Watching the yearslong drama over Jeffrey Epstein's alleged client list I came to a conclusion that his story may very well prove that nobody in America is quite right in the head at the moment. Or even literate.
After the disgraced financier allegedly hanged himself in prison in 2019, the American far right was quick to conclude it was just another conspiracy whose goal was to silence the man who could testify against the rich and powerful.
The "swamp".
Yes, the very same swamp that Donald Trump promised to drain when he returned to power and one which he blamed (often correctly, it has to be said) for conspiring against him in politics and the media.
While that narrative has worked with much of the public tired of the existing duopoly of Democrats and Republicans, it's easy to make those threats when you're an outsider campaigning for presidency but is much harder to act on them once you're actually in the White House – as Trump is learning first hand at the moment.
His campaign rhetoric has caught up with him, and his surprising refusal to do what the mob demands may erode trust and support of his most dedicated voters, many of whom not only believe in but expected Trump to expose some paedophile ring conspiracy in the echelons of power.
In reality it's quite unlikely that Epstein had any client list at all, while making all of the documentation from trials involving him public is impossible – and not in order to protect his partners in crime but their many victims.
What's more, courts may refuse (as they already have) to unseal certain records that are legally kept secret (barring extraordinary circumstances).
There's also the question of due process, even if there was evidence of any wrongdoing. While the public may be eager to seize on any piece of information, a release of sensitive details before legal proceedings are concluded could compromise the trial of any person accused or suspected of a crime.
In other words, the most Trump administration could do is release only partial – and largely redacted – documentation, which is unlikely to reveal anything new and will certainly fail to appease the angry conspiracy theorists.
It's hard to feel sorry for Trump, though, since he rode the wave of anti-establishment hate and now that he understands the consequences of certain decisions he had to backtrack, which has backfired in a spectacular way, putting him at loggerheads with his very own MAGA crowd.
Does Trump have something to hide?
Many people have pointed to the US president's rather hysterical reactions to the demands for release of Epstein records, which at one point he labelled a "hoax" perpetrated by Democrats that some gullible Republicans gobbled up as bait.
Is he suddenly afraid something damning may be revealed about him and his relationship with Epstein?
That's unlikely.
If there was anything directly implicating Trump in Epstein's crimes, Democrats would have leaked it to the press a long time ago. They had four years to do it under Biden and a desperate electoral campaign in 2024. But they didn't.
Let's keep in mind that they tried to impeach the man twice on rather bogus grounds and didn't have any qualms about peddling an unfounded conspiracy theory about Russian interference on Trump's side in 2016 – for which government assets have clearly been used.
If there was any real dirt on Trump soliciting underage girls through Epstein, he would already be in prison and the US would have its first female president: Kamala Harris.
So, why is he so sensitive?
Trump is known for making hyperbolic statements, so we can't take them at face value. Instead we have to consider what they communicate about his state of mind.
It's likely that he fears the media would latch onto this new opportunity to smear him by digging through the files in search of the many instances of him being named alongside hundreds of other people, turning the whole Epstein story against the MAGA electorate.
Let's not forget that it's nothing new – Trump's association with Epstein is well-known, just as the fact as the deceased financier had a long list of celebrity acquaintances. But while the press has exhausted its old sources, feeding them new content would distract the public from administration's achievements.
Trump doesn't want the media poring over the unsealed records, especially right now, when the controversies surrounding tariffs or his handling of the war in Ukraine have died down, and he's announcing new trade agreements with countries around the world.
After six months of hell it's finally a positive news cycle for Trump, as money keeps rolling in, consumer confidence is up and the gloomy predictions of an impending recession have been dispelled.
Instead of a protracted pain of having unfriendly outlets posting one article after another about how he met with Epstein for lunch or sent him a gift 30 years ago, he chose the sharp but short (at least that's his bet) pain of cutting the story here and now.
Whether it was the right choice remains to be seen, but it's clear that it could have been handled better.
The Epstein "client list" conspiracy makes absolutely no sense
The funniest thing about the story is that it's all in people's heads because, logically, it makes no sense at all.
Yes, the circumstances of Epstein's death raise suspicions: malfunctioning cameras in front of his cell, prison records falsified by guards and off-the-record claims by Epstein himself that he had dirt on important, successful people.
In fact, his former lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, has just stated in an opinion for the Wall Street Journal that it is likely that he was at least helped by the jail staff.
One of his accomplices, a French model scout Jean-Luc Bernal, met a similar fate in a French prison, committing suicide while awaiting trial in 2022.
All of this stinks very much indeed.
However, there's a difference between the fact that many people would like Epstein gone and the existence of some confidential client list with records of who did what on his private island.
Especially as the most interesting files have already been released.
Epstein list was already published – 18 months ago
One of the reasons I'm doubting sanity of just about everybody in America – politicians, media and the general public – is that no one seems to be drawing attention to the fact that a list of over 200 names of Epstein's associates named in various capacity during court proceedings in Virginia Giuffre's case against Ghislaine Maxwell was released in January of 2024.
Of course it's not a "client" list as such – but its existence is likely a figment of the imagination of conspiracy theorists looking for a smoking gun in a case where it likely wasn't in anybody's interest to leave one behind.
Epstein's island did have cameras installed, of course, and numerous recordings were seized on the property, but if there was any evidence of criminal activity of identifiable individuals it either would have resulted in prosecution already, or – if someone did indeed want it to disappear – it's already gone without a trace.
The idea that there's some secret piece of paper with names, dates and nefarious activities hidden in a drawer somewhere at the Department of Justice is quite ludicrous.
Even more so if Democratic bureaucrats had sat on it for four years and yet failed to release any evidence that would derail Trump's reelection bid, despite trying to destroy the man for almost a decade.
What's more, given that we already know 200+ of Epstein's contacts named in court, anybody who could conceivably be suspected of having sex with trafficked teenagers is likely among them.
They include Donald Trump, Bill Clinton or Michael Jackson, alongside other celebrities, politicians or businessmen – most being simple entries in the rolodex of a well-connected New York investor.
But several of them have been formally accused, including British Prince Andrew, hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin, Democratic governor and congressman Bill Richardson, scientist Marvin Minsky, Democratic senator George Mitchell, and Jean‑Luc Brunel (meanwhile Johanna Sjoberg, recruited by Maxwell for Epstein, testified he told her that Clinton "likes them young").
We know all of this already and if these men were there, then is it likely that Epstein had some "other", secret list which contained different names or records of specific visits – and which someone in Washington is now carefully guarding from the public eye? Come on.
The Hollywood disease
It seems to me that the propensity to embrace conspiracy theories is so widespread because of the influence of movies for decades produced in America.
Time and again millions watch the good guys trying to bring down the corrupt evil men at the heights of power, ultimately seizing evidence of their wrongdoing and putting them behind bars.
Of course a movie where incriminating documents are simply put through a paper shredder wouldn't sell many tickets, as it would fit in a Youtube Short and be rather anticlimactic.
But it seems quite comical to me that the people who believe that "criminals in Washington" are desperately withholding evidence from the public, couldn't simply destroy it once and for all.
If anybody in power was invested in evading prosecution and had access to evidence, they would simply get rid of it – which may or may not have happened in this case.
But we won't ever know.
