Why Wasn't the Epstein Files Used in the First Place?

When Donald Trump was running for president in 2016, one month before the election, a video of Trump was leaked where he claimed that he could do anything to a woman because he was famous, even, in his own words, "grab them by the pussy."

There was a lot of outrage when that clip first came out– but it also made a lot of people curious. If he was capable of talking about commiting essentially sexual assault, what else was Trump capable of?

There were rumblings– The Apprentice lost footage that showcases his apparent racism, and the infamous pee tape , which have been kept under wraps or may or may not exist at all.

What did exist, however, were the Epstein files, which up, until recently, have also been kept under wraps, even with the MAGA base wanting to have them released. Now, they've seem to have gotten what they've wished for as a trove– 20,000 documents have been released, which as of this writing, are still being sorted through. However, that same MAGA base, which again, has been, for years, asking for these documents to be released are now attempting a side-step of sorts. It's an obvious side-step too.

It seems the most "transparent" administration in history, as they call themselves, has seemingly given the order to those who want continued access to Trump himself to all but ignore reference to the president in the Epstein files. Though the amount of times Trump is mentioned and how he is mentioned, that's a very hard thing to do.

Trump himself has stopped taking any questions from the press, most likely for fear of saying the wrong thing, for fear of not being able to talk his way out of it like usual, only addressing the released documents on his own social media platform.

Speaker Mike Johnson, has not let the order to "shrug it off" from at least saying he will bring a vote on a bill to release files related to Epstein, speeding up the process after a discharge petition garnered the final signature it needed, a signature provided by Rep. Adelita Grijalva, who was elected on Sept. 23, who added her name to the petition on Wednesday, shortly after she was sworn in. One of the reasons the shut down dragged on as long as it did was most likely due in part to Speaker Johnson avoiding swearing in Rep. Grijalva, hence why the shutdown was dubbed by some as "The Epstein Shutdown."

This move seems more of a "get it over with" decision more than anything else, again, something that was unavoidable due to being brought up multiple times by their own base.

Not for lack of trying, Trump tried to reach out to both Rep. Lauren Boebert and Rep. Nancy Mace. According to CNN, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and FBI Director Kash Patel, planned to meet with Rep. Boebert, a meeting which seems to have occurred, confirmed through her Twitter/X account. Rep. Mace, meanwhile seemed to avoid communication with Trump, claiming they were playing "phone tag." Both had the option to remove their signatures and to their credit did not do so.

Even so, if it does go through the Senate, Trump has the option to veto, who will most likely do so. Even then, a president’s veto can be overridden with a two-third vote in both chambers. That has only happened twice since 2009.

It seems Trump is damned if he decides to veto or he's damned if the files are released and this is most likely why he asked his base for the side-step. Cushion the blow when what information does come out in releasing the files, though, there's only so much cushioning one can do. It's that MAGA base's fault and it's probably the reason there was enough interest for this to happen in the first place.

But why did we need the MAGA base in the first place? Why didn't the Democrats consider the release of the Epstein files? Why wasn't some of this information offered while he was running for reelection? If he's afraid of what is in those files (as he probably should be) why wasn't its release considered during his second or third run?

Epstein was convicted way before Donald Trump ran for President the first time. From the recently released trove, in email discussions with the writer Michael Wolff, he even considered using what he knew about Trump as leverage for a favor, and so, besides the man himself still alive to offer the ugliness that involves his former best friend, there was also the start of a file. And so why wasn't the Epstein association used against Trump before now?

You can make the argument that once again, bipartisanship rears its ugly head- the Democrats not wanting to fight "dirty" for the sake of making the right-leaning but also potential voter base happy for not stooping as low as Trump and his campaign and once again, ignoring its own already established base. Maybe it would have been considered dirty politics? The same sort of politics the right is, meanwhile, known for, even if there's no truth to them.

Also, the politics that involve "bashing" the character of the other side's canidate, well, the left has not only never been good at it– they inexpicalbly seem to stop doing so when they do make some headway. But what if the Democrats continued and went beyond "weird" instead of inviting Liz Cheney to campaign? What if they instead used the information available and leaked it? Or what if the Biden administration outright decided to release the Epstein files? Would it have been enough to do more than sway a few more votes?

And I really hate that this is my answer, but probably not. Not enough to change the outcome of the election.

Would it have mattered? Would evidence of being intimately involved with a known child sex offender be enough? After all, there was a lot of photographic evidence showing Trump at least being extremely friendly with Epstein at multiple events.

But Trump has also bragged about being able to barge into the changing room of the Miss Teen USA pageant, where he was able to see young women in states of undress. He even called it a "perk" of owning the pageant. A lot of people would consider this a big red flag, however, it was still known, and yet didn't hurt his chances in polilitics. A clip of Trump bragging about being able to sexual assault someone was released a month before the election and that wasn't enough to sway voters.

And so because, just based on that, I hate to say it, but the answer is yes, the MAGA fanbase was needed for the Epstein files to matter as much as they do now in politics.

For the sake of the betrayal of the "true believers." Those who thought Trump was "Q" and was going to reveal this cabal of child sex traffickers. See Majorie Taylor Greene, currently fueding with the president, one of the first elected who believed there was a cabal of child sex traffickers made up of the rich and powerful (pizzagate) , a cabal that was made up of the powerful. She was half right– though Epstein was an open secret, there were and are a group of powerful people, unpunished, who exploited young victims. Unlike others in her base, who are attempting to side-step the fact that Trump was part of this group, she at least seems betrayed enough to continue going after Trump. Though any credit she might have deserved should not even be considered due to her vile hands in other conspiracies, etc.

For those that even though they knew about and supported sexual assaulter pussy-grabbing Trump, they can't support a child sex trafficker, because, well, that would be the line. Because it would be "hypocritical" if they wanted to expose those who leaned left and not those who leaned right.

So yes, it was his base that got him into the situation he's in now- they wanted to expose powerful child sex traffickers for who they are– they are getting what they wished for– exposing the most powerful man on the planet, who was at least friends with a known child sex offender.

The Right has its share of sex traffickers, so it was bound to happen sooner than later. I guess the right should be careful what they wish for.

As finishing this up, Donald Trump has now encouraged the release of the Epstein files by promoting that House Republicans vote for a bill that would force the Department of Justice to release said files. Of course, being president, he could just order the Department of Justice to release the files without a vote needed, so make with that what you will.