CHARLIE KIRK, TRUMP, KIMMEL AND EPSTEIN

“Yeah I’d take a look at it…. I’d be inclined to do The Epstein. I’d have no problem with it”.  - Presidential Candidate Trump,  September 2024, (2 months before the Presidential election).

The Epstein files are still central to the American political scene. The recent tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk, the firing and then rehiring of late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel and Donald Trump are all interconnected through the Epstein scandal. Trump is desperate to keep the files under wraps and considers any Republican calling for release as “hostile”. So far enough Republicans have risked his wrath to ultimately force a debate in The House of Representatives. Jay H. Ell will outline Kirk’s commitment to the release of the files, then profile the charismatic young man to show how influential and central he was to the Trump MAGA movement. The sequence as to how the connection between Trump, Kimmel, Kirk and Epstein played out and finally a note on how ubiquitous “the files” are in the current political scene and why they will continue to be a  central factor.

 KIRK, EPSTEIN AND TRUMP

During the 2024 campaign Charlie Kirk was in sync with  releasing The Epstein Files. Right until July 2025 he was a vocal critic of the Department of Justice for failing to release them. He demanded full transparency. He urged the Trump administration to “fix the mess by disclosing more information”. Under intense pressure from Donald Trump, as were several other right wing influencers, Kirk backed off. He fell in line announcing. “I am done talking about Epstein for the time being”.

 A day before his death on September 9 Kirk hosted a show entitled, “Do We Have The Epstein Files Or Not?”. So obviously frustrated by the Trump Administration, a day before his death, he once again called for, “the full unredacted release of the Jeffrey Epstein files”. He repeated his demand for “full transparency by the Department of Justice”. He linked his appeal to the broader unaccountability of elites in spite of a bipartisan congressional push.  Charlie Kirk’s podcast “The Charlie Kirk Show” was on the top tier of Apple Podcasts.

So the hope that the death of Kirk coincides with the burial of the Epstein files is just that  - a hope. Kirk himself a day before his death had resuscitated his own desire for the truth, in spite of Trump’s need to bury the whole matter. Who knows what Trump had reassured him in July to shut him up and who knows why Kirk had been no longer convinced by Trump’s pleas and elected to defy him?

But who was this Charlie Kirk who was in the tight inner circle of Trump whisperers?

CHARLIE KIRK

For those who only became aware of Charlie Kirk as a result of his assassination they have to have been bewildered by the fact that at his nationally televised funeral nearly the whole Trump cabinet was present. Furthermore the event was addressed by the Vice President and the President himself in front of a crowd of ninety - five thousand. The short answer is that Kirk was a phenom. He had to have been to be able to achieve this status at 31 years of age. He is generally recognized to have been the youth organizer of the Trump campaign that delivered young male voters who never normally show up to elections thereby, reportedly, tipping the 2024 Presidential election in Trump’s favor.  But he was far more than that.

Kirk founded an organization, Turning Point, at the age of 18, which was rapidly well funded so as to fill the void of a Conservative voice on college campuses. He took on all comers, one at a time, and in spite of his rigid beliefs was a skilled listener as well as orator. His fame in the latter area led to invitations to the illustrious historic debating halls of Oxford and Cambridge - not bad for a college drop out. He at the same time became very influential in the Republican Party, to be more specific, with Trump. Besides his radio talk shows, speech tours, conventions, he wrote three books the most influential being “The MAGA Doctrine”. The latter was an organized vision of the sometime ramblings of Trump. They are in line with his Budget Director and his Project 25.

Most significantly besides his conservative appeal to young male voters and his right wing schtick  - he called for “a patriot” to bail out the attacker who hammered the head of the 81 year old husband of Nancy Pelosi and organized buses to the January 6 Trump meeting at the Elipse. 

So he was solidly and unquestionably hard right MAGA but more than just paying lip service to the Christian part of Christian Nationalism. Kirk’s central message was faith, family and country. In addition he was about the manosphere, straightness -  no LGBT people and most importantly Trumpism. He totally dominated the right wing internet space much to the annoyance of Michael Fuentes the right wing extremist. On the other side pf the political spectrum Kirk was a lightening rod to the far left bloggists some of whom disgustingly celebrated his death. 

