# Why is Epstein the scandal that has stuck, and why now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [July 29, 2025, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460 "2025-07-29T11:47:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/61 "2025-07-30T12:08:27Z")
> [@Zoobi](#): > > This is this month’s Signal scandal. When it matters MAGA will fall in line behind Trump Though did the Signal scandal have the slightest impact in Magaland? I don’t think so. Just like every other Trump scandal the mainstream political press was up in arms, twitter was full of jokes about it, and maybe a couple of ‘moderate’ GOP politicians expressed some mild concern. But i don’t think it even reached Trump’s Maga base, let alone got them to change their opinion of Trump. This does seem genuinely different as it has reached Magaland. Whether that will make any difference in the long run I don’t know. But the Democrats need to be pushing on it. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/62 "2025-07-30T12:11:17Z")
Here’s what’s going to happen: everyone’s racist uncle will say, “I haven’t been following the news,” and Murkowski will briefly furrow her brow. Some “moderates” will twist themselves in to pretzels trying to explain why Trump voters are victims and shouldn’t be held accountable for their actions. That’s it. I’d love to be wrong about America. Just once. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/63 "2025-07-30T12:35:15Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Which, in his universe, is just what you do. Sure, but for years Republicans have been extolling laissez-faire, invisible-hand-of-the-market, greed-is-good dogma. By their own standards, Epstein did just what he was supposed to; he outbid a competitor to get an employee that he wanted. And the woman in the spa (or were there more than one) did what was in her interest, too. If Trump wanted to keep her as an employee, he should have paid her what the market decided her services were worth. He didn’t. He tried to cut a secret deal to keep the wages of an employee artificially low. In the story he told, he’s the jerk. Not only have I not heard any free-market conservatives condemn him, I haven’t heard anyone even mention this aspect of the story. I admit it’s the smallest of small potatoes, pretty much a rounding error in the scope of the Epstein affair, but there are times when I feel like I’m the only one who even notices some things. All of which assumes the story Trump told is even true. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/64 "2025-07-30T12:45:14Z")
Forget wages, Trump knew exactly why Epstein was hiring cute teenage girls away from Mara-whatever. And what’s the deal with multiple, minor girls working at a spa in Trump’s club? Is that normal? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/65 "2025-07-30T13:33:48Z")
The whole thing is skeevy as hell. My point was just that by Trump’s own words, in the story he told to try to distance himself from Epstein, Trump is the villain. At least by the standards that Republicans have claimed to stand for for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/66 "2025-07-30T13:41:04Z")
The only standard is “They are evil-We are not”, and it really doesn’t matter what is actually done. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/67 "2025-07-30T13:41:38Z")
No, I get it. It’s just the utter entitlement and sickening disregard for the well-being of others that blows my mind. People who consider themselves moral and religiously upstanding support these monsters. I’ll never understand. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/68 "2025-07-30T15:04:42Z")
Also, Trump’s horseshit about breaking ties with Epstein because of his supposed employee poaching? Here’s the timeline: Year 2000: Epstein-Maxwell “took” Virginia Giuffre from Mar-a-Lago 2002: Trump said most infamous line about Epstein being a “terrific” friend and liking “younger” ones 2003: “Birthday Book” Drawing and Weird mini-screenplay about Enigmas never aging. 2004: Trump “rupture” with Epstein (squabble over Palm Beach property auction) 2007: Epstein’s account at Mar-a-Lago is closed. ---
**Author:** ![Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/section_maker_jupe/32/1424_2.png) [@Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Section_Maker_Jupe)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/69 "2025-08-01T00:43:42Z")
Senator Ron Wyden does You Tube Livestream at 900pm ET today. […sleazy banks and the cover up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxTI7416P9I) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/70 "2025-08-01T10:14:08Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Well, that’s what Trump says, but consider the source. Claiming it was a real estate deal and not the underage girls makes him look worse. Much much worse. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/71 "2025-08-01T13:47:38Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Here’s what’s going to happen: everyone’s racist uncle will say, “I haven’t been following the news,” and Murkowski will briefly furrow her brow. Susan Collins: > **[https://i.redd.it/fz8yf6jqorb41.jpg](https://i.redd.it/fz8yf6jqorb41.jpg)** > [@Loach](#): > > Claiming it was a real estate deal and not the underage girls makes him look worse. Much much worse. Nobody is questioning whether Trump is an inept real estate developer. For anyone looking at Trump’s business history, than answer is obvious even if you ignore his legacy of driving multiple beachfront casinos into bankruptcy. The question that Trump is currently trying to dodge is whether he was consorting with a known sex trafficker and having sex with underage girls. Frankly, there is enough of history even from his own statements in the past to render an opinion on that issue as well but as long as he can maintain sufficient plausible deniability to give his base to cover their own hypocrisy that will prevent any kind of untoward backlash or demand for a thorough investigation. There remains the question of why it took so long for anybody, anyone at all, to make a vigorous investigation of Epstein and actually prosecute him for his crimes (both sexual and financial), which speaks to the kind of conspiracy that Hollywood screenwriters so desperately try to make seem plausible on-screen. Except this one doesn’t have Ryan Gosling and George Clooney, or is likely to come to a satisfying denouement with a comeuppance in time for the credits. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/72 "2025-08-01T14:01:17Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > Claiming it was a real estate deal and not the underage girls makes him look worse. Much much worse. > > Nobody is questioning whether Trump is an inept real estate developer. For anyone looking at Trump’s business history, than answer is obvious even if you ignore his legacy of driving multiple beachfront casinos into bankruptcy. The question that Trump is currently trying to dodge is whether he was consorting with a known sex trafficker and having sex with underage girls. I’ll let Loach speak for himself but I think you’ve misunderstood what he was saying. