Donald Trump’s Jeffrey Epstein problem just keeps getting bigger
“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Donald Trump said of Jeffrey Epstein in 2002 to New York Magazine. “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.”
Six years later, Epstein was busted for trafficking in underaged girls, but was hit with much lesser prostitution-related charges by Trump’s current Labor Secretary, Alexander Acosta. Acosta ensured that Epstein would only serve thirteen months in county jail and could come and go from the facility as he pleased, per the plea agreement Acosta devised. Acosta also ensured that the victims of Epstein’s sexual violence wouldn’t be able to contest the plea agreement, because it was intentionally kept hidden. Epstein lives in the U.S. Virgin Islands now, his freedom and riches intact. Acosta referred to the Epstein plea deal as “a point of pride” during his confirmation hearings in 2017.
Of all the candidates surely qualified to run Trump’s Labor Department, why would he ever choose child prostitution enabler Alexander Acosta? It would certainly seem as if Trump’s publicly stated admiration of Epstein should lead to a few questions about that decision. Maybe Alan Dershowitz, famed Harvard law professor and Trump’s most reliable and vociferous legal expert-cum-defender can give him a few pointers. After all, he and Clinton inquisitor Kenneth Starr both helped Epstein secure his slap on the wrist when they were key players on his team of lawyers. In fact, Dershowitz says he still advises Epstein to this day. Epstein must have been a really good money manager.
Evangelical supporters of Trump remain strangely silent on all of this. Perhaps they’ve traded every fiber of their moral being for stricter abortion laws and conservative judges? After all, it would seem that child prostitution would at least lead to something like a March For Life by way of response. But since evangelicals who ever supported the notorious lecher Donald Trump are hypocrites, they’ll never hold Trump, his putrid cronies, and fellow power brokers accountable. Even great “Patriot” and Trump’s good buddy Robert Kraft is going down in flames because of his alleged participation in human trafficking. Does Donald Trump know anyone who isn’t a hypocritical asshole?
It makes a person wonder what all of these rich and powerful guys are really up to behind closed doors, and why all these God-fearing Christians seem to effortlessly turn the other cheek. Strange bedfellows. After all, forgiveness requires repentance, but there has been none from Trump. He avoids all conviction. For now.
Protecting children from sexual predators should be a priority for Democrats moving forward, since the president, the GOP, and their evangelical supporters have proven unwilling and uncaring. And Donald Trump should be asked a question about Alexander Acosta every hour until Acosta is fired.
Chuck is a former community reporter, columnist, and Army veteran