It is central to note that this remarkable young man besides all his organizational capabilities and charisma made strategic allegiances with the Evangelical Christians. First, there a short term relationship with the legendary Jerry Faldwell and then with pastor Rob McCoy forming the alliance Turning Point Faith. The objective was to engage pastors and church leaders into national politics so that the American society to could return to “foundational Christian values”. Reportedly over 5 million dollars was devoted to rally pastors and church leaders to apply themselves to this task.

So Charlie Kirk was a central figure in MAGA world. He was head of a crucial organization in Trump’s success in 2024, had solidified Evangelicals’ support behind Trump and was the leader with a vast following of the new Christian manosphere. He was arguably the most powerful individual on the political scene outside of conventional politics. 

To illustrate his importance to Trump, Kirk’s wife, when asked by Trump what he could do for her after her husband’s untimely death, she asked that he, The President, be just as available to her if she called as he had been to her husband, to which Trump replied in the affirmative.

 Kirk’s untimely demise led to a flood of coverage across the internet including the legacy media. One of the participants of this discourse was ABC’S late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel and therein lies a story of several dimensions.

KIMMEL, KIRK AND TRUMP, AND OF COURSE EPSTEIN

ABC’S Jimmy Kimmel the immensely popular and strident vocal critic of Trump, regularly satirized Trump not releasing the Epstein files. For example following The Wall Street Journal publication of Trump’s alleged birthday note to Epstein he maintained that the issue,“was a gift that keeps on giving”. 

Two days after the funeral of Kirk, Kimmel made the following political remarks but nothing near some of the bile being spewed on the internet. (Kimmel had already been forewarned by Trump that he would be the next comedian after CBS’s Stephen Colbert to be terminated):“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize the kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it”.

Pretty mild stuff as political comment goes but enough to set in motion Trump’s prophecy that “Kimmel would be the next to go". The message came from the extremely powerful Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, Brendon Carr. The latter advised ABC, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way”. Within hours Kimmel would be suspended “indefinitely” by ABC evoking the largest protest from entertainment, the public and from all sides of the political spectrum. This was one of the cardinal American constitutional values “Freedom of the Press” that had just been blatantly axed. 

Within a week an emotional Kimmel was back on air stating that it was never his intention to make Kirk’s assassination, “funny”. A day later he was on about Trump being stuck on the escalator in order to distract from “The Epstein Files”.

THE RECURRING FACTOR IN AMERICAN POLITICS -EPSTEIN AND HIS FILES

Trump the populist was as an outsider who had sold the story that he was the supporter of those who had been left out and abandoned in favor of the elites and the powerful. For whatever reason pedophilia was associated with those “uber mensch”. (See Blogs: “This is Epsteingate”, “The Epstein Tsunami” and “Trump, The Second Civil War and Epstein"). In the 2016 campaign it was Hillary Clinton who supposedly conducted a pedophilia ring underneath a Pizza Parlor. In the 2024 campaign the key to what the powerful were hiding was in the files of The Kennedy Assassination, The Martin Luther King Assassination, 9/11 and The Epstein Files. Besides Trump, his Attorney General, his FBI Director and his Assistant all promised their release. They are now involved in the cover up. 

As Jimmy Kimmel mused in his monologue days before his suspension, “The Republican Senators just blocked a motion to force a motion on making The Department of Justice Release the Files…. The Republicans have spent the last four years demanding the release of The Epstein Files and the last four months screaming, ‘Do not release The Epstein Files’”. 

Two women who were in the best position to understand Epstein’s frame of mind prior to his death have recently claimed that they believe that he did not commit suicide, adding more drama to this saga. Julie K. Brown from The Miami Herald in a mammoth investigative three part series entitled “The Perversion of Justice” which led to Epstein’s rearrest in 2019 claimed that Epstein would have believed he could escape prosecution because he had obtained an undertaking from the Florida Federal Prosecutor that he could not be prosecuted for his alleged actions should he plead guilty to a lesser charge, (See aforementioned blogs), Ghillane Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted co conspirator maintained in a soft ball interview, where she exculpated Donald Trump for any untoward behavior, argued that she did not believe her co conspirator committed suicide. This needless to say has the conspiracy theorists spinning a web of plots. 

