This cuts to the core: when your narrative requires believing that the person promising to expose evil stands outside it, and then evidence emerges that he was central to it, you face a choice.
Adjust to reality, or defend the narrative regardless of facts.
The Epstein files test whether accountability is actually the goal, or whether it was always just tribalism wearing moral language.
Justice that only functions against opponents isn’t justice. It’s selective outrage calibrated to protect power.
The victims were real. Their suffering doesn’t change based on whose name appears in the documents.
Admitting you believed a savior story that turned out to be false isn’t weakness. It’s the beginning of integrity. But every day spent postponing that admission deepens the cynicism and erodes whatever trust remains.
Truth either stands on its own, or it doesn’t exist at all.
Adam is so much kinder than I am. A stupid story is just a stupid story -- from inception to conclusion. "It must be the Democrats" is a dumb narrative that satisfies dumb, gullible people. That kind of thinking is tailor-made for clever, dishonest scumbags to step into the breach and turn that dumbness into a political weapon against opponents. What part of that is so difficult to accept, let alone understand?
On top of the emerging story of sleaze and degradation remains an astonishing level of poor judgement on the part of people who were this man's "friends." My first wonder is how this awful man ever accumulated such influence and money in the first place? He was a high school drop-out/graduate indicted for insider trading even before he started advising incredibly wealthy people on their investments. Were there no other qualified financial advisors in New York available to successfully manage portfolios worth hundreds of millions (even billions) of dollars? How could people be so stupid as to trust him with a nickel? How could the former PM of Norway degrade himself so much (to say nothing of Norway's idiot crown princess who continued to associate with Epstein even after 2012)?
I'd have been more mystified in 2015 than I am after eleven years of seeing what has been revealed since Trumpism began. I don't know when it happened, over how long a period, or why, but a sobering number of Americans are as cruel, vindictive, and sadistic as Trump. It can't have happened like a magic door from hell opening when Trump entered politics. Has to have started a good while before that. They're at the other end of the socio-economic scale, in occupations from tree cutters to teachers, and attorneys, but the base philosophy is only a hair away from Trump's. In the political sphere the number of Republicans who have had the courage to speak out at Trump's immorality like Adam has would be laughable if it weren't so discouraging. They have instead enabled his most grotesque instincts and allowed him to punish innocents. Democrats who should have been warriors have instead too often mumbled strongly worded speech's. To win their battle on abortion much of the clergy would remain silent while Trump authorized mass murder. To feed their insecurity MAGA would let him cage or murder hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of brown-skinned people -- or Democrats. I wish with all my soul that this is hyperbole but I don't think it is. I spent much of last couple weeks in Facebook posts doing something I haven't done for several years: duking it out with MAGA and non-so-MAGA Conservatives. I'd recommend anyone who hasn't done so to spend some serious time reading their posts about student protests and the SAVE act. Takes some scrubbing but I promise, the slime is water soluble. The level of aggression and violence has increased dramatically in Trump's second term, and it's coming from people of all ages and genders. I'm skilled with genealogy sources and when motivated my profile checks include ancestry records and archival media. When I say they're not bots, they're not bots. They could have side gigs as SM manipulators, but they're not bots. Where I'm headed is that Epstein's look-the-other-way clients were not exceptions; they were today's normal. Trump is at one end of a spectrum, but that spectrum is long, wide, and, I sense, populated by a majority of the country, in every crevice and at every level. I have seventy-six years of people watching under my belt and what I'm seeing is like nothing I've seen before or read of. Would 1933 Germany with social media have revealed something similar? Anybody's guess.
"a sobering number of Americans are as cruel, vindictive, and sadistic as trump."
Yes- it's part of being human. It's the fight we have to listen to our better angels but we see in history, not just in America, how many times we don't.
I agree. How did so many famous, wealthy people fall for this criminal con artist who acted not only as a grossly under-qualified financial advisor, but also as a social concierge, personal fixer and dispenser of sleazy sexual advice?
Simply perfect. Well written, well-edited, with not a word out of place. Thank you for so clearly and concisely explaining what is going on - and in a way that, hopefully, those with sincere hearts will be able to receive. This needs to be posted and re -posted everywhere. THANK YOU!!!!
Well written Adam. The idea that God is using a deeply flawed man to do his work is basically an excuse for individuals that need a way to justify to themselves, and be able to defend remarkably bad behavior. That old adage that you can talk yourself into anything in order to make yourself feel better about it is true (if you are willing to sell yourself out). The path of least resistance.....
Sorry, that was incomplete. Ohrdruf was the concentration camp that General then President Eisenhower brought the local German population to to witness the truth of what had happened around them. Justice and healing requires confrontation of truth and recognition of liability
What I appreciate about this piece is that it doesn’t mock the original moral instinct — that something about Epstein reflected institutional failure. That instinct wasn’t irrational. What became dangerous was narrowing that instinct into a partisan prophecy.
If accountability is the goal, it has to be universal. Otherwise “drain the swamp” becomes just a rotation of who occupies it. Corruption at elite levels is rarely cleanly tribal; it’s structural and relational. That’s what makes it so difficult — and why it tests sincerity.
The steadiness of your argument is what matters most. You’re not asking people to abandon faith or moral conviction. You’re asking them to apply the same standard everywhere. That’s not betrayal. That’s integrity.
I think you leave an important element out and that is the power of algorithms and social media. Also sexism, if a man had run against Trump in 2016 what would the outcome have been? If Biden had stepped away much earlier and a man had run against Trump in 2024 what would the outcome have been?
Appreciate your insight into this evil phenomena. It is the system that enabled the transfer of wealth from the middle class upwards. The system that bred the concept of welfare queens and dehumanized others seen not worthy of help because they're lazy or queer or less than in all ways opposite of the cabal of white supremist billionaires who think only they can rule. Then they protect each other from accountability with secrets they have on each other. They have lost every ounce of decency, humanity, and empathy in their desperation to hold onto power. Change is coming. But we need at least a few of them at the top to break with the cult.
I would like to think there are those at the top who will break with the cult but I fear that may not happen except for those who take whatever side is popular at the time but have no moral courage.
Wow Adam. Spot on. My most MAGA friend can be forgiven for her original support for the horror that is Trump. But at this juncture, her continued loyalty seems more an inability or unwillingness to admit she was wrong or he failed her. That's what baffles and hurts me most.
I absolutely agree!! Just last night, I sent my MAGA mother and younger MAGA daughter a post from Substack that listed the promises that trump stated to his base and didn’t keep. Both of them (who don’t live with each other) told me that I was obsessed with “leftist agenda”, after I informed them that they refuse to admit that they were wrong and that trump failed them. Neither one of them said anything against trump, but they had no problem talking against me and my “leftist agenda”.
We NEED accountability and we NEED more people in government that actually know what they are doing. We DON'T need TV stars, who parrot their leader and don't have a clue about government! I don't think think many who are in our government today need to be replaced by those who have the ability to NOT necessarily be loyal but should be capable and accountable of their actions.
Beautifully written piece. I have come to the conclusion that the angst of so many over the past decade has arisen from a sense that there is a class of leaders who are controlling our lives- morally, financially, and socially-who are immoral and intent upon keeping their power undiluted. Trump was able to capitalize on this and was successful in making a good portion of the electorate believe that the controlling class was Democratic elites and that their "liberalism" led to an unfair playing field, especially for white, lower income voters. The Epstein files reveals, I believe, that the "Epstein Class" knows no political identification. We are being exploited by those who want to retain their wealth and power at all costs. They only see average Americans as a source to maintain their wealth and standing. Keep speaking the truth, Adam. We need leaders with integrity to get us out of this morass.
Thank you! This was excellent and helpful to me in trying to understand the reasons why so many Christens can follow this man. I hope that they can soon be enlightened.
So well put, Adam, as always. God has used unlikely people to lead throughout time; no human is perfect. The one thing truly missing here is humility .. walking humbly with God. Isn’t it impossible to be a leader when one can’t admit fault or blame?
This really gets to the heart of it, I’m glad you have some grace in there, along with your wisdom, and I pray that the hold of this cult can be broken
This cuts to the core: when your narrative requires believing that the person promising to expose evil stands outside it, and then evidence emerges that he was central to it, you face a choice.
Adjust to reality, or defend the narrative regardless of facts.
The Epstein files test whether accountability is actually the goal, or whether it was always just tribalism wearing moral language.
Justice that only functions against opponents isn’t justice. It’s selective outrage calibrated to protect power.
The victims were real. Their suffering doesn’t change based on whose name appears in the documents.
Admitting you believed a savior story that turned out to be false isn’t weakness. It’s the beginning of integrity. But every day spent postponing that admission deepens the cynicism and erodes whatever trust remains.
Truth either stands on its own, or it doesn’t exist at all.
—Johan
Adam is so much kinder than I am. A stupid story is just a stupid story -- from inception to conclusion. "It must be the Democrats" is a dumb narrative that satisfies dumb, gullible people. That kind of thinking is tailor-made for clever, dishonest scumbags to step into the breach and turn that dumbness into a political weapon against opponents. What part of that is so difficult to accept, let alone understand?
On top of the emerging story of sleaze and degradation remains an astonishing level of poor judgement on the part of people who were this man's "friends." My first wonder is how this awful man ever accumulated such influence and money in the first place? He was a high school drop-out/graduate indicted for insider trading even before he started advising incredibly wealthy people on their investments. Were there no other qualified financial advisors in New York available to successfully manage portfolios worth hundreds of millions (even billions) of dollars? How could people be so stupid as to trust him with a nickel? How could the former PM of Norway degrade himself so much (to say nothing of Norway's idiot crown princess who continued to associate with Epstein even after 2012)?
I do not get it. None of it.
I'd have been more mystified in 2015 than I am after eleven years of seeing what has been revealed since Trumpism began. I don't know when it happened, over how long a period, or why, but a sobering number of Americans are as cruel, vindictive, and sadistic as Trump. It can't have happened like a magic door from hell opening when Trump entered politics. Has to have started a good while before that. They're at the other end of the socio-economic scale, in occupations from tree cutters to teachers, and attorneys, but the base philosophy is only a hair away from Trump's. In the political sphere the number of Republicans who have had the courage to speak out at Trump's immorality like Adam has would be laughable if it weren't so discouraging. They have instead enabled his most grotesque instincts and allowed him to punish innocents. Democrats who should have been warriors have instead too often mumbled strongly worded speech's. To win their battle on abortion much of the clergy would remain silent while Trump authorized mass murder. To feed their insecurity MAGA would let him cage or murder hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of brown-skinned people -- or Democrats. I wish with all my soul that this is hyperbole but I don't think it is. I spent much of last couple weeks in Facebook posts doing something I haven't done for several years: duking it out with MAGA and non-so-MAGA Conservatives. I'd recommend anyone who hasn't done so to spend some serious time reading their posts about student protests and the SAVE act. Takes some scrubbing but I promise, the slime is water soluble. The level of aggression and violence has increased dramatically in Trump's second term, and it's coming from people of all ages and genders. I'm skilled with genealogy sources and when motivated my profile checks include ancestry records and archival media. When I say they're not bots, they're not bots. They could have side gigs as SM manipulators, but they're not bots. Where I'm headed is that Epstein's look-the-other-way clients were not exceptions; they were today's normal. Trump is at one end of a spectrum, but that spectrum is long, wide, and, I sense, populated by a majority of the country, in every crevice and at every level. I have seventy-six years of people watching under my belt and what I'm seeing is like nothing I've seen before or read of. Would 1933 Germany with social media have revealed something similar? Anybody's guess.
"a sobering number of Americans are as cruel, vindictive, and sadistic as trump."
Yes- it's part of being human. It's the fight we have to listen to our better angels but we see in history, not just in America, how many times we don't.
You make some some very valid and SCARY points!
I agree. How did so many famous, wealthy people fall for this criminal con artist who acted not only as a grossly under-qualified financial advisor, but also as a social concierge, personal fixer and dispenser of sleazy sexual advice?
wealth does not mean integrity or ethics.
Those questions have come to my mind as well. Will we ever get the answers?
Johan, I would like to restack your words, but there doesn't seem to be an avenue from Adam's post. May I report your words?
Yes, please do and appreciated!
You could take a look at my articles and posts by viewing my Substack main page by clicking on my name, Thank you.
well said!
Simply perfect. Well written, well-edited, with not a word out of place. Thank you for so clearly and concisely explaining what is going on - and in a way that, hopefully, those with sincere hearts will be able to receive. This needs to be posted and re -posted everywhere. THANK YOU!!!!
I agree. And reposting now.
"Admitting error feels like surrender, but it is actually the beginning of integrity." Thank you for this post, Adam.
Well written Adam. The idea that God is using a deeply flawed man to do his work is basically an excuse for individuals that need a way to justify to themselves, and be able to defend remarkably bad behavior. That old adage that you can talk yourself into anything in order to make yourself feel better about it is true (if you are willing to sell yourself out). The path of least resistance.....
Sorry, that was incomplete. Ohrdruf was the concentration camp that General then President Eisenhower brought the local German population to to witness the truth of what had happened around them. Justice and healing requires confrontation of truth and recognition of liability
Thank you so much for this, Adam.
What I appreciate about this piece is that it doesn’t mock the original moral instinct — that something about Epstein reflected institutional failure. That instinct wasn’t irrational. What became dangerous was narrowing that instinct into a partisan prophecy.
If accountability is the goal, it has to be universal. Otherwise “drain the swamp” becomes just a rotation of who occupies it. Corruption at elite levels is rarely cleanly tribal; it’s structural and relational. That’s what makes it so difficult — and why it tests sincerity.
The steadiness of your argument is what matters most. You’re not asking people to abandon faith or moral conviction. You’re asking them to apply the same standard everywhere. That’s not betrayal. That’s integrity.
I think you leave an important element out and that is the power of algorithms and social media. Also sexism, if a man had run against Trump in 2016 what would the outcome have been? If Biden had stepped away much earlier and a man had run against Trump in 2024 what would the outcome have been?
Truth
I don’t think that we will ever know.
Appreciate your insight into this evil phenomena. It is the system that enabled the transfer of wealth from the middle class upwards. The system that bred the concept of welfare queens and dehumanized others seen not worthy of help because they're lazy or queer or less than in all ways opposite of the cabal of white supremist billionaires who think only they can rule. Then they protect each other from accountability with secrets they have on each other. They have lost every ounce of decency, humanity, and empathy in their desperation to hold onto power. Change is coming. But we need at least a few of them at the top to break with the cult.
I would like to think there are those at the top who will break with the cult but I fear that may not happen except for those who take whatever side is popular at the time but have no moral courage.
🙏🏻
Wow Adam. Spot on. My most MAGA friend can be forgiven for her original support for the horror that is Trump. But at this juncture, her continued loyalty seems more an inability or unwillingness to admit she was wrong or he failed her. That's what baffles and hurts me most.
It baffles me that women support him so strongly
I absolutely agree!! Just last night, I sent my MAGA mother and younger MAGA daughter a post from Substack that listed the promises that trump stated to his base and didn’t keep. Both of them (who don’t live with each other) told me that I was obsessed with “leftist agenda”, after I informed them that they refuse to admit that they were wrong and that trump failed them. Neither one of them said anything against trump, but they had no problem talking against me and my “leftist agenda”.
Terri that must be so hard for you. 😞
Thank you, Sabrina. It is.
We NEED accountability and we NEED more people in government that actually know what they are doing. We DON'T need TV stars, who parrot their leader and don't have a clue about government! I don't think think many who are in our government today need to be replaced by those who have the ability to NOT necessarily be loyal but should be capable and accountable of their actions.
Beautifully written piece. I have come to the conclusion that the angst of so many over the past decade has arisen from a sense that there is a class of leaders who are controlling our lives- morally, financially, and socially-who are immoral and intent upon keeping their power undiluted. Trump was able to capitalize on this and was successful in making a good portion of the electorate believe that the controlling class was Democratic elites and that their "liberalism" led to an unfair playing field, especially for white, lower income voters. The Epstein files reveals, I believe, that the "Epstein Class" knows no political identification. We are being exploited by those who want to retain their wealth and power at all costs. They only see average Americans as a source to maintain their wealth and standing. Keep speaking the truth, Adam. We need leaders with integrity to get us out of this morass.
Thank you! This was excellent and helpful to me in trying to understand the reasons why so many Christens can follow this man. I hope that they can soon be enlightened.
Thank you again for bringing up this topic.
So well put, Adam, as always. God has used unlikely people to lead throughout time; no human is perfect. The one thing truly missing here is humility .. walking humbly with God. Isn’t it impossible to be a leader when one can’t admit fault or blame?
Yes I agree with what is missing- those people were willing to help God and repented during their leadership. trump has never repented for anything.
Very, very good and insightful - hopefully people will share.
This really gets to the heart of it, I’m glad you have some grace in there, along with your wisdom, and I pray that the hold of this cult can be broken