When all else fails, a guilty party can shout, “Look, there goes Elvis,” in the hope of creating a distraction. Of course, no one is ever fooled, and invocation of the defense is a sure sign of desperation. Trump left the building on Friday and entered the “Look, there goes Elvis” stage of his presidency. The next stage is “Trump jumps the shark,” but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
In a truly bizarre set of actions designed to distract from the Epstein scandal, Trump called the scandal a “hoax,” demanded that Attorney General Pam Bondi open an investigation into prominent Democrats with ties to Epstein, said he had not ruled out pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell (who was convicted of sex trafficking of minors), and “withdrew his support” for MAGA warrior Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Don’t try to make sense of the above conflicting positions. It’s not possible. And just to add fuel to the dumpster fire, the Trump administration announced that it was reducing tariffs on 200 items from “the grocery,” including coffee and bananas.
Trump then promised to give every American a $2,000 “tariff rebate . . . without increasing the debt.” Of course, Trump has no power to unilaterally allocate funds to Americans from the US Treasury, especially not $430 billion, which would definitely increase the deficit. Fact-checking Trump’s promise to give Americans $2,000 payments from tariff dividends | PBS News.
It appears that the vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act is scheduled for next week. As we approach the vote, we should expect Trump to lash out in even more unhinged ways. And, of course, the more desperate Trump appears, the more he reinforces the notion that there is something truly awful about him in the Epstein files.
As always, the Epstein scandal is about justice for the victims and accountability for the perpetrators. But it would be foolish for those defending democracy not to demand accountability for Trump, and to leverage those demands for political advantage.
Trump is a study in corruption. Trump has created and evaded responsibility for dozens of financial, political, ethical, and sex scandals. If the Epstein scandal is the one that finally catches up to him, good for all of us and good for America!
We must remain relentless in our efforts to hold Trump accountable. It remains unclear if we will succeed in obtaining the release of the files during Trump’s tenure. But we must never let the issue fade. It must be the issue that defines Trump and his enablers for the rest of their public lives.
In a post on Truth Social that was inappropriate in every way possible, Trump called the Epstein scandal a “hoax” and said it was like the “Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats.” He also wrote,
I will be asking A.G. Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice, together with our great patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him.
Pam Bondi then responded by saying that the DOJ would conduct the investigation through the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District in New York.
Former US Attorney Joyce Vance explains the many ways in which the post by Trump and the response by Bondi were inappropriate:
Joyce White Vance (@joycewhitevance.bsky.social) wrote
Count the ways they’re corrupting DOJ: Presidents don’t direct AG’s to open criminal cases, especially ones designating only Dems for investigation when POTUS himself is involved. DOJ doesn’t publicize criminal investigations & the AG definitely doesn’t assign them on Twitter.
But it gets worse. U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton is facing serious conflicts of interest. Jay Clayton was twice nominated by Trump (as the Chairman of the SEC and as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York). Under Trump’s unitary theory of the executive, Clayton reports to Trump—a key target in the Epstein sex trafficking operation. Moreover, while in private practice, Clayton represented both Reid Hoffman and JP Morgan—two of the targets that Trump demanded the DOJ investigate.
The only ethical course of conduct is for Jay Clayton to recommend the appointment of a special counsel to conduct the investigation.
Trump’s post and Bondi’s response effectively ensure that any indictment will be dismissed as a selective or vindictive prosecution. It simply doesn’t get any worse than a presidential statement claiming that a sex trafficking ring for minors is a “Democratic” problem and identifying prominent Democrats that Trump wants the DOJ to investigate.
Of course, Trump doesn’t care about the legitimacy of the investigations. He wants to create as many additional investigations as possible to diminish the significance of an investigation into his conduct or documents in the files that suggest he was involved in sex trafficking, rape, prostitution, sexual abuse, or any of the other crimes charged and civil claims alleged against Epstein and Maxwell.
No one believes that Trump’s “investigation” is anything other than a criminal who is caught in the act yelling, “Look, there goes Elvis.” It is a pathetic, desperate ploy that serves only to increase suspicions regarding Trump’s criminal culpability.
Finally, Trump attacked Marjorie Taylor Greene in a lengthy post on Truth Social, which said, in part,
I am withdrawing my support and Endorsement of “Congresswoman” Marjorie Taylor Greene, of the Great State of Georgia.
[A]ll I see “Wacky” Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!
I understand that wonderful, Conservative people are thinking about primarying Marjorie in her District of Georgia, that they too are fed up with her and her antics and, if the right person runs, they will have my Complete and Unyielding Support. She has gone Far Left, even doing The View, with their Low IQ Republican hating Anchors.
Greene responded on social media as follows:
He’s coming after me hard to make an example to scare all the other Republicans before next week’s vote to release the Epstein files. It’s astonishing really how hard he’s fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out.
I don’t worship or serve Donald Trump.
