One of the central contentions of the movement that brought Donald Trump to power in 2016 was that the world was run by a corrupt, deviant, and rootless élite, a cabal of cosmopolitan globalists who held themselves out as enlightened but were actually callous, self-interested, and predatory. “It was a grim vision of society that didn’t make sense logically but, for some, held together for reasons of emotion or identity,” Joshua Rothman writes. “If there really was a class of unaccountable, libertine global élites plundering the world, then wasn’t Trump obviously a member?”
With the release of the Epstein files, a different dark vision of society has emerged. “An evil global cabal, an ineffectual justice system, the exercise of power unchecked by untrustworthy experts—these are familiar themes,” Rothman continues. “But the Epstein story also brings together other elements, many of which have been in the mix for decades.”
Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent implicated in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal, died by suicide on February 19, 2022, at age 75. He was found hanged in his cell at La Santé Prison in Paris exactly like Jeffery 6 months later.
If you're a little too close to the Trump Event Horizon you can find yourself "suicidal" and very dead. Of course this speaks to their intention to stay in power indefinitely.
Hence the rigging of elections by Elon Musk and the gutting of vast areas of the administrative state , selling/giving information of all manner to adversarial nation-states.
I'm reminded of the fact that if the elections don't go off , or if he should have his final date with the grim reaper, well, we still have a great deal of work ahead of us.
Exactly - of course this shows the massive, massive balls on Ghislane Maxwell, who is perfectly positioned for her well established and documented crippling suicidal thoughts and tendencies.
And the fact that she writes notes to her friends and relatives that she is not suicidal will not change the absolute surprise and astonishment she has if she overplays her hand threatening Trump , when she finds herself suddenly struggling against gravity in a way that's way more serious feeling as se finds herself absolutely committing suicide.
Of course her guards will be in the bathroom, napping, taking a long walk outside, running out for coffee for 5 minutes, doing paperwork , and generally in the position where they are sure "the other guy" was supposed to be watching her.
A better way to put it would be that we are living in the Age of the Epstein Class -- a swathe of networked and depraved oligarchs who hold themselves above the law.
Sigmund Freud almost destroyed his career before it started, because his first patients were women suffering from depression, anxiety, and 'hysteria.' He eventually figured out these women were survivors of childhood sexual abuse and incest. But he was basically forbidden from publishing 'Stop Raping Your Daughters, You're Ruining Their Lives' because no one was ready to accept that 'pillars of society' were capable of such things. So he came up with the Oedipus and Jocasta complexes and explained all their trauma away as delusional thinking.
It's honestly kind of uplifting that we're the first generation to try and challenge it and change it.
Didn't Freud also do a lot of coke and sleep with young teens? Like I recall hearing something about like a 13 year old cousin or something? I'm not sure you want to hold him too high...
I'm not holding him high at all. I'm saying he found evidence of rampant childhood sexual abuse among the rich and powerful among 19th century Europe, and got scared out of publishing the truth. The point is what he found about how pervasive, and hushed up, this abuse was.
If you look elsewhere, there's ample evidence that this has always been a thing. Hell, the entire British elite prep school system is full of rape and abuse and designed to churn out trauma victims who lack empathy. I live like seven miles from a major city street where minor girls openly streetwalk (aka trafficked) and no one does anything except maybe a charity tries to give them blankets and sandwiches.
>he found evidence of rampant childhood sexual abuse among the rich and powerful among 19th century Europe
Child sexual abuse has been, and still is rampant in all swathes of society, at all times, everywhere. It's not just among the rich, far from it. Of course, they're even more shielded from the consequences than the poor are, because the system protects itself, but they're not the only ones guilty of it.
I think what’s being said is not that rape doesn’t happen to everyone it does. It doesn’t matter what your age is, your gender, your religion your socioeconomic status, your politics, what you’re wearing, what you’re not wearing, or culture for starters. If I hit you over the head with a frying pan, I would not be charged with cooking. Rape has everything to do with power and nothing to do with sex.