So what happens next?

CONGRESS AND THE EPSTEIN FILES

Even with the Shutdown of Government resulting in more threats to the social safety net, the Immigration and Customs, (ICE), personnel snatching people off the streets and the bizarre meeting of all the military generals who were addressed by the Secretary of War, (legally still Defense), Pete Hegseth and low energy rambling President Trump, Epstein just won’t go away. 

The vote needed to force the matter of the release of the documents, recordings. photographs and videos from the Epstein investigation in the House of Representatives was scheduled for October 7. However the Republican Speaker has closed The House of Representatives for at least that week. 

Democratic Representative Ro Khanna has claimed that once the matter hits the floor at least 40 more Republicans will vote for the release. If that is true that will be a wholesale rebellion against Trump who has claimed that a vote by Republicans in favor off the public sharing of the Epstein investigation “would be a very hostile act”. The Democrats believe that this is such a hot issue they are fundraising over it. Money is also being collected to put up a billboard in Times Square.

The Epstein Estate has already released some damning evidence to Congress including The Epstein Birthday Book which has very inflammatory entries allegedly by Trump and of Trump. There is more, Peter Thiel, Steve Bannon and Elon Musk, all luminaries of the Republican Party, are also mentioned in the files. In addition the Republican Congress women demanding justice for the victims have threatened to release, under protection of the Legislature’s rules, 20 of the names of men involved. To add to the President’s displeasure Secretary Lutnick in an interview just magnified the controversy by claiming that Epstein was the greatest blackmailer of all time!  Lutnick claimed that he wouldn’t have spent one day in the company of that “creep” who was Trump’s best friend for a decade. 

 

AT THE END OF THE DAY

For whatever reasons the Epstein saga must be pretty incriminating. While for the moment just a few Republican Legislators are protesting, the influential manosphere including the late irreplaceable Charlie Kirk have regarded pedophilia as a central evil and are consequently on the wrong side of the President’s revised position. The House of Representatives when they finally debate the issue will produce fireworks.

THE TRUMP ROBERTS SUPREME COURT

Governments regardless of their ideology seek ultimate legitimacy for their policies and their actions via the judiciary. To use the United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts metaphor, the Justices are “ umpires”. To explain even better how the Roberts Court claim to behave, they are akin to the legendary baseball umpire Bill Klem who bluntly maintained, “There are no balls There are no strikes.  It ‘ain’t nothing till I call it”.  Baseball umpires interpret in terms of strict sets of rules which they do not alter in the middle of the game.

 In spite of Roberts assertions to the contrary, the “Roberts Supreme Court” has no dependable rule book by which they adjudicate issues. The Court is on different occasions shown differing philosophies either “Originalist” or “Living” and “Restrained” or “Activist”  The only consistency appears that they act the way Trump maintained that they should and would. In Trump related cases the 6 to 3 Republican appointed Judges have found in favor of the President 93 percent of the time.

The Roberts Supreme Court has interpreted the Constitution contrary to the central underlying motivation of its introduction, namely to ensure that America should not be ruled by a king. There is little doubt that the litigation of United States v Trump,( 2024), was the most influential and important case in the history of the Republic. The Court ignored the limitations of Presidential Power set by the precedents of United States v Nixon, (1974), and Marbury v Madison, (1803). It simply cast aside the reason for The War of Independence and the aim of the Founders. It created an autocratic president. In so doing it was on its way to becoming The Trump Roberts Court.

 

THE FOUNDERS, THE COURTS, NIXON, TRUMP AND JANUARY 6 LITIGATION 

The Key Founders’ conclusion was that there would be three distinct branches of government so that there could be checks and balance to limit the powers of one or other entity. The litigation in the United States v Trump, (2024), The Roberts Supreme Court, as the Judiciary Branch, had to once again decide the bounds of the power of the President who was head of the Executive Branch. Trump was appealing the Federal District Court of Columbia’s judgement “that he was not a King and was answerable for actions”. The indictment accused Trump of actions which amounted to attempting a coup on January 6 2021. The case against Trump was initiated was initiated in August 2023

The Roberts Court slow walked hearing Trump’s appeal which urgently went directly to the Supreme Court on 11 December 2023. The latter ignored the precedent of the United States v Nixon, (1974)  which underscored the urgency of adjudicating an issue of whether the President was subject to the law in a criminal investigation. The Watergate case was speedily directly heard by the Burger Supreme Court with a ruling in 16 days. The Roberts Court refused to accept that there was a screaming urgency in view of the national interest of resolving whether or not the 46th President had attempted a coup after he had been declared the loser of the 2020 Presidential election. That case had been already been briefed and decided in the District Of Columbia Federal Court where an extensive ruling had already been made. In the Nixon case it was not argued first in the District Court it was briefed straight to the Supreme Court. 

