Donald Trump would rather we talk about his racist comments this weekend than think about these stories about Jeffrey Epstein. We know for a fact that he and his team actually brainstorm outrageous statements he can use to distract at important moments:
- Jeffrey Epstein, who said he used Trump's modeling business as his inspiration, used his own modeling business as a pipeline for coerced sex.
- Just like Trump, Epstein paid off potential witnesses.
- We know that Epstein lied about his wealth, and is suspected of blackmail. Check! (I seem to be the only person who remembers Trump bragging about how he collected dirt from politicians and celebrities by letting them use his golf course properties for rendezvous.)
- We know they co-hosted creepy parties where Trump and Epstein were the only men in a room full of models.
- At a party that included girls as young as 14, a 17-year-old described Trump as a "predator" toward young woman and compared him to a shark.
- "Only" 24 women have publicly accused Trump of sexual assault. He's gonna have to bring up those numbers, because in the week since the FBI press conference, 30+ more Epstein accusers have come forward. You know how Trump needs to be No. 1!
So while of course it is a terrible thing that Trump told congressional women of color to "go back" to their own countries, it is hardly news that Donald Trump is a racist, or that he's pushing ethnic cleansing in America.
It does seem to be news, however, that the president of the United States is closely associated with a sex criminal who is now charged in an entirely new set of crimes. Trump seems to want desperately to change the subject -- which is why we shouldn't let it happen.
Don't let this all fall down the memory hole. It would be the irony of ironies if, after all the illegal and impeachable crimes Trump seems to have committed, it's his inability to keep his spotted mushroom to himself that takes him down.