On Epstein, Democrats have Mike Johnson running scared
Resistance doesn’t always work. But failing to resist never does.
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Last week, Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson recessed the House early. He shut down the chamber to avoid having to take votes to force the White House to release files related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
Johnson’s panicked move to run away reflects a major rift in the GOP around the release of materials related to Epstein, who was President Donald Trump’s longtime buddy. Republican leadership wouldn’t be panicking like they are, though, if Democrats didn’t have them spooked. After months of the party’s rank and file demanding that their representatives fight, Democratic representatives are actually fighting. And, lo and behold, sometimes when you fight, you win.
This win is a mere battle in the context of a broader war. Johnson’s retreat wasn’t exactly in good order, but it was strategic.
Johnson hopes to buy time to figure out a way to patch up the rift between the White House and a faction of the House GOP that’s pushing for more transparency about Epstein’s crimes and who was involved in them. Maybe the speaker will succeed — Republicans still control all three branches of government and nothing the opposition party does can change that before January 2027. But Democrats have demonstrated that if they are willing to smart and ruthlessly, they can in fact slow the GOP’s ugly agenda of hate and cruelty.
Republicans in disarray
Epstein poses a major problem for Republicans. Epstein, with the help of his sometime girlfriend and longtime assistant Ghislaine Maxwell, solicited and assaulted women and underage girls for years in what amounted to a coordinated sex-trafficking conspiracy. And he was well connected to many powerful people, some of whom have been implicated in the abuse. One of Epstein’s accusers, for example, has said Epstein and Maxwell introduced her to and facilitated sexual assaults by Britain’s Prince Andrew.
Right-wing media and the cult-like Qanon movement have created a sprawling conspiracy theory out of Epstein’s crimes. They claim Democratic leaders and elites like Bill Clinton (an Epstein associate) were involved in a rape cult. Donald Trump, in this narrative, is a heroic outsider fighting against Epstein and his evil associates.
The problem with that framework is that Trump himself was very close to Epstein for some 15 years from the ‘90s through the early 2000s. They shared, according to the New York Times, a “common interest in hitting on — and competing for — attractive young women at parties, nightclubs and other private events.” And they also share a propensity for sexual violence. Trump last year was held liable by a jury for the sexual assault of writer E. Jean Carroll. That assault occurred in 1996 — in the middle of Trump’s friendship with Epstein.
Trump’s base is convinced that releasing Justice Department files on Epstein would bring down many Democrats. Trump promised to release them as recently as this April. But after Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly told Trump he was mentioned in the files in May, he appears to have changed his mind and ordered her not to release them.
That decision has been extremely unpopular with Trump’s coalition. FBI Deputy Director Don Bongino, who aired Epstein conspiracy theories on his podcast, has been a vocal critic of the decision not to release the files. In a YouGov poll, only 4 percent of voters believe the government should not release the Epstein materials, which is why Trump lashes out whenever he’s asked about them.
Democrats, weirdly, in array
In addition to trying to whatabout his way out of the Epstein mess, Trump has refused to rule out the possibility of granting clemency to Maxwell, who was given a 20 year prison sentence for her part in sexually abusing minors (and was photographed hanging out with Trump many times).
Attacking Trump for his links to Epstein and his history of sexual violence at this juncture seems like a no brainer. And yet, some Democrats have been leery.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed that Epstein was a “distraction” from “kitchen table” issues. New York Rep. Tom Suozzi told Axios he wanted to focus on healthcare because “I don’t think this issue [the Epstein files] is big outside of the Beltway.” Henry Cuellar of Texas also said he wanted to focus on “Medicaid and tariffs” rather than on Epstein.
Pelosi, Suozzi, and Cuellar are expressing a kind of conventional Democratic wisdom, or conventional Democratic timidity. Democrats have long had an advantage on healthcare and social safety net issues, where they poll much better than Republicans. By contrast, the Epstein discussion seems volatile and unpleasant. Democrats have long shied away from highlighting accusations of sexual assault against Trump, in part because he won in 2016 despite a huge media focus on those accusations. Many Democrats decided never to bet against America’s misogyny again.
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Admittedly, it makes sense to change tactics after a loss. But staying in a defensive crouch forever has not worked well for Democrats either.
Democratic approval currently is at record lows, with only 19 percent of the public approving of congressional Democrats in a recent Quinnipac poll. Those staggeringly bad numbers are almost surely the result of the base’s frustration with the vacillation and spinelessness of their own representatives — a spinelessness encapsulated in Senate Democrats helping Republicans break a filibuster on a key budget vote earlier this year. Democrats want their representatives to fight harder — or, you know, to fight at all.