The issue being highlighted is that the wealthy hold themselves above everyone else as if their, to put it crudely, shit doesn’t stink.
The reality is they are no different than anyone else - other than the fact that they get away with being amoral much more easily.
Oddly, of all the eerie photos that have been released, there is one of a whiteboard with two words written, Power, Deception. Which is ironic given Chomsky was on the Epstein plane and authored “Manufacturing consent.”
I’m frankly surprised we’re seeing any of this. I resign my faith in a lot of our government.
Economist, Financial Times, Boston Review (The only "intellectual magazine" outside of the new yorker that is genuinely intelligent), Le Monde Diplomatique, and Chatham House's "The World Today" (Although have ties to some of these individuals). Foreign Affairs is good if you filter by author- Foreign Policy is shit and how I'd imagine the Atlantic would sound if it was purely focused on IR- essentially depressed georgetown grads preaching to depressed georgetown undergrads.
There's still some good writing out there. Substack is mostly unproductive bullshit waffle from my experience.
It's disorienting being one of the relatively small subset of society that can see how deeducated and dumbed down even our supposed "intellectual touchstones" are becoming, hold on tight.
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-worst-magazine-in-america
They also carried a lot of water for RFK Jr. And the owner has a pic of her chilling with Ghislane.
Atlantic is very doomy and scratchy- all of their headlines are about either how society is disintegrating, or ways we should dissolve some societal norm. They can't link the two and consequently have little self awareness.
I don't think that's true. There are plenty of left-leaning media institutions that engage in click bait journalism who I don't respect as much because they simply don't have the same quality of writing and in-depth journalism.
I didn’t make a political comment.And I am not making a personal comment here, but most people wouldn’t know a click bait headline if it bit their a**.
Tends to happen in any professional field where nonprofessionals take “buzz words” divorced from the actual meaning and context of the original discussion and fling them around like insults. Sometimes they are correct and many times they are not and they really do not like being corrected. I get down, voted for pointing that out to nonprofessionals all the time.
I think of it this way: if someone only has a “sound bite” hammer everything looks like a “clickbait” nail.
Currently listening to the 4 part Behind the Bastards episodes about Epstein’s ties to the current right wing movement, so this is apt. We are literally seeing his vision of the world come to fruition with regressive politics and tribalism overcoming globalism.
Robert Evans is amazing. His deep dives into everyone from Adolph Eichmann to Joe Arpaio gives him a very clear eyed and comprehensive approach for telling the story of a guy like JE.
Truly! And in spite of his obvious political leanings, I find it refreshing that he is always clear about what’s known in the historical record vs what are conclusions people jump to.
I have to say his work opened my eyes to just how precedented the current situation is, in spite of it seeming even more dumb than reactionary movements of the past.
> “I just don’t know what to do with this,” one father said of the scandal, while watching the kids. “My life is here, and look what’s going on with the people running the world.” It’s hard to imagine the gulf between the public and its leaders getting any wider.
The gulf here being perception, because the primary difference between us and our elites is power, not norms. We let them run the world. We have been fine with this, because we are fine with it occurring within our circles, too.
As the author said before the previous quote,
>And it seems reasonable to say that, in conjuring this larger social group, Epstein weaponized the power of norms and networks to provide his enterprise with a form of protection.
Epstein wasn't just using the norms of the elite but of wider society. Because if our norms were so different, these people would not exist in the first place.
> If a movie starts out normally, with a family moving into a new house, and then the family discovers a demon in the basement, then the whole movie is changed—it was always a horror movie. That’s what this feels like.
It feels that way, because it is. Now it is up to us both in our respective societies and in collaboration, in solidarity, with one another to create a world where such things, such people, are not enabled to do this. And to do that, we must be fierce and fair with each other. We must address the systems of supremacy (i.e. material relationships), and the beliefs that sustain them to stop this from happening and from ever happening again.
