This week, I was asked to join a round table discussion once again for Le Debat on France24. Imagine a cable news debate show except instead of yelling and screaming, guests take their turn to talk and when they stray too far afield, a respected journalist follows up with questions and asks them to defend their point.
It was a last minute request as it so often is and as luck would have it, emergency repairs on cable internet or fiber optic lines were happening all over the neighborhood right as the live show was about to begin. Still, I tried!
The topic was Epstein and how far the scandal will go. Personally, it’s not a subject I want to delve into in any great detail. Before the latest dump of over 3 million documents and images, I had already surmised just how disgusting the content would be. Then I saw the photo of Prince Andrew and needed to take a bit of a break.
Vile images and graphic descriptions were fortunately not the topic at hand. Rather, we discussed the impact of the new revelations on both sides of the Atlantic as public figures in both the United States and United Kingdom (and elsewhere) are implicated.
As I had imagined, I was eventually asked what impact, if any, this would have on the current occupant of the White House. Frankly, I don’t hold out any hope that that particular individual will face any fitting consequences despite his being named apparently more than 1,000 times in the files. In terms of political fallout, I have doubts there, too. Nothing that should have ended his 2016 candidacy, cut short his first term, or ended his current stint at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have had any impact.
The reason for that, of course, is the fact that his followers exist in a completely different reality, consuming fiction they mistake for fact and adopting bad faith arguments and opinions they believe are made in sincerity. That is where this thought experiment gets interesting.
I wrote last summer about how the Epstein files were different than any other scandal precisely because QAnon followers, who have long held the belief that the world was run by a secret ring of elite pedophiles, threw their support behind Trump when he adopted (at least facially) their ideology — and their talking points. Whereas on literally every other issue we consume different media and hold incompatible worldviews, when it comes to Epstein, nearly all Americans agree there should be greater transparency and accountability for the perpetrators.
There is no shortage of right-wing personalities ready to explain away their man being named multiple times over in the files by accusers alleging the host heinous of sex crimes by the world’s most powerful men. On the other hand, this literally is the first time that their subscribers need to confront the reality that their man in the Oval Office — the man they hoped would bring to justice the powerful elite named in the Epstein files — is himself among the accused.
Will any of this make a difference to the most devoted MAGA followers? Of course not. But no politician rides into power or stays there with the support of their most loyal devotees alone. They all rely on coalitions. Already, this regime’s approval numbers are dwindling to the same levels President Biden’s were before Trump claimed a second term. Between the files, the violence against unarmed Americans in Minneapolis, and the accumulating list of failures to deliver for Americans, especially on economic issues, the conspiracy-minded and previously disengaged voters who allowed for this awful return to power could at long last realize their mistake.
Segment here from France24 via YouTube:
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.