Arselochen music

NYT. Needs Truckbombing

Ginevra diBenci

says:

July 18, 2025 at 9:53 am

Glenn Kessler’s article is an execrable piece of “trust me” faux journalism containing numerous shaky-at-best claims. Kessler exonerates Trump mainly because Trump’s relationship with Epstein ended, or cooled, before Epstein’s legal troubles. But that’s an outrageous ducking of the known facts–Epstein’s known predation on minors goes back to the 1980s, when he and Maxwell bought their way into Interlochen Music Camp in order to set up their evil shop amidst the kids there.

The girl they started grooming at 14 there told her story at Maxwell’s trial, so that is a public record of events long before Trump split with Epstein. And he never really split with Maxwell.

Kessler whitewashing Trump’s record here smacks of corporate-speak. There’s no excuse for it in any case.

Reply

Savage Librarian

says:

July 18, 2025 at 10:24 am

I always appreciate your comments, Ginevra. And I’m grateful for your bravery and courageous contributions. They mean a lot to me personally and they add significantly to the conversation. That’s why I know you will forgive me when I point out what looks like a misnomer in this comment. I think you mean Thrush, not Kessler. I can see how it could be an autotype error.

Reply

Sandor Raven

says:

July 18, 2025 at 11:26 am

Name Alert:
NYT = Glenn Thrush
Washington Post = Glenn Kessler

Savage Librarian

says:

July 18, 2025 at 11:56 am

Thanks, Sandor. And sorry, Ginevra. I stand corrected. As you may guess, I was thinking of Marcy’s post, not the comment thread.

Ginevra diBenci

says:

July 18, 2025 at 2:14 pm

SL, I should have made clear that I was referring to the article you linked to, which was by the Post’s Glenn Kessler. Thanks for calling attention to that oversight.

Both Glenns have their problems. Glenn Thrush, on TV at least, seems only now to have a dawning realization that maybe, just maybe, those Trump administration folks aren’t playing straight with us. I don’t know what happened to Kessler–he appears to have let his smug, self-righteous, hectoring persona take over his entire self.

xyxyxyxy

says:

July 18, 2025 at 3:16 pm

re- Ginevra diBenc July 18, 2025 2:14 pm
“ Every so often I remember that Kessler gave Bernie Sanders like four pinnochios for saying “millions of Americans work two or more jobs” because it was like 10 million or so, some plural millions Kessler felt was insufficiently pluraled
https://bsky.app/profile/atherton.bsky.social/post/3lu7osu2i3s22

Amateur Lawyer At Work

says:

July 18, 2025 at 9:27 am

So, do Democrats submit amendments to everything about releasing Epstein files and having Patel, Bongino, and Bondi testify? Seems like an issue where Republicans will say one thing, vote another, AND THEIR BASE WILL NOTICE.

Reply

wa_rickf

says:

July 18, 2025 at 9:49 am

The MAGAts ARE noticing and they are pissed.

When US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that there was no list and no conspiracy, she said, in effect, that the MAGA prophecy of “holding Democrat elites accountable for child sex-trafficking” was phony.

To MAGAts, this was akin to the Pope tweeting: “I’ve reviewed the files and Jesus didn’t rise from the dead. Thank you for your attention in this matter.”

Nick Fuentes summarized the MAGA frustration yesterday:
(WARNING: Graphic language)
https://x.com/Ronxyz00/status/1945842087561183732

Reply

Ginevra diBenci

says:

July 18, 2025 at 9:57 am

Yeah, “graphic language” indeed! When Lawrence O’Donnell let this clip go unbleeped on his show it sure got my attention. I couldn’t believe I was looking at Nick “F**k you!” Fuentes with approval. Politics/steange bedfellows…

Lawrence assured viewers it would be bleeped hereinafter. But I have it on DVR.

Reply

scroogemcduck

says:

July 18, 2025 at 9:39 am

Dems need to keep hammering this issue. “Pam Bondi has had the evidence on her desk since January. She could release it right now, if Trump ordered her to. What is Trump hiding?”

Reply

wa_rickf

says:

July 18, 2025 at 10:02 am

We know that Trump ordered Bondi to do so, because taking orders was the only type of USAG was going to have for Trump 2.0.

Trump told us that by way of complaining about previous USAGs who didn’t. (Jeff Sessions)

Reply

Error Prone

says:

July 18, 2025 at 10:29 am

And NPR and PBS report Epstein stuff during thier death rattles in the House, where Epstein is a covering distraction.

Reply

Memory hole

says:

July 18, 2025 at 10:32 am

Politico has a MAGAt defense story about the Bday greetings. J.D. Vance is quoted, “Does anyone honestly believe this sounds like Donald Trump?”

