As others have already asked, but with different expectations: Have I missed something? I think I am fairly up to date on the published Epstein documents. None of this seems surprising to me - on the contrary, it’s what I expected (even badly redacted files). So is the idea now that there are documents that incriminate the US-President, files that may even be used as evidence that the US president is a child molester and that he is being protected by government institutions, or have I missed some new developments?
I’m just asking because I’m not sure whether US citizens are only now recognizing their president for what he is, or whether it’s actually a matter of holding him accountable for at least some of his particularly terrible deeds. I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but I can hardly imagine that happening in this system.
But please don’t get me wrong, I also believe that if, despite the regime’s ongoing attempts at censorship, absolutely nothing happens in this matter, the criminal justice system in the US can no longer be taken seriously by anyone. This is probably one of the biggest scandals in US history, involving immeasurable suffering on the part of hundreds of victims. If there are no consequences, if US citizens let this slide even though it is completely obvious that state institutions are actively covering up serious crimes, then they deserve no better.
So, my initial question again against this backdrop: Have I missed something? Is there any hope that somethin could actually change in the US?
The only chance of something actually “changing” is if enough people are disgusted by the Republican party in the midterms where we elect a new set of representatives, that Democrats win super-majority and introduce articles of impeachment and can get it to pass, in which case we get treated to months of circus-like trials where the president may get removed, or more likely would resign for “health reasons” before that could conclude.
The chances of this are slim because the democrat party has the same donors as the republican party, whatever happens is most likely going to be the will of many corporation’s speculative ideas of what kind of outcome and administration will keep their board of investors happy.
It’s more likely going to a slim turn towards Dem control, not enough to do anything but preserve some semblance of status-quo. If it’s either Vance or Trump in power, neither will have the political capital to pass bills or get anything done through house and senate. They will be “lame ducks” almost guaranteed at this point. When “President Newsom” takes the Iron Throne in 2028, he will roll back some of the performative nonsense but keep everything that actually benefited corporations and the Trumpified America will settle in as the new standard, until some new giant, evil clown takes center stage in another ten years and starts the swing right all over again, this time even more hardline and authoritarian.
The system isn’t being upheld at the highest levels because politicians feel like the average American voter feels disconnected from politics. So this means the Epstein files could have 4k video of Trump doing the acts people accuse him of and it won’t matter. Whatever happens from here on out, unless there’s a massive social disruption that hurts a lot of people in some way, physically or economically, there will be no consequence broadly. Maybe some mid-level stooges will go through some show-trials.
Trump may also just fukkin die at any moment, that’s not nothing.
Yes, I also consider this sad truth to be the most likely scenario. I mean, if the Epstein case, which clearly shows that the system is rotten to the core, is not enough to bring citizens out onto the streets and paralyze the country until serious reforms are implemented and those responsible are held accountable, then nothing will ever change and no one will be prosecuted for these terrible crimes. In short, if citizens want justice, they must rise up en masse, and they will never do so despite the monstrous actions of their leaders, even though, unlike in true dictatorships, they are not in immediate danger of life and limb (yet).
As a result, the situation will only get worse, because the unscrupulous monsters at the top realize that they are untouchable and that the American people will let them get away with absolutely anything. As I said before, if the Eppstein case is not enough, I don’t even want to imagine what it would take to mobilize US citizens against their overlords.
The ICE kidnappings weren’t enough. That was the base threshold in my mind. If masked agents grabbing people from your neighborhood isn’t enough to get people rioting, then nothing will. As it stands people are “fighting back” in some areas but that mainly amounts to taking to the streets and herding the agents away… then going back to whatever they were doing before.
People older than me would have said prosecuting/rioting against George W. Bush was the last chance off. Folks older than them would point to Nixon. Folks older than that may point to how we let the Confederate insurrectionist states off wayyy too lightly after the war.
Nothing’s going to be “enough” because USAmericans don’t have the energy in them to fight back. Nothing will make them say “enough” because there is no bite to give. The oligarchs know this. The main politicians who aren’t shunned from all the in-groups (so not the progressives or Q folks) – they all know this.
We are sick and terrified, bound to our lives through a mix of tragic optimism and fear of losing what little we have. The once-middle class cling to their ever-harder lives because they’re afraid of drowning in debt; The poor tread water through debt because they’re afraid of homelessness; The homeless persevere for fear of jail and death and being disappeared to camps.
