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I have only one thought to contribute to Twitter discussion of this revolting Epstein business: at stake is the idea that rich people should be able, at all times and in all circumstances, to do whatever they want. 1/n
2. This entitlement of wealth sounds unacceptable on its face, and yet it is broadly accepted. It is the foundation of Donald Trump’s political ascendancy. Millions of Americans who would look askance at a neighbor who cheated his customers in business and ran around...
3....impregnating progressively younger women look tolerantly on Trump, because he’s rich. If he’s been one step ahead of the US justice system most of his adult life, well, that’s just something rich people get to do.
4. Ultimately, this entitlement of wealth is unsustainable. It will eventually provoke a backlash, violent and disruptive. The Southern District of New York today took one small step toward averting this. If this Epstein person can finally be held to account...
5....in spite of his wealth; if associates who partook of the criminal activities he is charged with — especially associates with money and power of their own — can be publicly humiliated even if they cannot be formally charged; if some small restitution can be made...
6....to Epstein’s alleged victims, apparently numbering in the dozens, perhaps even in the hundreds; then it might be possible to say with conviction that there are some lines that may not be crossed in this country, not even by the very wealthy.
7. Yes, yes, innocent until proven guilty. But that is hardly the pillar of our legal order under greatest threat here, is it? Someone like Epstein will always be able to find lawyers willing to defend him, as long as his checks clear. Many lawyers dedicate their careers...
8... to this kind of work. Sex predation? No problem, not to them. If there is a culture war worth fighting in this country, this is it. People like Epstein, and his friends, and his lawyers, are the enemy. They live by the idea that rich people must of right be able....
9.... to do whatever they want, to whomever they want, for as long as they want — an idea that deserves with its adherents to be crushed without mercy. [end]