Slowly, belatedly, it seems like congressional Democrats have begun to get the message. For instance, Sen. Jon Ossoff, facing a tight 2026 race for his Georgia seat, recent asked a crowd, “Did anyone really think the sexual predator president who used to party with Jeffrey Epstein was going to release the Epstein files?"
Despite the demurrals of the likes of Pelosi and Cuellar, most congressional Democrats have followed Ossoff. Last week, they demanded that Republicans face up to the connection between Epstein and their orange overlord. Across a range of committees and subcommittees, Democrats introduced amendments calling for the release of the Epstein files.
The vast majority of Republicans do not want to vote against Trump. But they also do not want to be seen as voting to hide information about Epstein’s crimes. Rep. Thomas Massie (who has been a consistent thorn in Trump’s side) cosponsored a bill to release the files. House Oversight Chair James Comer reportedly warned House leadership that Republicans would vote to release Epstein materials — and so they did. Several Republicans joined Democrats in voting to subpoena the entire Epstein dossier.
Johnson feared that Democrats would manage to peel off more votes, and/or that they would force Republicans to cast ballots to protect Epstein materials. Republicans hoped that Trump would offer them more political cover somehow — but when he didn’t, Johnson decided his only choice was to close everything down and hope it blows over between now and September. (His excuse was that Democrats are playing “political games,” whatever that’s supposed to mean.)
A real win
Forcing Republicans to shut down the House is not, in itself, going to get us out of this fascist nightmare. Republicans are eager to help Trump cover up his connections to Epstein and get back to the business of harming the American people. Both Burchett and Comer, despite their votes to release Epstein materials, are also downplaying Trump’s involvement.
Nonetheless, the House shutdown is a real victory. Republicans wanted to pass yet another anti-immigration bill that would increase punishments for undocumented people, so by delaying that Democrats stall the scapegoating and assault on immigrants. Republicans also wanted to pass a bill weakening the Clean Water Act. Every day that that bill doesn’t pass is another day where less pollution gets dumped in our waters. The GOP agenda is a relentless assault on our rights, health, and safety. Slowing that down, even if only for a few weeks, is worthwhile.
Forcing the GOP to talk about and deal with Trump’s relationship with Epstein is also important. First, and most importantly, survivors deserve justice. In addition, the relationship with Epstein highlights Trump’s depravity and unfitness. A Gallup poll last week found that Trump’s approval had dropped to 37 percent —the lowest of his second term, and barely above his post-January 6 low of 34 percent. Pollster G. Elliott Morris has Trump’s aggregate at a slightly better 42 percent, but his trajectory is clearly downward.
The lesson for Democrats here is straightforward. Opposing Trump vigorously, even when — or especially when — doing so seems distasteful or risky, can in fact damage Republicans. Damaging Republicans makes resistance easier, which in turn can erode Trump’s standing, and so on.
Resistance doesn’t always work. But failing to resist never does. It’s late for Democrats to be learning that lesson, but better now than never.
That’s it for today
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It’s like the Dems can’t walk and chew gum. The lack of a coordinated response to the presence of government monitors at Columbia and CBS - AND - Epstein and the Crypto Lobby and the Dept of Ed and research funding … I could go on … there is zero organization STILL!! Insane.
I do think it is best Dems lean into this scandal, but I feel like a big chunk of media is going to “fall for” some big lie Maxwell is going to provide as cover. As sick as I am hearing about this over and over is, I think it’s important it stays in whatever media possible so the non-total-cult public remembers. I just keep thinking about the victims having to stomach this. How long did they talk about HER EMAILS. Somewhere I saw that a chunk of voters this last election supposedly hadn’t heard the “grab them by the” comments because it fell out of media attention.
And watch Mike Johnson on Meet the Press laying the groundwork to accept the pardon idea. Reporter asked him if he would support a pardon and he did gymnastics to try and both sound anti-pedo but pro-Trump. (paraphrasing) “It would give me great pause but I would like to hear what she has to say.” The reporter pointed out how untrustworthy her “truth” would be but he just tried drawing attention back to some “truth” that needs to be known. So obvious the truth is going to be she was “pressured” by evil cabal to lie… until now. The reporter did NOT point out how he shutdown an entire legislative branch just to keep “truth” from coming out. But we all know it is because he and the Trump regime are crafting this dramatic reveal of what Maxwell “reveals.” Johnson can just then recycle his speech about J6 terrorists getting pardons and deserving “redemption” because treason, rape, child trafficking are all forgivable as long as white Christian Nationalist power is furthered.