Transparency and Trump

Republican members of the US Congress, including both the House of Representatives and the Senate, will face a test of their commitment to the transparency that is so much a part of a genuine democracy. In contrast to authoritarian countries where the words “Democratic” figure in one form of the other, democracies see little need to advertise through nomenclature that fact. Hence, we have the Republic of Korea (which is a democracy) adjoining the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which is the opposite of being a democracy, and where not the people but a small leadership clique under the Kim dynasty rules.
Should a vote be held in both chambers of the US Congress on outing the Epstein files in the possession of the US Government, the voting pattern would separate those who favour accountability from those willing to conceal the facts from the people of the US. It is a tribute to the resilience of the democratic fabric in that country that so much information about Epstein has been released so far. What has been released show the imperative of releasing the files in its entirety, with only the names of the underage victims being redacted, and nothing else. In his emails to longtime confidante Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein has made several references to Donald Trump, including that he (Trump) spent several hours in the company of the underage girl victims of Epstein and his clientele. All that the White House has said is that the emails prove “absolutely nothing”. After a so far secret official discussion with a senior Justice Department official, Maxwell claims she thought Trump was a complete gentleman. Soon afterwards, she was shifted from a regular prison to a much more liberal one in Florida. Sheer coincidence, of course.
It may well be that Trump spent hours in the company of some of the underage girls in the Epstein stable not for purposes of sexual gratification. Perhaps it was to convince them that he would use his wealth and power to free them from the clutches of Epstein. Why, because what they were being forced to do was not just wrong, it was illegal. Such a narrative would go completely against the publicly recorded image of Trump as a playboy, eager for such escapades. In the Access Hollywood tapes unearthed and revealed to the public by the powerful Clinton machine, Trump is heard saying that being a celebrity, he could grab “any woman” (who came to meet him) by parts best not mentioned. The Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was sure in 2016 that what the tapes revealed would sink the chances for victory of her Republican opponent, Donald Trump. Instead, he went on to defeat Clinton, in some part because several in the Democratic Party were less than enthusiastic about Hillary, who came across to them as coldly ambitious and willing to go to any length to win a battle, electoral or otherwise. Apart from the encounters mentioned by Trump with obvious pride, there were a string of others. Very far from the sort of man who would have a discussion on ethics with an attractive, underage victim of Epstein.
Given such a colourful history of past conduct, it would be doing the people of the US an injustice were much of the Epstein email files to remain secret. While there may be some Democrats who took advantage of the detestable opportunities for gratification offered by Epstein, the party seems quite willing to throw them—justly—under the bus and vote overwhelmingly if not unanimously for the release of the Epstein emails. The Republican Party needs to follow their example, or face the wrath of their electorates when they need to fight for re-election. Who knows, perhaps the tapes would prove that for once, Trump abstained from the illicit and unforgivable sensual pleasures offered by Epstein. It may be recalled that Virginia Giuffre, who wrote “Nobody’s Girl” about the perpetrators of a heinous crime against them, replied that she was “not suicidal”, when asked whether she had named any prominent holder or ex-holder of high office in the US. Before the book came out, Giuffre “committed suicide”. Another coincidence, perhaps.