Epstein liked to cosplay as smart
Why is this not surprising? Discovered among the millions of Epstein documents (The Atlantic):
Promoting contemptible perspectives on race is probably nowhere near the most depraved things Epstein did; he was, after all, a registered sex offender charged with child trafficking. But Epstein’s views are notable given his long-standing influence on some of the most powerful and influential Americans. His conversations from a decade ago provide clues as to how race science was picked out of the boneyard of history and reanimated into a force that’s influencing U.S. politics right now.
I’d say rather that race science was never consigned to “the boneyard of history” any more than fascism. The graveyard of the undead, perhaps. Paul Krugman might call it “a zombie lie — something that keeps coming back no matter how many times it’s killed by evidence.”
As other emails suggest, Epstein enjoyed in a dilettantish way to rub elbows with people known more for their brains. Him being filthy rich, intellectuals tolerated his inquiries about ideas more than they would give the time of day to the average schlub. It seems Epstein came across Noam Chomsky that way and recommended to him “Race and IQ: Genes That Predict Racial Intelligence Differences” from a white supremacist website. Epstein repeatedly attempted communication with Charles Murray of “The Bell Curve” infamy. Murray tells Ari Breland that it’s possible they met at a conference somewhere, but he has no recollection.
Other such characters from the fringe pop up in Epstein’s emails. But let’s get to how these ideas reach into the highest echelons of government and public policy.
In the past several years, race science has gained traction on the right and in parts of Silicon Valley’s elite circles. Elon Musk, for example, has repeatedly replied to the @cremieuxrecueil account, run by Jordan Lasker, an independent researcher who has been credited by a right-wing publication for tracing “the genetic pathways of crime, explaining why poverty is not a good causal explanation.” Musk has also engaged with an account that posted statistics supposedly illustrating the inferiority of Black people. In November, The Guardian reported that perspectives defending race science were embedded in Musk’s Wikipedia competitor, Grokipedia. Musk and his representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
In 2023 and 2024, respectively, Charlie Kirk and Tucker Carlson interviewed Steve Sailer, a prominent race-science proponent. President Trump—who once considered Epstein a close friend and is referenced in many emails—has toyed around with the concept for years. In a November 2024 interview with the right-wing radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump said that some of the migrants coming across the southern border were genetically inferior. “How about allowing people to come to an open border, 13,000 of whom were murderers? Many of them murdered far more than one person, and they’re now happily living in the United States,” Trump told Hewitt, citing an incorrect number. “You know, now a murderer—I believe this—it’s in their genes. And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.” When I reached out to the White House, the spokesperson Abigail Jackson told me in an emailed statement that “President Trump is right—dangerous criminal illegal aliens exploited Joe Biden’s open border and flooded our country.”
And what then do we say about the career criminal Trump’s genes, or the pedophile Epstein’s?
Arguing that intelligence and adjacent traits are biologically determined served a clear function for a man like Epstein, who treated women as disposable and subordinate. And it’s equally unsurprising that the powerful people with whom he cultivated relationships might attempt to come up with a natural, objective explanation and rationale for their perch at the top of society.
That perch has more to do with how in our culture wealth inordinately confers more status than one’s intelligence and humanity. Empty vessels possessing only the former enjoy cosplaying as though they accrued their wealth-status through native intelligence. Drug kingpins and warlords make no such pretensions. Perhaps the Epstein class should study instead the genetic origins of cunning and amorality.
The Trump administration: Q.E.D.