We’re being played. Every day we push forward to be herded like cattle – worse than cattle, because the system doesn’t care about our health. We keep holding steady pushing through it all and trying to cling to hope of a better future that is clearly never coming. Every two years those on the left been promised a “blue wave” while Dems won’t even stop us getting prosecuted for Marijuana; and those on the right are promised a resurgence to some Great America that only ever existed for most straight white men, and which was created through the suppression of the same businesses that are selling them this lie.
This is all Gloom and Doom because I don’t see a way out of this. They’ve got us in a bind that I don’t think we can escape, even with the full cooperation of all the working class (which itself is just inconceivable). There’s some fundamental weakness of human nature and strength in our systems that got us here, and keep us here.
Yes, exactly, it will only get worse because there is no mass resistance.
Since paedophilia is such a terrible crime that is universally despised by all social classes and political orientations, I think the Epstein scandal is the last chance to trigger mass protests against the obvious depravity of the political system and the open and fatal corruption in government offices. Given the severity of these crimes, this would be an opportunity to overcome the division between left and right in the interests of the population and to rise up against the real enemy, namely the moneyed aristocracy. However, since this will not even happen in the case of this completely perverse scandal, I can’t imagine how it could ever happen.
So it will turn out exactly as you describe: it will get even worse. Presumably, the elite will next transform the country from the usual plutocracy into an actual dictatorship like Russia, which makes resistance even more unlikely due to the tyranny, because then there will be repression on a scale that will make today’s status quo seem mild.
In my opinion, the current regime is already working on this - for example, with ICE, which already has a budget that compares to the military spendings of a medium-sized country and is already quite obviously acting as a secret police force outside the already dysfunctional legal system.
For people like you, who have long recognized the obvious, I am very sorry, but I fear that sooner or later it will come to this due to the apathy of the American people. If they don’t act now, I think they won’t be able to do so at all soon.
I’d say most americans are fully aware that their president is a pedophile and a rapist by this point. Some of us do not accept it unfortunately but they are aware that this is almost a certainty. Nothing has changed though, not really. Trump could personally publish a video of him raping a child on live tv and he would most likely remain the president. He isn’t dead though, not yet
As others have already asked, but with different expectations: Have I missed something? I think I am fairly up to date on the published Epstein documents. None of this seems surprising to me - on the contrary, it’s what I expected (even badly redacted files). So is the idea now that there are documents that incriminate the US-President, files that may even be used as evidence that the US president is a child molester and that he is being protected by government institutions, or have I missed some new developments?
I’m just asking because I’m not sure whether US citizens are only now recognizing their president for what he is, or whether it’s actually a matter of holding him accountable for at least some of his particularly terrible deeds. I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but I can hardly imagine that happening in this system.
But please don’t get me wrong, I also believe that if, despite the regime’s ongoing attempts at censorship, absolutely nothing happens in this matter, the criminal justice system in the US can no longer be taken seriously by anyone. This is probably one of the biggest scandals in US history, involving immeasurable suffering on the part of hundreds of victims. If there are no consequences, if US citizens let this slide even though it is completely obvious that state institutions are actively covering up serious crimes, then they deserve no better.
So, my initial question again against this backdrop: Have I missed something? Is there any hope that somethin could actually change in the US?
The only chance of something actually “changing” is if enough people are disgusted by the Republican party in the midterms where we elect a new set of representatives, that Democrats win super-majority and introduce articles of impeachment and can get it to pass, in which case we get treated to months of circus-like trials where the president may get removed, or more likely would resign for “health reasons” before that could conclude.
The chances of this are slim because the democrat party has the same donors as the republican party, whatever happens is most likely going to be the will of many corporation’s speculative ideas of what kind of outcome and administration will keep their board of investors happy.
It’s more likely going to a slim turn towards Dem control, not enough to do anything but preserve some semblance of status-quo. If it’s either Vance or Trump in power, neither will have the political capital to pass bills or get anything done through house and senate. They will be “lame ducks” almost guaranteed at this point. When “President Newsom” takes the Iron Throne in 2028, he will roll back some of the performative nonsense but keep everything that actually benefited corporations and the Trumpified America will settle in as the new standard, until some new giant, evil clown takes center stage in another ten years and starts the swing right all over again, this time even more hardline and authoritarian.
The system isn’t being upheld at the highest levels because politicians feel like the average American voter feels disconnected from politics. So this means the Epstein files could have 4k video of Trump doing the acts people accuse him of and it won’t matter. Whatever happens from here on out, unless there’s a massive social disruption that hurts a lot of people in some way, physically or economically, there will be no consequence broadly. Maybe some mid-level stooges will go through some show-trials.