[OP] newyorker | a day ago
One of the central contentions of the movement that brought Donald Trump to power in 2016 was that the world was run by a corrupt, deviant, and rootless élite, a cabal of cosmopolitan globalists who held themselves out as enlightened but were actually callous, self-interested, and predatory. “It was a grim vision of society that didn’t make sense logically but, for some, held together for reasons of emotion or identity,” Joshua Rothman writes. “If there really was a class of unaccountable, libertine global élites plundering the world, then wasn’t Trump obviously a member?”
With the release of the Epstein files, a different dark vision of society has emerged. “An evil global cabal, an ineffectual justice system, the exercise of power unchecked by untrustworthy experts—these are familiar themes,” Rothman continues. “But the Epstein story also brings together other elements, many of which have been in the mix for decades.”
markth_wi | a day ago
Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent implicated in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal, died by suicide on February 19, 2022, at age 75. He was found hanged in his cell at La Santé Prison in Paris exactly like Jeffery 6 months later.
If you're a little too close to the Trump Event Horizon you can find yourself "suicidal" and very dead. Of course this speaks to their intention to stay in power indefinitely.
Hence the rigging of elections by Elon Musk and the gutting of vast areas of the administrative state , selling/giving information of all manner to adversarial nation-states.
I'm reminded of the fact that if the elections don't go off , or if he should have his final date with the grim reaper, well, we still have a great deal of work ahead of us.
Polkawillneverdie17 | 22 hours ago
"Suicide"
markth_wi | 22 hours ago
Exactly - of course this shows the massive, massive balls on Ghislane Maxwell, who is perfectly positioned for her well established and documented crippling suicidal thoughts and tendencies.
And the fact that she writes notes to her friends and relatives that she is not suicidal will not change the absolute surprise and astonishment she has if she overplays her hand threatening Trump , when she finds herself suddenly struggling against gravity in a way that's way more serious feeling as se finds herself absolutely committing suicide.
Of course her guards will be in the bathroom, napping, taking a long walk outside, running out for coffee for 5 minutes, doing paperwork , and generally in the position where they are sure "the other guy" was supposed to be watching her.
HistoricalHat4847 | 22 hours ago
To your point, if you missed this deeply disturbing article, here it is:
https://www.thenerve.news/p/epstein-billionaires-eugenics-project-harvard-academia-john-brockman
This is not speculation anymore, folks.
TheWorclown | a day ago
Well, “the Epstein class” sure as shit just isn’t an internet buzzword for a reason.
Texas_Sam2002 | 22 hours ago
A better way to put it would be that we are living in the Age of the Epstein Class -- a swathe of networked and depraved oligarchs who hold themselves above the law.
stolenfires | 22 hours ago
It's always been this way.
Sigmund Freud almost destroyed his career before it started, because his first patients were women suffering from depression, anxiety, and 'hysteria.' He eventually figured out these women were survivors of childhood sexual abuse and incest. But he was basically forbidden from publishing 'Stop Raping Your Daughters, You're Ruining Their Lives' because no one was ready to accept that 'pillars of society' were capable of such things. So he came up with the Oedipus and Jocasta complexes and explained all their trauma away as delusional thinking.
It's honestly kind of uplifting that we're the first generation to try and challenge it and change it.
Tasonir | 16 hours ago
Didn't Freud also do a lot of coke and sleep with young teens? Like I recall hearing something about like a 13 year old cousin or something? I'm not sure you want to hold him too high...
stolenfires | 15 hours ago
I'm not holding him high at all. I'm saying he found evidence of rampant childhood sexual abuse among the rich and powerful among 19th century Europe, and got scared out of publishing the truth. The point is what he found about how pervasive, and hushed up, this abuse was.
If you look elsewhere, there's ample evidence that this has always been a thing. Hell, the entire British elite prep school system is full of rape and abuse and designed to churn out trauma victims who lack empathy. I live like seven miles from a major city street where minor girls openly streetwalk (aka trafficked) and no one does anything except maybe a charity tries to give them blankets and sandwiches.
