolaters; for you would then have to leave the world.
But I now write to you not to associate with anyone named a brother, if he is immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard, or a robber, not even to eat with such a person.
For why should I be judging outsiders? Is it not your business to judge those within?
God will judge those outside. “Purge the evil person from your midst.
St. Paul to the Corinthians..
Trump has 5 kids with 3 women.
Elon Musk has 14 kids with 4 women.
Pete Hegseth has 7 kids with 3 women.
Linda McMahon is being sued for enabling child sexual abuse.
Trump's affinity for young women has been denied by his defenders, but his own words convict him. Trump, with Howard Stern on the topic of a teenage Lindsay Lohan, stated:
TRUMP: What do you think of Lindsay Lohan?
STERN: She's hot.
TRUMP: I've seen a close-up of her chest. Are you into freckles?
STERN: Imagine having sex with this troubled teen?
TRUMP: She's probably deeply troubled—and great in bed.
From the same interview:
TRUMP: How come the deeply troubled women, deeply deeply troubled.
STERN: Right.
TRUMP: They're always the best in bed. For some reason what I said is true. I mean they're just unbelievable.
STERN: I can tell.
TRUMP: You don't want to be with them for the long term—but for the short term, there is nothing like it.
How is it that this administration, lead by a serial polygamists, who hasn't given any indication he's reconsidered the morality of his conduct, and who is now floundering like a fish on the deck on the Epstein scandal, can be seriously regarded as some sort of Christian leader?
Well, that was always baloney in the first place. Nobody can identify a Christian denomination that Trump is actually a member of. He was a Presbyterian growing up, but he's disavowed that religion. He's sort of generic American Evangelical at best, which makes sense as by and large American Evangelicalism has dumped a lot of Christianity, particularly in the sexual area. . . as long as its conventional.
I've always maintained that Trump has no real allegiance to anything other than Trump. NatCons certainly do, however. NatCons have always known that their vision, which is relatively new in American politics, had very little chance of rapidly advancing as they had no chance of finding a Francisco Franco who could get elected. They're smart, and they also realized that they could coopt populist discontent, something that ironically the Democrats had a chance of doing with Bernie Sanders. And right wing populism legitimately shares some common goals with National Conservatism, which is nationalistic, ethno-nationalistic, and isolationist.
Where the two depart, however, is that populism is always a very shallow stream. Most populists would be happy if "Mexicans" were sent home, and everyone had to be a "Christian", in a fashion that didn't include the Apostolic Faiths, and which didn't really make you "go to Church" on Sundays, or which held that the spouse you married three spouses ago is your real spouse. NatCons, however, have much more intellectual view on everything, and they espouse "traditional values" in the fashion that Franco, or if you prefer, Belloc, would have recognized, and they'd legislate towards that end.
That man isn't Donald Trump, it's J.D. Vance.
The rest of the NatCon agenda is dead in the water if the Republicans don't hold the House and the Senate in 2026. It can't be cemented if Vance isn't elected in 2028. The GOP won't hold the House, at a bare minimum, if the "Trump agenda" becomes any more unpopular than it already is, and it will. It's becoming increasingly likely that the Republicans will lose the Senate. There's no way on earth that Vance can win the 2028 election as a stand alone Presidential candidate.
But if Trump were to go after the impact of the current legislation starts to sink in, the taint might stick to him. That would give the GOP a chance, albeit only that, to ride things out until 2028. And Vance might have a chance if he became President due to a Trump removal. And, the way things work, that might given NatCons a fellow traveler in the Oval Office for a solid ten years, as Vance could complete the last two years of Trump's term and eight years of two terms on his own.
In terms of "removal", I mean that. That's what will have to happen. Trump isn't going anywhere voluntarily. And hence, the 25th Amendment comes in.
Gosh, we'll hear, the stress of things just caught up with the old fellow.
Or gosh, we didn't know he was a diddler.
July 20, 2025
Not too surprisingly, women with a connection to this story have resurfaced, including Stacey Williams, who was a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model featured in the pornography, um, swimsuit, issue at some joint in the 90s. She was also Epstein's girlfriend in the early 90s, showing some bad judgment on her part.
