The Epstein Split Screen

Accountability in Europe. Coverups in Trump's US.

So. Much. Losing. On today’s scorecard:

• This sort of thing was once unthinkable on several levels: A federal grand jury (once again) defied the Trump DOJ and refused to hand down indictments against six sitting Democratic members of Congress who had the temerity to tell members of the military not to follow unlawful orders. The attempted indictment was shocking enough — Senator Mark Kelly called it an “outrageous abuse of power by Donald Trump and his lackies” — which made its rejection all the more humiliating.

• Trump also lost bigly in Congress Tuesday, when the House (rather shockingly) defied Trump on tariffs, voting 217-214 against a self-gelding rule that blocked members from offering resolutions on the president’s tariffs. “With that vote,” reports Punchbowl News, “members will have effectively unfettered ability to force up or down votes on the President's global trade agenda.” Politico reminds us that the Senate has already voted against Trump's tariffs with GOP senators siding with Democrats last year. “Both chambers now appear to have an anti-tariff majority — meaning we are reaching the point where Congress is now actively rebuking the president over his signature economic policy.”

• The Georgia election investigation was exposed as even flakier than we thought: “The FBI’s witnesses in the investigation include a cadre of conservative activists who have been hounding state officials with claims of wrongdoing in Fulton county for years. Many of their claims have been investigated by state officials and debunked.”

• The Trumpian jobs numbers are... flaccid. “The U.S. economy experienced almost zero job growth in 2025, according to revised federal data.” New revisions by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the labor market had added 181,000 jobs in all of 2025 — way below the 1.46 million jobs that were added in 2024.

• The massive Epstein cover-up is failing to cover-up the growing scandal. It is not going away.

• And, finally, this is really (really) going to piss off the Orange God King:

  

  Chris D. Jackson@ChrisDJackson

  🚨 BREAKING: Even Rasmussen, Trump’s favorite pollster, just dropped a brutal number. 48% of voters now say @JoeBiden was the better president compared to Trump (48% to 40%). And this comes just a week after the Harris Poll showed the same trend. When even the most pro-Trump

  

  1:52 AM · Feb 10, 2026 · 86.6K Views

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  223 Replies · 1.21K Reposts · 4.08K Likes

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The Epstein Split Screen

We speak frequently, and nostalgically, of something we call Earth 2.0, shorthand for a world where accountability still exists. On most days, the notion is merely fanciful, since we are stuck in here on Earth 1.0, with Trump and his distorted reality field.

But still we wonder, what would Earth 2.0 look like? How would something like the Epstein scandal play out? Actually, we don't have to imagine because we can see what it looks like, just by looking around the rest of the world.

In one country after another, the files have exploded, destroying careers, upending the political order — and creating a stark contrast with Trumpian America. Notes Harry Litman:

”A former British ambassador [Peter Mandelson] was fired and is now under criminal investigation, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who appointed him, is now facing public pressure to resign. Senior diplomats in Norway, Sweden, and Slovakia resigned. Prince Andrew was stripped of all military titles and royal patronages.”

“Look at what’s happening in Britain,” Rep. Ro Khanna said. “With what’s happened with [Peter] Mandelson, you have the British monarchy having to answer questions. I mean, the King of England is putting out statements.

“And yet, in our country, we have not had that reckoning.”

Indeed, we have not. On this side of the pond, the Trump DOJ continues its kabuki dance of delays, redactions, and obfuscations. Litman calls it the "long con.”

“There is only one tenable explanation for the Department of Justice’s massive and longstanding noncompliance with the Epstein Transparency Act:,” writes Litman, who describes it as “a sustained effort by the Department and other senior government officials to manage, delay, and ultimately neutralize the fallout from disclosure.”

There was the initial release that focused on Bill Clinton.

Then the long delay.

Then the massive dump.

Litman:

For more than a month, the Department of Justice remained in violation of statutory obligations, treating deadlines as suggestions and transparency as optional.

Then, suddenly, the Justice Department released roughly three million pages all at once, on a Friday, stripped of context and effectively inaccessible to victims, journalists, and the public. It could easily have released the material in rolling tranches before the deadline. Instead, it opted for a massive data dump that shifted the burden of ferreting out damaging documents to others.

And notwithstanding having taken weeks longer than the law required, the Department still managed to expose the names of dozens of victims, subjecting them to renewed public scrutiny and traumatization. There was no explanation—much less an apology—for that failure.

But despite the effort to whitewash the whole thing, it continues to fester and spread.

Take Howard Lutnick. Please. The famously sycophantic Commerce Secretary lied about his relationship with Epstein and got caught doing so. He’s now admitted that he visited Epstein’s island after denying it.¹

Via Joe Perticone:

In a New York Post podcast interview in October, Lutnick claimed he visited Epstein’s home in New York City only once, prior to the latter’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a prostitute and soliciting a minor. Lutnick said that he was so put off by “that disgusting person” that he had no contact with him after that. “That’s my story,” Lutnick added, “a one-and-absolutely-done.”

That was a lie.

In most of the rest of the world Lutnick’s lie would have consequences. But here? For now, Trump is backing his fellow Epstein-o-phile — because firing him would (1) hand the libs a scalp, and (2) acknowledge that hanging out with sex-traffickers is actually a big deal.

**

Trump is also sticking with Steve Bannon, whose name is all over the Files in deeply disturbing ways. Erick Erickson (who has been critical of some of those pushing for the release of the files) wonders whether Trump will “still engage with Bannon”. And he notes this tidbit:

The Trump Administration is trying to clear Steve Bannon’s criminal record this very day.

In a motion signed by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro — and without the signature of any career prosecutors — the Justice Department asked U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols to dismiss the two-count indictment that DOJ brought against Bannon more than four years ago. Nichols, a Trump appointee, presided over a week-long jury trial of Bannon in 2022 that resulted in his conviction on criminal contempt charges.

We’ve gotten more and more details about Bannon’s close relationship with Epstein, and the Trump Administration wants to do Bannon a solid now.

Maybe they were never really serious about Epstein.

Exit take: You think?

**

Meanwhile: “Donald Trump Admitted to Police in 2006 That 'Everyone Knew' About Jeffrey Epstein's 'Disgusting' Crimes, Uncovered FBI Report Reveals”

ICYMI: When Viciousness Becomes a Christian Virtue

On yesterday’s “To the Contrary” Podcast, Peter Wehner, a contributing writer at The Atlantic and senior fellow at the Trinity Forum, joined me to explain why some evangelicals actually think of Trump’s viciousness as a cudgel for virtue. Also: Bad Bunny and the radioactive racism of Trump’s Obama video.

Subscribers can listen to an ad-free version right here… or you can watch on YouTube / Listen (and subscribe) on Apple/ Spotify / iHeart / RSS Feed

Wednesday dogs

Eli and Auggie are having some bonding time.

1. Via the WSJ:

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday became the first Trump administration cabinet official to publicly admit visiting Jeffrey Epstein’s island. His revelation pierced the White House’s attempt to deflect questions about Epstein and provided fodder to a bipartisan group of critics who have alleged the White House hasn’t been forthcoming.

The admission came during an appearance before Congress. Lutnick had previously denied having anything to do with Epstein since 2005, following a disturbing tour of Epstein’s home (Lutnick and Epstein were next-door neighbors).

“My wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with the disgusting person ever again,” Lutnick told the Pod Force One podcast last year.

Fast-forward to Tuesday, when Lutnick told the Senate Appropriations Committee that he did in fact visit Epstein’s controversial island in 2012.

“My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies,” he said. “I had another couple. They were there as well with their children, and we had lunch on the island.”