TheAskewOne | 14 hours ago
>he found evidence of rampant childhood sexual abuse among the rich and powerful among 19th century Europe
Child sexual abuse has been, and still is rampant in all swathes of society, at all times, everywhere. It's not just among the rich, far from it. Of course, they're even more shielded from the consequences than the poor are, because the system protects itself, but they're not the only ones guilty of it.
horseradishstalker | 3 hours ago
I think what’s being said is not that rape doesn’t happen to everyone it does. It doesn’t matter what your age is, your gender, your religion your socioeconomic status, your politics, what you’re wearing, what you’re not wearing, or culture for starters. If I hit you over the head with a frying pan, I would not be charged with cooking. Rape has everything to do with power and nothing to do with sex.
The issue being highlighted is that the wealthy hold themselves above everyone else as if their, to put it crudely, shit doesn’t stink.
The reality is they are no different than anyone else - other than the fact that they get away with being amoral much more easily.
BirryMays | 10 hours ago
Thank you for sharing this important fact. This was mentioned in Lundy Bancroft’s book and so seldom do I see it discussed elsewhere.
wumr125 | a day ago
Well its definitely not the age of consent
Potato_Kaelin | a day ago
I'M NOT THE KIND THAT LIKES TO TELL YOU
Aggressive_Team764 | 22 hours ago
There's the New Order fan I was looking for
Potato_Kaelin | 19 hours ago
(yelps) oh oh!
Due_Tower_4787 | 17 hours ago
oooh oooh ooooo00h!! Woo!!
(I’m so excited to see other New Order fans)
averytolar | 23 hours ago
Oddly, of all the eerie photos that have been released, there is one of a whiteboard with two words written, Power, Deception. Which is ironic given Chomsky was on the Epstein plane and authored “Manufacturing consent.”
I’m frankly surprised we’re seeing any of this. I resign my faith in a lot of our government.
turb0_encapsulator | a day ago
side note: is the New Yorker the last old media institution that is still excellent?
Fuck_Mark_Robinson | 23 hours ago
The Nation and Mother Jones are also old and still good.
Intuner | 18 hours ago
Respect for both of these suggestions...
Realistic-Quail-4169 | 13 hours ago
Economist, Financial Times, Boston Review (The only "intellectual magazine" outside of the new yorker that is genuinely intelligent), Le Monde Diplomatique, and Chatham House's "The World Today" (Although have ties to some of these individuals). Foreign Affairs is good if you filter by author- Foreign Policy is shit and how I'd imagine the Atlantic would sound if it was purely focused on IR- essentially depressed georgetown grads preaching to depressed georgetown undergrads.
There's still some good writing out there. Substack is mostly unproductive bullshit waffle from my experience.
It's disorienting being one of the relatively small subset of society that can see how deeducated and dumbed down even our supposed "intellectual touchstones" are becoming, hold on tight.
turb0_encapsulator | 2 hours ago
thanks for the list. I haven't read Boston Review much before.
TrontRaznik | 21 hours ago
The Economist
[Deleted] | 23 hours ago
Is it still excellent?
turb0_encapsulator | 23 hours ago
do you see journalism like this anywhere else? https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/02/16/the-babies-kept-in-a-mysterious-los-angeles-mansion
horseradishstalker | 3 hours ago
Short a little answer is yes. People just have to read more widely in order to find them.
[Deleted] | 20 hours ago
Well written, but I’m more of a BoredPanda type of guy
turb0_encapsulator | 20 hours ago
lmao. i just checked to see if it still exists.
muffledvoice | 22 hours ago
The Atlantic is also still really good.
cavalier511 | 20 hours ago
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-worst-magazine-in-america They also carried a lot of water for RFK Jr. And the owner has a pic of her chilling with Ghislane.