Anyhow, she states that Epstein took her up the Trump tower where Trump groped her while he and Epstein talked, liking it to “some sort of sick bet or game” between the two “close friends". Several of her friend corroborated the story and she offered to take a polygraph tests, although such tests are frankly worthless.
Trump predictably denied this, but it's worth remembering that he has been convicted for the sexual abuse of E. Jean Carroll.
It's also worth remembering that starting in the last decade it became common to support the women making these difficult accusations. And there are others against Trump. Williams doesn't seem to fit into the category of somebody we'd instantly doubt.
At what point will people take this seriously?
July 21, 2025
The president is trying to present himself as if he’s doing something here and it really is nothing,
* * *
It’s not going to be much, because the Southern District of New York’s practice is to put as little information as possible into the grand jury.
Sarah Krissoff, former Epstein prosecutor, regarding the release of the Epstein Grand Jury material.
This material, which may be as little as 60 pages in length, is not the same as internal FBI or prosecutorial files, and therefore is unlikely to satisfy the demand for what the government has on Epstein. Indeed, it's more likely an effort to simply end the controversy by doing very little.
Trump's current mental state, in my view, is heavily impacted by advancing dementia, although he's never been a good guy. What Tommy Tuberville's excuse is, however, I don't know.
Tuberville stated this past week that Trump's chronic venous insufficiency might be due to "battling radicals".
Is Tuberville actually that stupid?
At least in terms of what he says that hits the press, Tuberville says some really remarkably idiotic things. Maybe he's just one of those guys that says dumb stuff without thinking about it, making him seem dumber than he really is. Be that as it may, with Marjorie Taylor Green and Tuberville both in Congress right now, the GOP has a couple of figures that are just stunningly unqualified for their jobs intellectually, if what they say is what they actually think. Tuberville, for his party, gives unintended evidence for the worst stereotypes of football coaches, particularly for somebody like me who doesn't like football.
cont:
Apparently Donald Trump is posting a random video of a girl in a bikini catching a snake on social media.
Oh, that's not weird. . .
July 23, 2025
Mike Johnson sent the House home for an extra long vacation rather than make them face a vote on the Epstein files.
Like that's not odd . . .
Well that must mean that nothing is embarrassing in them, right. . . right?
Oh, some of these folks will have "town halls" on their month plus long break. . . it'd be a shame if they were asked about the Epstein files.. .
Apparently Sen. Lummis doesn't agree with the recess.
Lummis Calls For Cancellation Of August Recess
She wants them to stay in session so they can make appointments that haven't been made. While I'm not at all happy with the illegitimate Trump Administration, she certainly has a point. Six months in and there's still hundreds of unfilled offices. This will be a huge problem by next year, if it keeps up, for Maga's as the next Congress is going to be Democratic.
Trump's talking up his latest nutty conspiracy:
Barack Hussein Obama is the ringleader. Hillary Clinton was right there with him and so was Sleepy Joe Biden, Comey, Clapper. They tried to rig an election and they got caught. And then they did rig the election in 2020. And then because I knew I won that election by a lot, I did it a third time and I won in a landslide.
There must be some sort of statute of limitations on blaming Obama for everything. And by this point, isn't this thin gruel for Republicans? Literally everything is Obama's fault, according to Trump and the satellites in his orbit.
This is somebody nobody else can do. I can get the drug prices down… 1000% 600% 500% 1500%. Numbers that are not even thought to be achievable.
Donald Trump.
Those numbers aren't thought to be achievable as that would mathematically mean pharmaceutical companies would have to pay you to take drugs.
On Jerome Powell:
He has these think tanks. The build buildings for people who think. It’s really not thinking. It’s a little bit of a combination of thinking. It’s something you sort have or don’t have… He ought to raise interest rates.
Donald Trump.
July 24, 2025
It appears that the Wall Street Journal learned a lesson from the tactic deployed by The Atlantic, and held stuff back from its first report on Trump and Epstein. At least one insider is indicating that there's a lot more to come, which if true, would explain why Trump is currently bouncing off the walls.
