The Epstein Reckoning Is Happening — Just Not in America

The Epstein class vs. everybody else.

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We are finally getting a small measure of accountability for the thousands of people who conspired with Jeffrey Epstein to abuse little girls and little boys. Unfortunately, almost all of that accountability is happening outside the United States.

Earlier today, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor—the man formerly known as Prince Andrew, stripped of his titles because of his relationship to and involvement with Epstein’s crimes—was arrested in the United Kingdom. He’s being thoroughly investigated and prosecuted for what he’s done. And all over the world, you can find pockets of stories—real investigations, serious leaders treating serious crimes with the gravity required to hold the Epstein class accountable.

Here in the United States? We’re getting no such justice. And that’s the part that should stop every American cold.

And there are a lot of reasons for that. Chief among them: sitting in the Oval Office is Donald J. Trump, a man who had a long-documented social relationship with Epstein, appears in flight records, photographs, court documents, and has been referenced by victims in sworn filings abusing kids. And it’s not just him. His entire administration is stained by the memory of Jeffrey Epstein and his crimes.

I could spend all day walking you through the names in those files—Howard Lutnick, Elon Musk, Steve Bannon. I could remind you that the man who gave Jeffrey Epstein the sweetheart deal that allowed him to continue abusing girls for over another decade went on to become Trump’s Labor Secretary in his first term. I could point out that Pam Bondi, when she was Attorney General of Florida, had the power to intervene and didn’t—and now actively impedes meaningful attempts to get justice for Epstein’s survivors. For God’s sake, she couldn’t even look them in the eye during that embarrassing press conference last week.

We’ve had a smattering of consequences—Kathryn Ruemmler at Goldman Sachs, who is a Democrat, and a few others stepping away from roles—but it’s thin. It’s scattered. It’s nowhere near enough for anyone to feel like we’ve actually done something in this country to prevent this kind of abuse from ever happening again.

At the center of it all is a class of very powerful, very wealthy, very politically connected people who protect one another. That’s why I have to roll my eyes every time I go on a conservative show and someone screams, “If there was something in the Epstein files about Trump, why didn’t Joe Biden prosecute him?”

I’ll tell you why.

It’s painfully clear that across multiple administrations—multiple presidents, multiple attorneys general—this was not treated with the seriousness it deserved. Not because everyone was in on it together, necessarily, but because they were part of the same class. A class that leans on each other. Covers for each other. Protects the ecosystem.

To them, the justice system is an inconvenience. Partisan politics is a distraction—keep us at each other’s throats so we don’t notice that the same people are abusing kids, stealing our money, gutting the country, polluting the planet, and making everything more expensive for everyone else. It’s the same cocktail party. The same guest list. The same whispered cover-ups.

Meanwhile, Europe is proving that some measure of justice is possible.

But here? We have Kash Patel, Pam Bondi, and a parade of MAGA influencers with their heads so far up Donald Trump’s ass they can’t see daylight, all insisting there isn’t enough evidence to prosecute anyone. We’ve got the United Nations saying there’s enough evidence to consider Epstein’s conduct crimes against humanity. The United Kingdom has shown it can hold even a former prince accountable. Meanwhile, in the U.S., we’re still struggling to make real progress toward fair and equal due process — too often defaulting to the word of one powerful, wealthy man over the voices of thousands of victims.

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Our Justice Department refuses to release the names accused by Epstein’s survivors. And then you’ve got people like Clay Travis going on live TV telling survivors they should just say the names publicly.

Maybe they should. But maybe we should live in a country where survivors don’t have to risk their physical safety, their financial security, and their sanity just to get justice.

Because the second they speak up, they’ll face a tidal wave of attacks denying their stories—from the same MAGA influencers who told them that was the only way to “get the truth.”

It’s hard to watch these survivors show up again and again—to hearings, to committees—just begging someone to look them in the eye and say, “What happened to you matters. We’re going to try.”

I would accept it if they tried and failed. If they investigated seriously, prosecuted seriously, pushed as hard as possible and came up short because the cover-up was airtight. I’d be furious—but I’d accept it.

But they won’t even try.

And they can’t. Because the harder they push, the more pressure there is to release the files. The more we learn. The more it becomes clear that Donald Trump and his inner circle are as much a part of the Epstein class as anyone else in this country.

So yes, it’s maddening to sit here in the United States—the self-proclaimed greatest country on Earth, the country that worships its justice system, that claims no one is above the law—and watch Europe treat this with the seriousness it deserves. To watch powerful people face consequences while our President claims exoneration when he’s been anything but.

It’s maddening.

And that rage? I’m holding onto it. Until the midterms. Until the next presidential election.

I’m going to turn it into energy. Into action. Into compassion. I’m going to vote like my life depends on it. I’m going to advocate for candidates I believe will break the Epstein class and hold these people accountable. I’m going to use it to be a good parent—to raise a good man who would never, ever, ever find himself orbiting people capable of these crimes.

That’s one of the bitter ironies of the MAGA defense: “It’s not a crime to party with Jeffrey Epstein.”

Maybe not legally.

But it should be disqualifying morally. If minors were trafficked there, you’re complicit in the ecosystem that made it possible. And even if you want to split legal hairs, a person of basic moral character should know better. They should know not to associate with people who prey on kids. They should know not to joke about sex with 13-year-old girls.

They should know.

But they don’t.

And I don’t know what’s worse — that they don’t, or that they do and simply don’t care.

Because when people in power go years without consequences, something corrodes. Impunity becomes normal. Empathy disappears. And eventually they start believing the rules were never meant for them in the first place.

Maybe what’s most disturbing is how desensitized we’ve become. The facts are gruesome. The damage is real. But after years of scandal layered on scandal, it barely shocks us anymore. That erosion of outrage — that quiet normalization — is its own kind of failure. If the system won’t model accountability, we have to.

So my act of resistance today—and in the years ahead I’ll take in my work and in my advocacy—is simple: be a good dad. Raise a good son. Help him become a good man. And break the chain, at least here, at least now.