Sad but true. and these emails- while nasty allegations- are mostly 2nd or 3rd hand. While some can be certain “where there’s smoke there’s fire”- and i can understand that viewpoint- nothing released would lead to a criminal conviction. But I will bet trump is MAD!
That’s real news.
Previously I had read that the Senate was sure to vote against release, regardless of that the House did. But it the House votes as anticipated by Politico, there would seem to probably be the needed 60 voters in the Senate.
Then Trump presumably vetoes, although him drawing out the drama and then saying he changed his mind is possible.
Even Fox News is getting into it. Their headline:
“Jeffries unveils last-minute ploy to extend Obamacare subsidies through Trump’s term”
Oh, wait, I thought that was Jeffrey Epstein. Hmmm. Reading further down:
“Spin Doctors: House GOP releases Epstein emails showing media contacts and advice on repairing image”
There you go, Trump was only hanging out with Epstein to help repair his image (ambiguous antecedent on purpose, because I don’t know who was repairing whose image)
Agreed.
Barring a completely incapacitating medical issue, something which is totally unpredictable , there is no way to sink him.
However, we now can say, by the preponderance of the evidence, Trump spent hours alone with a young prostitute. The quality of the evidence here (email from Epstein sent years later) is not anywhere near as high as the evidence that DJT walked into the Miss Teen USA dressing room, but the severity of the crime for which there is new evidence is a lot worse.
I think this slightly lessens Trump’s power – especially if soon accompanied by slightly lower polling numbers, as likely. There’s no way to measure such a loss of power. But I cannot believe GOP SCOTUS judges will fail to be unconsciously affected.
Donnie’s spokesmodel says that these emails prove his innocence. Also, black is white, and there is no water in the Pacific Ocean.
Johnson says the House vote on the files will take place next week and insiders expect 100+ Republicans to vote for it.
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/11/12/congress/house-epstein-vote-gop-defections-00649624
If Trump was smart (LOL) he’d start asking Future President Vance for a pardon about now.
I kind of agree with the skepticism, and hate to get burned again when Teflon Don possibly goes about his term unscathed. But there seems to be a LOT of Republican support for getting this made public all of a sudden. Not just camera-hungry nut balls like Boebert, Mace and MTG, but over 100 Republican Representatives now planning to vote for releasing the files. Just the possibility of the discharge petition having enough signatures sent Trump and his team into a fucking SCIF to discuss this like it was the Bay of Pigs. Plus, it’s the Republicans on the House Oversight Committee who released the 20,000+ emails that are coming across as pretty ugly for Trump, and probably aren’t even a tenth as bad as the actual Epstein Files.
Something seems a little different this time. Last week Republicans got their own asses handed to them at the ballot box after just one year of Trump’s shitty governance. Maybe some of these elected turds are thinking it’ll be even worse in another year, especially if they’re seen as doing anything to protect a person who is very obviously a child rapist. Or maybe the Peter Thiel/Project 2025 crews think it’s time to execute Order 48 and put Vance into his rightful position of power.
The last time I really, really engaged with a MAGAt, I got him to admit the tariff situation wasn’t going as they hoped and he understood it was the importer who paid for them. When I asked him if Trump was lying when he told us China would pay the tariff or didn’t understand how tariffs worked my MAGA acquaintance simply shut down. Either option put Trump in a negative light and that simply wasn’t acceptable.
I mean, I’ve only seen a few of the emails, but what I’ve seen is about as close as you can get to Epstein saying “I sure do love being pedophiles with my friend Donald Trump, I sure hope nobody finds out about all that pedophilia we did”, and it’s not exactly couched in the kind of language where you could say they’re actually talking about something innocuous. It’s pretty much laid bare for anyone to see that at the very least Trump knew what was going on the entire time and was probably complicit. He literally describes him being so focused on staring at teens in bikinis that he faceplanted into a sliding glass door like a character in an ‘80s college sex comedy.
Re Politico Story.
just happened to see Massie on CNN. He said he expects 40-60 Republicans vote for it. Maybe more, who knows.
something like that. It’s consistent with the Politico numbers which say “several dozen” and then says “possibly” 100+
This, in my opinion, is the most tantalizing part of this whole thing. I agree with others that Trump can just brush off whatever information is released, and his base will lap it up.
But, if so, why such a serious response? Trump and his team treated the release of Epstein files like it was a matter of national security.
L’etat, c’est Trump.
If it’s anything less than 60 senators, then Trump signs a veto and that’s the end of it.
Well, not quite the end, because the mid term elections better run on the platform of “Don’t vote for whoever let the pedos off.”
To be fair, AFAICT there’s no reason to suppose that Epstein-facilitated sexual abuse of minors involved only Republicans. I haven’t heard of any specific Democratic associates of Epstein being tagged as child abusers, and certainly the Democrats have been far more proactive in demanding release of the documents, wherever the chips may fall. But I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it turns out that Epstein’s “pedo ring” players include some Dem names.
A Presidential veto might be best case scenario actually. Could you imagine.
If it does die down, it’ll come back if the Dems control a a part of Congress. Bipartisan too.
Because Trump is smart, he appointed a cabinet of loyalists. So, no 25th amendment risk.
This from the New York Times is exactly what a smart authoritarian does to prevent loss of power:
I think you answered your own question. The Epstein scandal risks the security of the Trump regime. That’s why we have this thread. But it’s also why Trumpworld is making sure Trump doesn’t get the Nixon treatment.
For Trump, yes. A veto would show strength, create drama, and give the false impression that the Justice Department is still independent.
No smoke like when Captain Kirk talks a computer into self-destructing?
Fox News, Breitbart and other right-wing media are either acting like this new isn’t out, or downplaying it as Dem spin. What will it take before the media that the right watches gets some actual news?
I was never suggesting the 25th amendment was in play. I was implying that Trump will likely soon find himself in Nixon’s situation of losing his party’s support in Congress.
We’re hearing there could be 100 House Republican votes to release the files. If we get about 75, then with every Democrat voting yes that’s enough to override a veto. In the Senate you’d need 20 Republicans out of 53 to break ranks to override a veto or secure a conviction in an impeachment, which admittedly seems far-fetched - but out of those 53, 35 are either retiring or will not be up for reelection until 2028 at the earliest and are never going to have to worry about Trump damaging their future campaigns. And then there’s Thune. Thune’s not a MAGA loyalist. He’s been in the Senate since long before Trump and will likely be there after Trump’s gone. He’s not up for reelection until 2028. He was elected Majority Leader in SPITE of Trump, not because of him - Trump wanted Rick Scott because Scott was willing to abolish the filibuster and Thune isn’t. There’s no love lost there and I can see plenty of Senate Republicans doing the cold calculations and deciding it’s time to shore up their position in a post-Trump world by sticking the knife in his back now.
Trump getting President Vance to pardon him after he resigns to avoid an impeachment might be his best way out at this point. I’m not saying it will definitely happen, but it seems likelier now than it did in the past.
Regardless of how this turns out, it’s nice to see Trump scared again.