In Jeffrey Epstein’s wider circle, women and girls were treated as less than human by powerful men acting far beyond the law. The sexual trafficking plotted by him and his fellow criminals is the most egregious example of a global network of wealthy and powerful men that thinks it can act with impunity. Nothing less than a century-defining rebalancing of power and accountability is equal to this moment and the trauma of the victims. This scandal is primarily about them and their pain.
But as I digest the details of what has emerged, I also find it hard to find words to express my revulsion at what has been uncovered about Epstein and his impact on our politics. During the financial crisis, I wanted every moment of every day to be spent doing everything that could be done to save people’s homes, savings, pensions and jobs. That a member of the cabinet at the time was thinking more of himself and his rich friends is a betrayal of everything we stand for as a country. That the leaks of sensitive information were going to someone we now know was the ringmaster of a cabal of abusers and enablers sickens me.