Well, yes J.D. Everybody believes it does. He always talks like this.
Trump told us that he grabs them by….. He also said he walked in on teenage girls getting dressed for his beauty pageant. His defense on sexual assault charges is that “she’s not his type.”. Like, maybe if she was prettier he would have done it.

Reply

Sue 'em Queequeg

says:

July 18, 2025 at 11:11 am

Or looked more like one of his wives. Oh wait . . .

Reply

zscoreUSA

says:

July 18, 2025 at 10:38 am

Odd error in the Wall Street Journal article: “Epstein and Trump spent time together in the 1990s and early 2000s”

Trump’s own comment knowing Epstein 15 years was from 2002, putting the start at 1987, when Trump was developing his investments with Bear Stearns, being personally managed by Ace Greenberg.

And from Wolff’s Fire and Fury:

With Jeffrey Epstein … Trump and Barrack were a 1980s and ’90s set of nightlife Musketeers.

And late 80’s Trump purchased Adnan Khashoggi’s yacht, then sold to Prince Talal a couple years later.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_5KR

Not sure why Wall Street Journal is shifting the Trump-Epstein relationship to a later date.

Reply

zscoreUSA

says:

July 18, 2025 at 10:42 am

Even a couple paragraphs later in the WSJ article:

A 2002 New York magazine profile of Epstein quoted Trump. “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Trump said. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it—Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”

Reply

zscoreUSA

says:

July 18, 2025 at 10:49 am

Here’s also Ghislaine and Robert Maxwell with Trump in 1989
https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch-donald-trump-and/9383143/

And reporting

Maxwell is the daughter of the late, disgraced English publishing mogul Robert Maxwell whose body was found in the Atlantic ocean in 1991 after he reportedly fell overboard off his yacht. She has lived in the United States for decades and she, Epstein, and the President were regulars on the same social circuit during the 1980s and 90s.

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a33393615/president-donald-trump-ghislaine-maxwell-relationship/

Reply

xyxyxyxy

says:

July 18, 2025 at 11:38 am

Question I’ve seen thrown around is where Epstein got his m/billions.
Did he somehow snooker Robert Maxwell?

Reply

zscoreUSA

says:

July 18, 2025 at 4:22 pm

Doubt he “snookered” Maxwell.

But a theory I have seen is the money that Maxwell snookered from his employees pensions created a fund that Epstein walked away with. Maxwell sons took over the company after Maxwell died, and faced legal repercussions.

Zev Shalev at Narativ has discussed this as a possibility. I am not aware of he or anyone else has seriously investigated that and ruled it out.

Rayne

says:

July 18, 2025 at 3:23 pm

Interesting. Some of Trump’s bonds were in the first Bear Stearns’ vehicles to tank, setting off the financial Jenga in 2008.

Reply

Memory hole

says:

July 18, 2025 at 5:16 pm

And that turned into a windfall for some of his vulture friends. Before the crash he said, “I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy … If there is a bubble burst, as they call it, you know, you could make a lot of money.”.
Then the bubble burst and people like his pal Tom Barrack made out very well.

Reply

zscoreUSA

says:

July 18, 2025 at 6:50 pm

It is also believed that an Epstein April 2007 withdrawal from a high leveraged fund caused the Bear Stearns collapse.

Epstein invested in that fund right after the feds began investigating.
https://archive.is/1Lo62

Reply

Rayne

says:

July 18, 2025 at 7:39 pm

Huh. That’s very interesting. Now I’m going to have to go back and dig through notes I wrote 7 years ago about Bear Stearns, Trump’s bonds, and Fusion GPS testimony before the House Permanent Subcommittee on Intelligence.

RitaRita

says:

July 18, 2025 at 10:56 am

Reporters sometimes get lost in the Tik-Tok weeds and sometimes are too cautious because of fear of lawsuits and other forms of retribution. And sometimes they chase after the shiny baubles and miss the big story.

Is there any doubt that Trump and Bondi are not willing to release the Epstein Files, as Trump had promised? The big story was the failure to release the files as promised. But now the big story is why won’t they release the files. The news media is beginning to connect the dots but is rather opaque (See, for example, Luke Broadwater’s article about timelines in The NY Times). Trump and Epstein were buddies during Epstein’s sex abuse and trafficking. They partied together. They traveled together. Trump was a lecherous playboy. What is the likelihood that, at a minimum, Trump knew about Epstein’s activities and did nothing to stop it?

Reply

Ginevra diBenci

says:

July 18, 2025 at 2:21 pm

One of Epstein’s victims who testified publicly said, when asked about Donald Trump, that she had often seen Trump in Epstein’s house. She described the house as decorated with obscene photos of naked girls in compromising poses; she did not use the term child pornography, but it sure seems apt to me. You know…allegedly.

She found it impossible to imagine Trump being unaware of what was going on.

Reply

RitaRita

says:

July 18, 2025 at 2:54 pm