When the Epstein Files Stopped Being Useful
Donald Trump’s irritation with the Jeffrey Epstein case would be easier to take seriously if he hadn’t made it a campaign promise in 2024. At the time, Epstein wasn’t an afterthought or an outdated scandal; he was a dangling reward. Trump repeatedly suggested a second term would unseal records, expose a corrupt elite, and prove only he was brave enough. Epstein functioned as a campaign IOU—cashable only after victory. Continue reading “How Epstein Went From Trump’s Populist Weapon to a Political Problem”
In the latest episode of Democracy, but Make It a Tantrum, President Donald Trump has once again taken to Truth Social—America’s most secure location for unverified rage—to declare that The New York Times is not merely wrong, biased, or annoying, but a full-blown “serious threat to the National Security of our Nation.” This revelation, delivered in all caps at an hour typically reserved for insomnia and poor decisions, comes without evidence, specifics, or even the courtesy of naming an offending article. But why burden a national security claim with facts when vibes will do? 
What’s being sold here as a series of discrete corporate decisions is, in reality, a slow-motion liquidation of journalistic independence, with Donald Trump acting less like a president than a feudal lord dispensing favors. The merger fights surrounding CBS, CNN, and Warner Bros. Discovery are no longer about market efficiency or shareholder value; they are loyalty tests. Media conglomerates, suffocating under debt and desperate for scale, have discovered that the fastest route to regulatory approval is not innovation or public trust, but submission—preferably televised. Trump doesn’t need to nationalize the press when he can simply dangle merger approval like a scepter and let executives volunteer their own newsrooms for sacrifice.