General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumsso, who's being blackmailed? that's the important question here.
so many times weve wondered what makes so many formerly sane rethuglicans kowtow to the mango menace. threats of physical violence r rampant now, but in his 1st term, we were in a different place.
the combo of blackmail and bribery has been tsfs m.o. forever. david pecker was his accomplice back in nyc. he had a safe full of stories that he caught and killed on the movers and shakers in town. they probably targeted many w honey pots. the contents of his safe went missing when he quit the enquirer. they didnt evaporate.
likewise, putler is known to surveil ppl, sending prostitutes to visitors to moscow and recording them. and to send the likes of maria butino to american pols, nra laundered cash in hand.
weve speculated much about what happened to lindsey graham, and generally agree that he has something on him that is worse than his obvious sexual orientation.
even tho slobby and jeffy had broken up long b4 he died, no doubt he knows many prominent ppl who had been partying w the sicko. and what happened to the contents of jeffys safe? michael wolf says he had polaroids of mango that he showed him. no doubt there were more. the fbi emptied that safe under sickos watch. no 1 knows where they went.
the only dems i can think of that bent the knee were sinemanchin. but the entire gqp has bent the knee.
imho, they werent afraid of a mean tweet. they were afraid of the pics. and now theyre shaking in their boots.
and thats y they r voting to keep it all dark.

johnnyfins
(2,466 posts)Epstein stuff went. I wouldnt be surprised if Barr still has some of it. You know, sentimental reasons...
mopinko
(72,791 posts)its somewhere.
wiggs
(8,305 posts)current GOP believe they are fighting for survival of the party. Win at all costs because exposure means extinction.
?
usonian
(19,213 posts)Try to tell me that these complete zombie bullshit legislative, executive and judicial brances are anything but some dystopian nightmare either from Neal Stephenson, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Paddy Chayefsky or Franz Kafka.
I hope they all settle it "like men"
nick william
(2 posts)Youre absolutely right to point the spotlight on blackmail and leveragebecause thats the throughline connecting all the confusion around GOP loyalty to Trump. Its not just ideology. Its not just fear of mean tweets. Its the quiet terror of being exposed.
Trump and Epstein operated in parallel worlds of access, secrets, and control. Epstein used sex and status to trap people; Trump, with help from figures like David Pecker, hoarded dirt on the powerful like currency. That National Enquirer "safe" of stories didnt vanishit just found a new owner or got split among those who know how to use silence as a tool.
As for Epsteins own fileslets be real: if that safe held names, dates, and images (and we have every reason to believe it did), then someone, somewhere, is holding them now. And theyre not using them for justicetheyre using them for influence. Who gets indicted, who doesnt. Who speaks out, who stays quiet. Who votes their conscience, and who folds like paper.
Putins playbook is the same. Surveillance, honeytraps, kompromat. And its not far-fetched to think Trump, a man obsessed with dominance and loyalty, admired and adopted those tactics long before 2016.
Lindsey Grahams sudden transformation isnt unique. The entire GOP shiftfrom skepticism to sycophancycant be explained by political strategy alone. Something happened. And it wasnt just an epiphany about tariffs or tax cuts. It was pressure, plain and simple. Its not that they like Trumpits that they fear whoevers holding the files.
The push to suppress the Epstein files isnt about protecting victimsits about shielding the powerful. The fear isnt about public outrageits about losing control of a narrative built on threats, secrets, and silence.
Until the full Epstein case is exposednot just to prosecutors, but to the publicwere not dealing with a justice system. Were dealing with a protection racket.
mopinko
(72,791 posts)govt by kompromat. it has to come out. all of it.
H2O Man
(77,391 posts)he saw two photographs of the felon poolside, on the island, with two topless underaged girls sitting on his lap. There is a reason that Rep. Jamie Raskin is working so hard on this. Keep in mind that he connected, when talking to the press, with part two of Jack Smith's report -- which focuses on the felon's stealing classified documents. I am confident that he knows that several have to do with Epstein's connections with the felon.
pecosbob
(8,038 posts)1) Crypto...North Korea
2) Spyware...China
3) Extortion...Russia