Realistic-Quail-4169 | 13 hours ago
Atlantic is very doomy and scratchy- all of their headlines are about either how society is disintegrating, or ways we should dissolve some societal norm. They can't link the two and consequently have little self awareness.
fruitybrisket | 23 hours ago
Al Jazeera is solid for western news.
TheAskewOne | 14 hours ago
I still trust the Atlantic.
horseradishstalker | 3 hours ago
Unfortunately, that often means that you like what they have to say not are are they technically excellent with strong ethics.
turb0_encapsulator | 2 hours ago
I don't think that's true. There are plenty of left-leaning media institutions that engage in click bait journalism who I don't respect as much because they simply don't have the same quality of writing and in-depth journalism.
horseradishstalker | 2 hours ago
I didn’t make a political comment.And I am not making a personal comment here, but most people wouldn’t know a click bait headline if it bit their a**.
Tends to happen in any professional field where nonprofessionals take “buzz words” divorced from the actual meaning and context of the original discussion and fling them around like insults. Sometimes they are correct and many times they are not and they really do not like being corrected. I get down, voted for pointing that out to nonprofessionals all the time.
I think of it this way: if someone only has a “sound bite” hammer everything looks like a “clickbait” nail.
Akronite14 | 18 hours ago
Currently listening to the 4 part Behind the Bastards episodes about Epstein’s ties to the current right wing movement, so this is apt. We are literally seeing his vision of the world come to fruition with regressive politics and tribalism overcoming globalism.
wildtech | 48 minutes ago
Robert Evans is amazing. His deep dives into everyone from Adolph Eichmann to Joe Arpaio gives him a very clear eyed and comprehensive approach for telling the story of a guy like JE.
Akronite14 | 14 minutes ago
Truly! And in spite of his obvious political leanings, I find it refreshing that he is always clear about what’s known in the historical record vs what are conclusions people jump to.
I have to say his work opened my eyes to just how precedented the current situation is, in spite of it seeming even more dumb than reactionary movements of the past.
I_Hate_This_Website9 | 22 hours ago
> “I just don’t know what to do with this,” one father said of the scandal, while watching the kids. “My life is here, and look what’s going on with the people running the world.” It’s hard to imagine the gulf between the public and its leaders getting any wider.
The gulf here being perception, because the primary difference between us and our elites is power, not norms. We let them run the world. We have been fine with this, because we are fine with it occurring within our circles, too.
As the author said before the previous quote,
>And it seems reasonable to say that, in conjuring this larger social group, Epstein weaponized the power of norms and networks to provide his enterprise with a form of protection.
Epstein wasn't just using the norms of the elite but of wider society. Because if our norms were so different, these people would not exist in the first place.
> If a movie starts out normally, with a family moving into a new house, and then the family discovers a demon in the basement, then the whole movie is changed—it was always a horror movie. That’s what this feels like.
It feels that way, because it is. Now it is up to us both in our respective societies and in collaboration, in solidarity, with one another to create a world where such things, such people, are not enabled to do this. And to do that, we must be fierce and fair with each other. We must address the systems of supremacy (i.e. material relationships), and the beliefs that sustain them to stop this from happening and from ever happening again.
soularbabies | 22 hours ago
Given how long he operated for and the other likes of him, we've been in the Age of Epstein for quite some time.
morsindutus | 21 hours ago
Someone at the New Yorker is a Behind the Bastards fan? Or maybe just great minds think alike.
Own_Net6369 | 23 hours ago
bruh ironic how they bash it but need those capitalist goodies to keep the show running. like biting the hand that feeds ya
Funkynipple | 15 hours ago
Yes, it’s called patriarchy
Tane35 | 18 hours ago
Naming an age after a pedophile rapist pig? Disgusting. Get out of here with that bs.
exigentity | 12 hours ago
Look at the world around you. Really look at it...
Relevant-Chicken5098 | 23 hours ago
ngl had to google "toot sweet" but now I can't stop saying it lol. pretty interesting stuff
Savilavila | 15 hours ago
Bot