As some day it may happen that a victim must be found
Donald Trump is acting like a cat obsessively scraping the sides of the litter box to hide any signs of the poop he’s already covered up. He is desperate, desperate not only to derail release of government-held Epstein files but to change the subject. Or turn whatever is in them into a story about anybody else. Anybody Democrat.
Heather Cox Richardson summarizes succinctly:
In a transparent attempt to distract from the many times his own name appears in the documents from the Epstein estate members of the House Oversight Committee released Wednesday, President Donald J. Trump asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Democrats whose names appeared in the documents. He singled out former president Bill Clinton, former treasury secretary Lawrence H. Summers, and Reid Hoffman, who founded LinkedIn and who is a Democratic donor.
Although the attorney general is the nation’s chief law enforcement officer and is supposed to be nonpartisan in protecting the rule of law, Bondi responded that the Department of Justice “will pursue this with urgency and integrity.” Maegan Vazquez and Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post note that reporters have already covered the relationship of Epstein with Clinton, Summers, and Hoffman for years, and that in July, Justice Department officials said an examination of the FBI files relating to Epstein—a different cache than Wednesday’s—“did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”
“Don’t bother me with details, just do it.” That is the clear message Trump sent Bondi via Truth Social post.
Courtesy of a Wall Street Journal graphic, we can see what Trump is desperate to cover up. Trump isn’t just mentioned in the emails released by the Epstein estate. He’s mentioned in over half and far more than the people he’s siccing AG Pam Bondi on.
Wag the Dog
Turning from cats to dogs, Trump sees Venezuela as an easy target for deflecting attention from the Epstein files. See Wag the Dog, the 1997 film summarized thusly: “Shortly before an election, a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer join efforts to fabricate a war in order to cover up a Presidential sex scandal.”
Two months ago, Charlie Sykes asked, “Is The Dog About To Be Wagged?” He noted a deployment of stealth fighters to Puerto Rico.
“Why would you need F35 stealth fighter jets for a counternarcotics mission?” asked Fox News Chief National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin.
Since then, Trump has diverted the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, to the Caribbean. It arrived “on Tuesday, adding to the capability of the United States to strike boats suspected of carrying drugs or targets on land in Venezuela as the Trump administration weighs further military steps aimed at ousting the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro.”
Sykes added in September:
And what better distraction from badeconomicnewsEpsteinglobalhumiliations than a quick, bloody war with a country led by a leftist dictator? A country not only rife with gangs and drugs, but with massive oil reserves. What’s not to like?
Yes, Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio would like to topple the government of Venezuela and President Nicolás Maduro. And Secretary Pete Hegseth is eager to flex his Crusader tattoos. But as I say regularly, Republicans love a twofer.
Canada’s Daily Scrum News considers how starting a war with Venezuela might help Trump’s Epstein file problem:
To understand why requires returning to the core definition of wagging the dog. In political terms, it describes a leader facing a domestic storm so powerful, so revealing, or so personally damaging that the only available move is to create a crisis bigger than the scandal itself. The external threat becomes the story; the internal decay becomes background noise. The war, or threat of war, becomes an anesthetic powerful enough to mute outrage, paralyse critics, and redirect the nation’s emotional energy outward. It is not a conspiracy. It is a pattern, one that has appeared throughout history: during impeachment proceedings, economic downturns, collapsing approval ratings, corruption investigations, electoral disasters, and national humiliation. It is the oldest sleight of hand in the repertoire of empire.
And, hoo-boy, does Trump have a plateful of economic problems of his own creation.
And then comes the most explosive destabilizer of all: the Epstein files. Their contents, their implications, and their potential connections pose a direct threat to the highest circles of American power. The release of information, the opening of sealed documents, and the revelations about networks of influence, wealth, and exploitation create an existential political crisis. The question is not what is in the files, but who. The fear is not speculation—it is exposure. In this atmosphere, with the public demanding accountability and figures across the political and financial elite preparing for reputational devastation, the impulse to shift national focus elsewhere grows irresistible.
This is where Venezuela becomes the stage.
Donovan Martin Sr, Editor in Chief of The Daily Scrum considers the possibility that starting a war with Venezuela might have been a premeditated move by Trump:
In the end, the question becomes whether this escalation is a strategic defence of national interest or a strategic defence of political survival. The indicators point heavily toward the latter. The American public, and the global community, now stand at a pivotal moment. If the path to war with Venezuela proceeds unchallenged, the world may soon witness not only a catastrophic conflict but one born not of necessity, not of emergency, but of calculated distraction. A war designed not to protect America, but to protect the president. A tail powerful enough to drag the entire dog into the fire.
How very Trumpish.
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