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/73 "2025-08-01T14:28:14Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > I’ll let Loach speak for himself but I think you’ve misunderstood what he was saying. I haven’t, but thanks for offering your opinion. Trump is vigorously trying to establish the claim that he didn’t know Jeffrey Epstein well, that he wasn’t aware of any sex trafficking or Epstein ‘recruiting’ and grooming underaged girls (even as he complains about Epstein ‘stealing’ Virginia Giuffre and unspecified other young women from his resorts), and that their falling out was over an unrelated issue in which Epstein bested him on a minor real estate deal. Although that is a transparently false deflection, it gives enough cover for his enthusiasts and even tacit supporters to ‘give him a pass’ on never releasing a complete and unredacted collection of ‘the Epstein files’ or permitting an independent investigation into those records. Congress could, if they collectively so decided, conduct hearings and authorize a special prosecutor to perform an independent investigation but of course they won’t because Mike Johnson and John Thune would never permit it. Meanwhile, aside from Trump’s long history of personal and financial crimes, the nation continues to slide toward autocracy with White Christian Nationalist behind the scenes executing on Project 2025 to dismantle all strictures on government power, eliminate any independent oversight, and setting up for the implementation of a totalitarian theocracy. Not only will we never see this purported ‘Epstein client list’ except in a highly edited and quite possibly fabricated fashion, the whole issue is a media sideshow to distract from the actual threats to democracy, public safety, and preventing economic meltdown that Trump seems determined to pull down on our heads. Whether Trump (and many others) have fucked teenaged girls on Epsteins private sex resort or not, he’ll never beheld accountable even if he went before Congress and openly admitted to it. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/74 "2025-08-01T14:58:02Z")
Since rape isn’t a federal offence, his presidential immunity shouldn’t shield him if a state tried him. Just dreaming here… ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/75 "2025-08-01T15:03:54Z")
Several points: - Rasmussen reports 34% approval (41% disapproval) as of 1 August. This is up from 32% on April 29 (43% disapproval). Rasmussen may be untrustworthy, but I think other polls aren’t much different. Another poll shows 89% approval among Repubs, down from 90%. The whole show just isn’t as big a deal as the Trump-hating media would have us believe. - American news media have been lies, fakery and exaggeration for several years and while MSM don’t lie like the fascists, they do exaggerate. They don’t show the many millions of MAGA fiends who are paying no attention. - Murdoch and the Project 2025 billionaires have gotten all they wanted and more. In fact they’ll have to give some back as outrage grows over cuts to health and education. They don’t need Trump anymore. In fact, because they’ve rigged future elections with voter suppression etc. they can look forward to replacing the oaf with someone smarter. _For this reason Murdoch media (WSJ, FoxNews) are not anxious to push back._ Trump is disposable. - Disposable or not, Trump remains untouchable. Ghislaine Maxwell will point fingers at some enemies: Clinton, Soros, maybe even Obama? and get a pardon after a seemly delay. Kristi the Puppy-Killer may stage some arrests of Clinton and other “Democrat pedophiles.” EpsteinGate may end up a net plus for Trump! - Yes there are a few MAGA fans who are angry about the “Here today Gone tomorrow” Epstein files, but push comes to shove they’ll come around. If their virile hero needed some 15 year-old p\*\*\*y who are they to judge? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/76 "2025-08-01T15:24:33Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Since rape isn’t a federal offence… That is absolutely not true, and particularly for cases crossing state lines or trafficking across the US national border: > **[18 U.S. Code Chapter 109A Part I - SEXUAL ABUSE](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/part-I/chapter-109A)** > **[List of Federal Sex Crimes & Types of Charges | Federal Charges.com](https://www.federalcharges.com/list-of-federal-sex-crimes-types-of-charges/)** > > Federal sex crimes are some of most serious offenses in the United States. These types of federal crimes are associated with the most severe penalties, typically involving a significant imprisonment term, fines and sex offender registration which may... > **[Sex Offenses](https://www.ussc.gov/topic/sex-offenses)** Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/77 "2025-08-01T15:24:35Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > > [@Mijin](#): > > > > I’ll let Loach speak for himself but I think you’ve misunderstood what he was saying. > > I haven’t, but thanks for offering your opinion. You’re welcome. It remains the same, because it’s absurd to suggest anyone believed that being a bad real estate mogul will be seen as a worse crime than people trafficking or engaging in sex with minors. As opposed to, say, that it is worse if he fell out with Epstein over real estate because it implies he _didn’t care_ about the more serious crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/78 "2025-08-01T15:26:14Z")
Dang. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/79 "2025-08-01T15:43:38Z")
The Indy faction is falling away. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460/80 "2025-08-01T16:03:42Z")
The New York Times reports that > Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein now serving a 20-year prison sentence for sexually exploiting and abusing teenage girls, has been moved from a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida to [a federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas](https://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/bry/), her lawyer said on Friday. > > The move, which was reported earlier by The New York Sun, came about a week after Maxwell was interviewed over two days in Tallahassee about the Epstein case by Todd Blanche, the No. 2 official in the Justice Department and one of President Trump’s former lawyers. > > Maxwell’s lawyer, David O. Markus, declined to comment on the reason for the move. I don’t know who is falling apart here, and whether she is convicted of a federal crime or not, but I wonder what “minimum security” means. Can she go out, order a pizza, receive visitors in private rooms? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-epstein-the-scandal-that-has-stuck-and-why-now/1021460.md?page=5)