Special Counsel Jack Smith for the United States cited the precedent of the unanimous decision of the Burger Court as to their agreement on the on urgency of the matter where a President’s power was involved that “being a matter of extreme public importance”. in fact the Burger Court had acted with “extra ordinary speed”. Also Smith argued that the Court’s determination that Nixon had no “absolute privilege" was equivalent to absolute immunity claimed by Trump”.The 1974 Nixon litigation was not the only precedent there was also Marbury v Madison, (1803), where Chief Justice Marshall made it quite clear in writing the judgement that “Presidents were not beyond legal scrutiny”. The Marshall Court rejected that “…the President or any member of the Executive Branch could act with unchecked authority when the law was implicated”.

The Roberts Court compounded the delay and referred the litigation back tothe Federal Appeals Court where it was once again fully heard and decided with an extensively detailed judgement by February 2024. The Roberts Court still treated the litigation as an ordinary matter with no priority. They finally heard and decided the case only referring it back to the District Court in August 2024, 9 months after the urgent application. Their bizarre judgement, inter alia, stated that a President had “absolute immunity” for any action taken as part of his Presidential duties. Trump’s Counsel had apparently successfully argued that the President would not be criminally liable if he ordered the Navy Seals to assassinate a political opponent unless he had been impeached first. 

August was obviously too close to the November Presidential election for the Court to proceed and the litigation against Trump was dismissed.

Thus the Roberts Court ignored the precedents set by the Burger and Marshall Courts also the overall Constitutional directive that “No man, (sic), was above the law”. Not nearly enough attention has been given to the revolutionary ruling of the Court that has led to a second Trump Presidency which has accelerated America moving from a Democracy to an Autocracy. As will be noted the 6- 3 Republican nominated majority has not at all been fazed by this outcome.    

The Roberts Court has had to rule on numerous law suits related to Trump. Several of them have been decided, mostly temporarily, but certainly controversially, in what has been called “The Shadow Docket”. 

THE SHADOW DOCKET, THE ROBERTS COURT AND TRUMP

The Shadow Docket refers to the orders, decisions that the Court makes outside its regular normal job definition of being briefed by plaintiff’s and defendant’s Counsel, questioning them and then ultimately issuing an opinion after discussion and debate among the justices. In the past it was rarely used other than for the urgent issues relating to stays of execution and procedural announcements. The past ten years have seen a change in number and the usage of the so called, “Shadow Docket”, which have increased dramatically, in fact to quote an article in the New York Times it has become,”….. a central issue of the court’s work”.

There is a wide divergence of opinion as to the legitimacy of using “The Shadow Docket”. In fact legislation has been proposed by the Democrats entitled The Shadow Docket Sunlight Act in order to allow for transparency of the process. The three members nominated by Democratic Presidents have written and voiced dissent at these far reaching, virtually, off the judicial cuff, decisions by the majority on crucial constitutional issues. The Trump Administration has had 21 issues preliminary decided by the court on this basis. In fact central constitutional issues as obvious as birth right citizenship have been put into suspended reality by The Roberts Court opining that the subject has still really to be argued. 

The destruction to American institutions that has been allowed to continue by the Shadow Docket is legion. The includes  temporarily not stopping Trump from closing down the Federal Education Department, the allowing of firing numerous Federal employees for mere policy differences, in the process ignoring a precedent, sacking Democratic members of various statutory boards such as “The Federal Trade Commission” and the cancellation of hundreds of millions of grant money for medical research.  

