The Common Thread Between the Epstein Coverup and Trump’s Corrupt Pardons
Two scandals, one truth.
I continue to be completely bewildered that the biggest story in the country isn’t Donald Trump admitting—on live TV, on 60 Minutes, just two weeks ago—that he has no idea who he’s pardoning. He said it out loud, and the media just kind of shrugged and moved on.
Now, obviously, this past week we’ve all been rightly focused on the new Epstein emails—and we should be. That story matters. Two thousand girls and boys were trafficked and abused by a network of powerful, connected predators who have never faced real consequences.
But the thing is—these two stories are essentially the same.
I went to see Scott Galloway and Kara Swisher record their podcast in Chicago last week, and Galloway said something that stuck with me. He said, yeah, he dislikes Donald Trump and everything he stands for—but if one of his kids got in trouble, he knows he could drop a few million dollars and buy access to the president. Essentially buy a pardon.
And that right there is the entire problem.
The pardon power exists for the moments when the justice system fails. It’s not supposed to be a goddamn get-out-of-jail-free card for rich people and their kids.
But we’ve built a justice system that’s fundamentally two-tiered—one for the rich and powerful, and one for everyone else. The connected can bend it, break it, and abuse it without consequence. They get away with everything.
Just look at who Trump’s pardoned:
A crypto scammer his sons told him to pardon.
George Santos.
Rudy Giuliani, who tried to help him steal an election.
A Ponzi schemer who, after being pardoned by Trump in 2021, went on to rob people of tens of millions more—and will probably get another one from Trump again.
Ghislaine Maxwell, sitting in a minimum-security prison, biding her time for the commutation she clearly expects—reportedly enjoying custom meals, private visitation, and a slate of outrageous privileges for helping bury Epstein’s trail for Trump.
Cop beaters from January 6th.
Drug dealers.
Sexual abusers.
The list goes on and on…
And let’s be clear: these aren’t mercy cases. These are transactions. These are pay-to-play pardons.
And we’re all just... sleepwalking through it.
We always ask why a third of the country doesn’t even bother engaging with politics. Well—why would they? What’s the return on investment? What’s the point of showing up if the game is rigged?
Disenfranchisement from civic life is what happens when the people in charge—who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and rule of law, from both parties—can get away with anything, including abusing and trafficking kids.
What the hell are we doing?
I keep going back to the 2008 financial crisis—because I’m gonna beat that drum until the day I die. One of Obama’s biggest mistakes (and I love the man, don’t get me wrong) was not holding the people who crashed our economy accountable. They ruined lives—tens of millions of them. People lost their homes, their jobs, their futures. And the people responsible walked away with a goddamn government bailout.
That moment broke something. It told people the system would never work for them. So why vote? Why care? Why not just clock a few extra hours at work or spend time with your family instead of pretending this is a functioning democracy?
And then Democrats come along saying, “We’ve got to defend democracy, we’ve got to protect our institutions,” as if those institutions haven’t already failed huge swaths of the country.
I got asked on NewsNation the other night by Leland Vittert whether the Epstein files actually matter.
I don’t know if they matter politically. I doubt the Democrats win any votes by going all-in on Epstein.
But some things transcend partisanship—and the Epstein files are one of those things. The American people will remember who supported transparency and the release of the files. And they will remember who did everything in their power to hide them.
And let’s be honest—if those files ever do get fully, transparently released, there are absolutely going to be Democrats in there. And that’s fine. I want them out of the party. I want them exposed. I want Republicans exposed too. And independents. Celebrities. Wall Street guys. All the people Epstein kept in his pocket like so many nickels and dimes—(allow me to quote The Godfather for a moment).
This goes beyond politics, beyond left vs. right, blue vs. red.
It’s about morality. It’s about decency. It’s about doing what’s right and doing your damn job—that is, actually responding to the will of the American people.
What does it say about this country if we let people off the hook for trafficking kids?
What does it say when the most powerful person in the world—the President of the United States—can cover it up and walk away?
It says we’re rotten. That’s what it says.
And I’m frustrated. Maybe I’m naive, but I want a system where everyone gets a shot—and everyone gets held accountable fairly. No more of this two-track justice system.
Because I promise you—if you or I did even a fraction of what’s in those files, we’d be rotting in prison right now. And rightfully so. And I want the same standard applied to every single one of those sick bastards.
Maybe we’re past the point of actual accountability. But the very least we can do is force these people into the light. Make them explain themselves. And if they can’t, if they won’t—then they should be run out of civil society. Period.
As Democrats—as people trying to rebuild this party from the inside—we’ve got to earn back trust. And that means proving we have the guts to go after the rot, even when it’s on our side: Epstein files, pardons, insider trading in Congress, and everything else.
The Epstein cover-up is just the tip of it. They’re the ugliest, most obvious symptom of a much deeper cancer. A system that strips people of their dignity so a handful of corrupt billionaires can squeeze out a few more dollars with virtually no accountability.
We can do better. And we should. And we cannot—cannot—let Trump and Bondi and Kash bury this scandal.
Not this time.
Terrific article and on point. I esp resonate with your feelings regarding Obama. Love the man but that was his huge mistake and unleashed the go sign on white collar corruption. Prosecuting Wall St could have changed history
Thank you Mike, this is an incredibly important set of ideas so please share them widely. How do we become the Dems who stand up for decency when so many in our party, not to mention both parties, have bought into the status quo? It's not a question with any one answer, it's a call to action and folks like you are shining light on the path we need to take.