Weekend Quotables

The Epstein saga is exposing MAGA's rotting underbelly. Cuomo's rebranded campaign equates anti-Zionism and antisemitism.

A man gestures to a photograph of Trump and Epstein after it is unofficially installed in a bus shelter in London.

I never imagined that the Epstein scandal would turn out to be the black swan that could lead to the collapse of MAGA’s house of cards. Didn't everyone already assume that Trump was on the list? Didn't Trump boast about their relationship and their preference for women "on the younger side?"

Trump’s ties to Epstein weren’t just rumored—they were documented, quoted, and photographed for two decades.

In a 2002 New York Magazine profile, Trump said of Epstein: “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.”

For years, the Epstein saga served as the bedrock of MAGA mythology. It was the ultimate tale of elite depravity—child trafficking, deep-state corruption, blackmail. Trump’s base didn't just believe it; they built their faith around it. And given Trump’s long history of sexual abuse and assaults on young women, who thought that the Epstein story would stick? At least 25 women have publicly accused Trump of rape, groping, or harassment since the 1970s.

He was supposed to be the wrecking ball that would demolish the deep state and restore order and prosperity. Now he’s been reduced to lashing out at reporters for asking questions and at his own base, calling their obsession with Epstein a “hoax” and branding supporters “weaklings” for demanding transparency.

This isn’t just another scandal—it’s a structural collapse, exposing the rot beneath the populist veneer.

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Weekend Quotables

The Scold — DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, when asked about ICE’s racial profiling, tells a White House reporter, “Don’t You Dare Say That Again.” — Daily Beast

Trump: “People don’t explain to me, I explain to them!” — Truth Social

Nick Estes

When I called [Leonard Peltier] … one of the first things he said to me was, “We were at war.” That war had already begun when Peltier was a child. — New Yorker

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Andrew Cuomo

Like Trump, former New York Governor Cuomo has his own sexual misconduct issues to deal with. He resigned as governor of New York in 2021 after a bombshell report from Attorney General Letitia James concluded he had sexually harassed at least 11 women, including state employees

They’re not just lingering allegations; they’re legally and politically explosive as he tries for a do-over after getting crushed in the mayoral primary by Zohran Mamdani.

So his new campaign, which is underwritten by AIPAC, is simply a defense of Israel and its genocidal war on Gaza combined with an attack on critics as “antisemitic.”

Cuomo made the conflation explicit during a speech at an Upper West Side synagogue, declaring: “It’s very simple: anti-Zionism is antisemitism.” — Politico

And then there’s this…

Cuomo says he’ll flee to Florida if Zohran wins. That’s all the endorsement we need. Vote Mamdani!