Yesterday the WSJ revealed that Bondi had briefed Trump on what's in the Epstein files back in May and that his name does occur frequently. The files also reportedly contain child pornography which is why, reportedly, Bondi determined not to release the information as she did not wish to reveal the names of the victims.
This doesn't mean that Trump is associated with child pornography, and we'd note again that so far what Epstein seems to have dabbled in was ephebophilia, not pedophilia, which doesn't mean that he wasn't, as Trump has indicated, a "creep". But things just keep looking worse and worse for Trump.
Indeed, Jon Stewart hilariously noted this on his show, comparing the situation to the most recent Top Gun movie, which I have not seen, with fighter countermeasures being deployed.
I haven't looked, but if there aren't new variants of the bunker scene in Downfall circulating, I'd be amazed. Those in fact would be apt as Trump is desperately pulling out everything to deflect attention from the Epstein story, even suddenly going after the Washington Commanders, demanding that they go back to being called the Redskins. His most dangerous action, however, is now a serious attempt to go after former President Obama on some wild conspiracy theory.
That latter move is not only desperate, it's dumb. Trump is now setting a precedent that prosecuting a former President is perfectly legitimate. . . with it being obvious that if he lives through his term, which is unlikely due to his advanced old age, he could be prosecuted as well. That increases the incentive, we'd note, for him to try to advance an excuse that he can run for a third term in order that he can attempt to guaranty that he'll die in office.
A move to prosecute Obama, it should be noted, is a full blown step from democracy into fascism and its impossible to pretend otherwise. I've resisted the claims that we're now in a fascist state, as we're not, but at that point, we are. Trump appears perfectly willing to take us there.
This also ramps up the 25th Amendment pressure. Trump is in a full on panic. His loyal lieutenant, Wilhelm Keitel, oops, Mike Johnson, seems willing to stay in Berlin, oops, loyal to his Leader, and do whatever is necessary to hide what's in the files even up to the extent of sending the House home so it couldn't vote in releasing the files, but this drama isn't going away.
The files should be released. Yes, that will reveal the names of young women who were defiled by the rich, but the fact of the matter is that keeping their names secret is protecting their abusers at this point. And that reemphasizes that Trump's female accusers have, for the most part, been silenced as well.
Robert Reich's look at the story:
What did he know, and when did he know it?
From Watergate to Epsteingate
So, as a final matter, what is in these files and who is being protected? The conclusion that nobody is, is impossible. Trump is clearly panicked, and we now know his name shows up multiple times, but in what context.
Whatever it is, it's impossible to not conclude that Trump himself is being protected due to proof of a grossly immoral act or character, or that some very wealthy and powerful people are being so protected.
Frankly, it's also impossible not to conclude that these files are going to be scrubbed. Congress may be in recess, but the Administration isn't. That would be a crime, but the current administration doesn't have much of a problem committing crimes. If whatever is in these is bad enough to attempt to prosecute a former President, it's bad enough to take the lighter fluid and Zippo to.
July 25, 2025
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Ghislaine Maxwell yesterday on the renewed Epstein scandal.
Maxwell was the "girlfriend" and then assistant procurer of Jeffrey Epstein. The relationship started off when she was in a period of financial distress, but never developed to what she seemingly likely hoped, a marriage, as Epstein was frank that he liked teenage girls for sex partners, and that wasn't going to change.
Which does, frankly, bring up the creepy "enigma's never age" line of the Trump birthday wish poem.
At this point, if Maxwell comes out and says that Trump had no interest in the high school and junior high set, it won't matter, as people will believe that the politicized Department of Justice is doing Trump's bidding. And she's not going to say otherwise, would be my prediction.
Jerome Powel somewhat gently took Trump to school in a public meeting at which they were both present, with Trump floundering like a fish on the deck when Powell corrected him on a building under construction, and mostly complete, whose budget was approved, apparently back in 2015.
Related threads:
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 99th edition. A second Perverts and Fellow Travelers Issue.
Last editions:
