Since there is so much disinformation
and misinformation out there masquerading as news, it is important to find
sources that can be trusted. As with history, so it is with current events (which
is just very recent history): the more sources you read, the better you will be
able to sift the wheat from the chaff (or, as is the case with Fox News, the
weeds). I subscribe to the New York Times, the Washington Post,
and the Salt Lake Tribune. I also follow the Deseret News online since
it is free, but since Trump’s arrival on the scene, I’ve found the DesNews
to be a largely useless source, since it avoids most of what is actually
happening in the world. But the Church’s involvement as a newspaper publisher
is a topic I’ll reserve for another day. I find the three newspapers I
subscribe to fairly valuable, but the Washington Post, in particular, sometimes
tries to “bothsides” events that are not at all balanced.
So, in addition to these
traditional news sources, I have several other sources that I find highly
informative and quite accurate (if somewhat biased). The first is a daily
email, titled “Letters from an American,” by Boston College history professor
Heather Cox Richardson. She has a team of researchers who track down stories
that may not appear in traditional news sources, and she often puts current
events in the context of relevant historical events. Below, I’ll copy her
latest, to give you an idea of what her daily letters are like (I doubt she’ll
mind the free publicity).
The second source is Paul Krugman,
Nobel Prize–winning
economist, NYU professor, and former columnist at the New York Times.
Paul retired from the NYT earlier this year because he felt his journalistic
freedom was being stifled. I’m not at all sorry. At the Times, he was
publishing a column twice a week. Now he posts something on his Substack every
day. He is always informative about the economic effects of current policies
(or prejudices, as the case often is with Trump, since he doesn’t really have
policies). Some of his material is behind a subscription paywall, but he sends
out plenty in a daily email for free, which is what I receive.
The third source is Katelyn
Jetalina, who sends out a twice-weekly email titled “Your Local Epidemiologist.”
Jetelina is an epidemiologist, data scientist, professor at Yale School of
Public Health, senior scientific advisor to several government and nonprofit agencies,
and cofounder of the Health Trust Initiative. She gives accurate information
about public health issues, especially concerning vaccines. Her email is free, although
some content is reserved for paid subscribers.
The fourth is the fastest-growing
news organization in America (and perhaps on earth). It is the MeidasTouch
Network. This is an extremely anti-Trump news source, but it claims to be
unfettered by corporate money, funded solely by subscribers like me, so it is
free to tell the truth without any outside influence. It was started by USC law
professor Ben Meiselis and his brothers. MTN is a little heavy on
self-promotion, but I find its daily news roundup by news editor Ron
Filipkowski to be very informative (and often quite funny). Ron claims he
spends 14 hours a day combing through all sorts of sources, and he regularly
provides quotes from government officials and politicians (in both parties), experts
in various fields, and social media exchanges from all sides.
Frankly, I long for the day when
Trump vanishes from the scene, the Republican Party gets over its personality
cult phase, and we can return to a quieter news cycle, where we can focus on
real emergencies, like global warming and defeating Vlad Putin. That may take a
while, though, so here is Heather Cox Richardson’s latest. She always provides
sources at the end of her letters.
* * *
This weekend saw the development
of an extraordinary rift in MAGA world.
The conflict began last Monday
when the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a memo saying that it had
conducted a thorough review of all the evidence the department had collected
about convicted sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein, who died in his prison cell in 2019
awaiting trial on additional sex-trafficking charges. The memo said that the
department’s “systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list’” and
that there was “no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent
individuals as part of his actions.” It said the DOJ and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI), which operates within the DOJ, had determined “that no
further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.”
The memo also said FBI
investigators had concluded that Epstein died by suicide, releasing footage
from a camera from the unit in which Epstein was being held at the time of his
death.
For years now, Trump and his
loyalists have claimed Epstein was murdered to protect the rich and powerful
men who were preying on children. This theory dovetailed with the QAnon
conspiracy theory that Trump was combating a secret ring of cannibalistic child
molesters who included Democratic politicians, government officials, film
stars, and businessmen. MAGA influencers, including Kash Patel and Dan Bongino,
pushed the Epstein theories, and MAGA followers believed them, hoping to bring
down Democratic politicians like the Clintons.
Once in power, they vowed, they
would release the client list and provide the truth about Epstein’s death. In
February, Attorney General Pam Bondi told the Fox News Channel that the client
list was “sitting on my desk right now.” Patel is now director of the FBI—in
part because MAGA senators like Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) believed he would
release more information on Epstein and child sex trafficking rings—and Bongino
is the FBI’s deputy director. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) called for Americans to
vote for Trump in 2024 because “Americans deserve to know why Epstein didn’t
kill himself.”
The announcement that the DOJ
would not provide further information and that Epstein had died by suicide set
off a firestorm among MAGA. Far-right influencer Jack Posobiec wrote: “We were
all told more was coming. That answers were out there and would be provided.”
On Tuesday, when a reporter asked
about Epstein during a press opportunity at a cabinet meeting, Trump responded:
“Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for
years. Are people still talking about this guy? This creep? That is
unbelievable.”
Trump’s attempt to turn attention
away from the story only drew attention to it. While MAGA focused on the idea
that the people on an Epstein client list would be Democrats, in fact the
person most closely associated with Epstein in popular culture was Trump
himself. The two men were photographed and filmed together a number of times.
In 2002, according to New York magazine, Trump said: “I’ve
known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy…. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It
is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them
are on the younger side.”
On June 5, after a falling-out
with Trump, billionaire Elon Musk posted on social media: “Time to drop the
really big bomb: [Trump] is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they
have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” He followed that post up with
another saying: “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.” He
later deleted the posts and said they had gone too far.
After Trump tried to downplay the
story last week, it gained momentum. MAGA influencers began to call for Bondi
to be fired, and Bongino began to talk of resigning from the FBI over Bondi’s
memo and handling of the issue.
Then, at 5:21 Saturday evening,
Eastern Daylight Time, Trump posted a long, incoherent screed on social media.
In it, he defended Attorney General Pam Bondi—who is, of course, doing his
bidding concerning the files—and tried to bring MAGA together again, warning
that “selfish people” were trying to hurt his “PERFECT administration” by
focusing on Epstein. In apparent contradiction to the story Bondi had told, he
suggested the Epstein files existed, but then nonsensically said they were
“written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and
Criminals of the Biden Administration, who conned the World with the Russia,
Russia, Russia Hoax, 51 ‘Intelligence’ Agents, ‘THE LAPTOP FROM HELL,’ and
more? They created the Epstein Files, just like they created the FAKE Hillary
Clinton/Christopher Steele Dossier that they used on me, and now my so-called
“friends” are playing right into their hands. Why didn’t these Radical Left
Lunatics release the Epstein Files? If there was ANYTHING in there that could have
hurt the MAGA Movement, why didn’t they use it? They haven’t even given up on
the John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King, Jr. Files,” he wrote.
“No matter how much success we
have had, securing the Border, deporting Criminals, fixing the Economy, Energy
Dominance, a Safer World where Iran will not have Nuclear Weapons, it’s never
enough for some people. We are about to achieve more in 6 months than any other
Administration has achieved in over 100 years, and we have so much more to do.
We are saving our Country and, MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, which will continue
to be our complete PRIORITY,” Trump wrote.
“The Left is imploding! Kash
Patel, and the FBI, must be focused on investigating Voter Fraud, Political
Corruption, ActBlue, The Rigged and Stolen Election of 2020, and arresting
Thugs and Criminals, instead of spending month after month looking at nothing
but the same old, Radical Left inspired Documents on Jeffrey Epstein. LET PAM
BONDI DO HER JOB—SHE’S GREAT! The 2020 Election was Rigged and Stolen, and they
tried to do the same thing in 2024—That’s what she is looking into as AG, and
much more.
“One year ago our Country was
DEAD, now it’s the ‘HOTTEST’ Country anywhere in the World. Let’s keep it that
way, and not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody
cares about. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
For the first time ever, Trump got
ratioed on his own platform, meaning that there were more comments on his post
than likes or shares, showing disapproval of his message. According to Jordan
King of Newsweek, by 10:45 this morning (Eastern Time) it had more
than 36,000 replies but only 11,000 reposts and 32,000 likes.
Trump sounds panicked, not only
over the Epstein issue itself, but also because he cannot control the narrative
his followers are embracing. After stoking the fire of his followers’ anger
against what they seemed to see as powerful men getting away with crimes
against children, he is now being burned by it. His reflex is to return to his
greatest hits, accusing Democrats of writing the Epstein files and then, as he
always, always, always does, snapping back to the Russia scandal and calling it
a hoax.
Over the weekend, attendees at a
conference held by the right-wing Turning Point USA booed the Trump
administration’s handling of the Epstein case. MAGA influencers kept up the
drumbeat; Matt Walsh called the administration’s about-face on releasing information
“obvious bullsh*t.” Natalie Allison of the Washington Post reported
that even the Fox News Channel warned this morning that “[t]here has to be some
explanation” and that questions about the way the administration is handling
the Epstein files were “very valid.”
Musk, who controls the X social
media platform preferred by the right wing, is amplifying the story. After
Trump’s Saturday post, Musk wrote to his 222 million followers: “Seriously. He
said ‘Epstein’ half a dozen times while telling everyone to stop talking about
Epstein. Just release the files as promised.”
Trump appears to be planning to
regain control of the narrative by persecuting his political opponents.
But it is not clear that will
silence MAGA voters who backed Trump in part because they thought he would lead
the fight against an elite group of pedophiles controlling the country. As
Trump’s policies on the economy, immigration, tax cuts, firing of government
employees, and gutting of disaster relief have soured Americans on his
administration, loyalists stayed behind him. Now he has turned against their
chief cause, giving them an off-ramp from a presidency that seems increasingly
off the rails.
Mike Flynn, who served as Trump’s
first national security advisor until forced to resign for lying about his
contact with Russian operatives, posted on social media: “[President Trump]
please understand the EPSTEIN AFFAIR is not going away. If the administration
doesn’t address the massive number of unanswered questions about Epstein,
especially the ABUSE OF CHILDREN BY ELITES (it is very clear that abuse
occurred), then moving forward on so many other monumental challenges our
nation is facing becomes much harder.”
Flynn concluded: “We cannot allow
pedophiles to get away. I don’t personally care who they are or what elite or
powerful position they hold. They must be exposed and held accountable!!!”
—
Notes:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1407001/dl?inline
Haley Chi-Sing, “Bondi says
Epstein client list ‘sitting on my desk right now,’ and is reviewing JFK, MLK
files,” Fox News, February 21, 2025.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-jeffrey-epstein-question-this-creep/
Emma Colton, “DOJ brass vowed full
transparency on Epstein before turning up empty-handed,” Fox News, July 13,
2025.
The Bulwark
Case
Closed on Epstein? Not So Fast
A HOST OF NERVOUS
INDIVIDUALS—including President Donald J. Trump—must have breathed a sigh of
relief over the weekend when the Department of Justice announced that “no fu…
3 days ago · 389 likes · Philip
Rotner
Donald J. Trump, Truth Social
post, July 12, 2025, 5:21 p.m.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-jeffrey-epstein-truth-social-post-pam-bondi-2098351
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/7/epstein-no-client-list-died-suicide-justice-department-says
https://newsletters.democracydocket.com/trumps-epstein-problem
The Bulwark
The
Case for Epstein Trutherism
1. The Lost City of E…
5 days ago · 707 likes · 544
comments · Jonathan V. Last
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/12/turning-point-usa-conference-concerns-trump/
https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/n_7912/
https://www.thedailybeast.com/elon-musk-breaks-silence-on-donald-trumps-epstein-file-demand/
https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/14/politics/michael-flynn-resigns-timeline
X:
elonmusk/status/1944239510604460045
GenFlynn/status/1944214943198286033
Bluesky:
did:plc:4lx6nur5wstwoc4wtgj56kyu/post/3lturenqtlc2c