Trump may also just fukkin die at any moment, that’s not nothing.
Yes, I also consider this sad truth to be the most likely scenario. I mean, if the Epstein case, which clearly shows that the system is rotten to the core, is not enough to bring citizens out onto the streets and paralyze the country until serious reforms are implemented and those responsible are held accountable, then nothing will ever change and no one will be prosecuted for these terrible crimes. In short, if citizens want justice, they must rise up en masse, and they will never do so despite the monstrous actions of their leaders, even though, unlike in true dictatorships, they are not in immediate danger of life and limb (yet).
As a result, the situation will only get worse, because the unscrupulous monsters at the top realize that they are untouchable and that the American people will let them get away with absolutely anything. As I said before, if the Eppstein case is not enough, I don’t even want to imagine what it would take to mobilize US citizens against their overlords.
The ICE kidnappings weren’t enough. That was the base threshold in my mind. If masked agents grabbing people from your neighborhood isn’t enough to get people rioting, then nothing will. As it stands people are “fighting back” in some areas but that mainly amounts to taking to the streets and herding the agents away… then going back to whatever they were doing before.
People older than me would have said prosecuting/rioting against George W. Bush was the last chance off. Folks older than them would point to Nixon. Folks older than that may point to how we let the Confederate insurrectionist states off wayyy too lightly after the war.
Nothing’s going to be “enough” because USAmericans don’t have the energy in them to fight back. Nothing will make them say “enough” because there is no bite to give. The oligarchs know this. The main politicians who aren’t shunned from all the in-groups (so not the progressives or Q folks) – they all know this.
We are sick and terrified, bound to our lives through a mix of tragic optimism and fear of losing what little we have. The once-middle class cling to their ever-harder lives because they’re afraid of drowning in debt; The poor tread water through debt because they’re afraid of homelessness; The homeless persevere for fear of jail and death and being disappeared to camps.
We’re being played. Every day we push forward to be herded like cattle – worse than cattle, because the system doesn’t care about our health. We keep holding steady pushing through it all and trying to cling to hope of a better future that is clearly never coming. Every two years those on the left been promised a “blue wave” while Dems won’t even stop us getting prosecuted for Marijuana; and those on the right are promised a resurgence to some Great America that only ever existed for most straight white men, and which was created through the suppression of the same businesses that are selling them this lie.
This is all Gloom and Doom because I don’t see a way out of this. They’ve got us in a bind that I don’t think we can escape, even with the full cooperation of all the working class (which itself is just inconceivable). There’s some fundamental weakness of human nature and strength in our systems that got us here, and keep us here.
Yes, exactly, it will only get worse because there is no mass resistance.
Since paedophilia is such a terrible crime that is universally despised by all social classes and political orientations, I think the Epstein scandal is the last chance to trigger mass protests against the obvious depravity of the political system and the open and fatal corruption in government offices. Given the severity of these crimes, this would be an opportunity to overcome the division between left and right in the interests of the population and to rise up against the real enemy, namely the moneyed aristocracy. However, since this will not even happen in the case of this completely perverse scandal, I can’t imagine how it could ever happen.
So it will turn out exactly as you describe: it will get even worse. Presumably, the elite will next transform the country from the usual plutocracy into an actual dictatorship like Russia, which makes resistance even more unlikely due to the tyranny, because then there will be repression on a scale that will make today’s status quo seem mild.
In my opinion, the current regime is already working on this - for example, with ICE, which already has a budget that compares to the military spendings of a medium-sized country and is already quite obviously acting as a secret police force outside the already dysfunctional legal system.
For people like you, who have long recognized the obvious, I am very sorry, but I fear that sooner or later it will come to this due to the apathy of the American people. If they don’t act now, I think they won’t be able to do so at all soon.
The most damning evidence was already out there, this is just corroborating and highlighting what we already knew
It’s very stupid, but it’s working. It’s bringing attention to the darkest details, and the suspicious nature of the redactions is feeding the fire
I’d say most americans are fully aware that their president is a pedophile and a rapist by this point. Some of us do not accept it unfortunately but they are aware that this is almost a certainty. Nothing has changed though, not really. Trump could personally publish a video of him raping a child on live tv and he would most likely remain the president. He isn’t dead though, not yet