Marjorie Taylor Greene senses that Trump is weak and that there is an opening for Republicans to resist Trump. She can’t be the only member of the GOP to see the same opportunity to break free of Trump at long last.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem allowed a “no-bid” contract that was part of a $200 million ad campaign to be awarded to a “Republican consulting firm with long-standing personal and business ties to Noem and her senior aides at DHS.” See Pro Publica, Kristi Noem-Tied Firm Secretly Got Piece of $220 Million DHS Campaign.
Second, the DOJ is in settlement talks with convicted-but-pardoned former National Security Advisor for Trump, Michael Flynn. Flynn has sued the US for $50 million for being the subject of a criminal investigation that resulted in a guilty plea by Flynn for lying to the FBI about his secret contacts with the Russian ambassador to the US.
The DOJ is apparently in the final stages of a negotiation that will result in Flynn being paid millions in US taxpayer dollars for wrongful conduct that he admitted as part of his guilty plea. See The New Republic, Justice Department Prepares to Pay Trump Ally Michael Flynn Millions | The New Republic.
The Trump administration is little more than a wealth transfer machine that awards taxpayer dollars to Trump administration officials willing to break the law for him. A key reason for the corruption is the Supreme Court’s grant of immunity in US v. Trump. When we take back control of Congress and the presidency, the first thing we do is reform the Supreme Court—from the ground up.
I spend a lot of time ranting about Trump’s ongoing violations of Article I, which grants the power of the purse to Congress. Trump has violated Article I in just about every way possible, and the mainstream press has ignored that fact. Every time I write about the issue, I can feel readers rolling their eyes and thinking, “Geez! This guy needs to get over this whole illegal impoundment issue.”
But it is a big deal. Trump has effectively circumvented Congress’s power to appropriate funds. On Friday, the NYTimes Editorial Board published an editorial that addressed Trump’s violations of Article I. Rather than me ranting about this topic again, I will quote liberally from the Times’ editorial, here: NYTimes Editorial Board, Trump’s Spending Abuses Are Out of Control. He Shouldn’t Have That Power in the First Place. (Accessible to all.)
The Constitution gives the authority to tax and spend not to the head of state, but to the elected representatives who are closest to the people: the members of Congress. [¶]
President Trump, however, has tried to take Congress’s constitutional power and make it his own. He has repeatedly ignored laws passed by the House and the Senate to spend money, or not spend it, based on his whims and agenda. He has violated the law at least six times, according to the Government Accountability Office, a federal watchdog agency. That total does not include the government shutdown, when he continued to disregard the law.
Mr. Trump’s abuses of spending power fall into three categories.
First, he has refused to spend money that Congress allocated. [¶]
Second, Mr. Trump has spent money that Congress has not allocated. During the shutdown, he paid military troops and some other federal workers without congressional approval. [¶]
Third, the president has taken steps that effectively overturn Congress’s spending decisions [by taking] steps that make it so an agency cannot carry out the mission that Congress envisioned for it. [¶]
Republicans have done little to confront Mr. Trump’s abrogation of Congress’s spending powers. [¶]
Today’s Supreme Court has been far too tolerant of Mr. Trump’s steamrolling of Congress. It has stood by while Trump effectively cancels, after the fact, the agreements lawmakers make to pass a budget.
What’s the point of the appropriations process if the president can just undo it?
If it feels to you that the news cycle has become more volatile and faster-paced over the last two weeks, it is not your imagination. We are witnessing simultaneous crises in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government. State governments are contributing to the sense of bedlam by engaging in mid-census redistricting.
A good coping strategy is to focus on the meaning, significance, and trends in the news rather than the events themselves. Trump’s multiple dumpster fires on Friday created a sense of chaos that, in turn, can create a sense of anxiety and helplessness. However, with just a little perspective, we can see that Trump is in a downward spiral, lashing out at enemies and allies alike—a dynamic that explains 90% of the news on Friday.
Friday, he attacked Bill Clinton, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Thomas Massie. Tomorrow, it will be Adam Schiff, Jack Smith, and Hakeem Jeffries. Those attacks are part of a trend in which Trump seeks to deflect blame by attempting to smear others. We will likely remain stuck in that dynamic for many months, perhaps even years. We cannot overreact to each of the coming attacks—with emphasis on “over.”
We should condemn each corrupt act of retribution and vow to hold those involved in Trump’s campaign of vengeance accountable. That day will come so long as we remain steadfast and focused on our goal of convincing others to join us in the streets and at the ballot box.
Meanwhile, we can find comfort and strength in the throngs of fellow patriots standing by our sides at streetcorners and town squares, in living rooms and overpasses, and in Zoom meetings and on social media.
So, this weekend, let’s take a deep breath and recognize that the chaos is a sign that our movement is gaining purchase with each passing day. We are stronger, more organized, and more effective today than we were only a few short weeks ago. Let’s keep it up. If we do, we will win. Victory isn’t guaranteed, but it is within the margin of effort.