The major success for the Trump Administration was persuading The Roberts Court via the “Shadow Docket” to allow him to continue with his main policy issue namely the round up of “illegal immigrants”. The latter after District Courts and Appeal Courts ruled them unconstitutional having  been extensively briefed and heard arguments as to their legitimacy. 

Undoubtedly the most shameful ruling is Noem, (Secretary of Homeland Security), v Vasquez Perdomo, (“illegal immigrant”) where a restraining order was lifted on the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, from rounding up suspected “illegals” solely on the basis of apparent race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or with an accent, presence at locations such as day labor pick up sites or agricultural workplaces. There is no reason for this blatant racism, reminiscent of South African Apartheid Laws, as the situation is wholly unconstitutional. The Fourth Amendment for example protects against “unreasonable searches and seizures, requiring search warrants for probable cause” for anyone.

MAJOR LEGISLATION OF THE TRUMP ROBERTS COURT

In the past 11 years that Trump has dwarfed over America The Roberts Court, has continued to move the country even further than ever in favor of business, to strip away citizens rights, continued on the path they set when they declared the McCain - Feingold Campaign Act unconstitutional maintaining that money was the equivalent of free speech and limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gasses. However the two most consequential decisions other than Trump’s immunity were the negation of a 50 year old precedent, the right for a womarn to have an abortion and the negation of experts to interpret their area of expertise in the particular Government Agencies that they served.

The axing of Roe v Wade ,which enshrined the women’s right to choose, the landmark case under the “Privacy” provision of the Constitution, came out of the blue in litigation that hadn’t even called for it. The three Trump appointees had contended at their confirmation hearings that that was not their intent. The decision has led to draconian legislation by the MAGA states even barring doctors to treat women who may have had a miscarriage. This has led to deaths of women and chaos in doctor decision making processes as a miscarriage clinical picture is indistinguishable from an induced abortion. For whatever reason it is not the hot button issue at this time as litigation wends it way through the courts. Women have taken advantage of obtaining abortifactient tablets through the mail. This negation of “privacy” has resulted in the most “conservative” members of the Court stating the right to use contraception could be next.

The overturning of the Chevron ruling of 1984, yet another precedent biting the dust, has had and will have a long lasting impact. The Roberts Court argued that they rather than the experts, in Health, Education, Environment, Housing, or any other area for that matter, are better placed to interpret the Statutes they work under than the selfsame experts. This has created a flood of litigation as individuals, organizations and corporations challenge any bureaucratic edict they see fit. It makes governing impossible which just so happens to be a Trump objective. Scores of litigation are now clogging the Courts to be decided by Judges who just cannot be experts in every field.

AT THE END OF THE DAY THE TRUMP ROBERTS SUPREME COURT…….

• .....Has made the President the total sum of the Executive while exponentially increasing his power by giving him immunity before the law.
• ......Has increased its own power by ruling through “The Shadow Docket” and axing rights of citizens which in several instances were governed by long standing precedents. 
• The most consequential litigation in the next Supreme Court session will be on whether the last standing provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the land mark Civil Rights legislation, will be gutted. What is in contention is whether a State has the right to gerrymander on the basis of race. 

TRUMP, THE SECOND CIVIL WAR AND EPSTEIN

 

As a background to the most consequential American constitutional crisis since 1861, the Democrats have gained in every special election since 2024. Katelyn Grey has just flipped a rural Iowa State seat reflecting a 21 percent swing since the 2022 election of District 1 in Iowa and the MAGA crowd who pitch up to town halls are being booed, America is facing the Second Civil War. 

Donald Trump has stated, “I have the right to do what ever I want to do. I am the President”. This he is trumpeting with a 37 percent approval rating. This is not politics as usual, Trump will not easily accept a loss of the 2026 Congressional elections. This period in history is only about Trump, who has the levers of power. So the question remains what if anything can thwart his path to autocracy.? He has one vulnerability that has much bipartisan agreement -.the release of the Epstein Files. There have been continuous attempts at diversion from that subject but it won't go away. In addition he still has to find a way to  prevent the Democrats from winning the midterm elections.

NOT POLITICS AS USUAL - ITS THE SECOND CIVIL WAR

Donald J. Trump, the 47th President of the United States of America, is the leader of the 2025 White Supremacy Confederates and who is turning his Presidency into the Second Civil War where the winner will decide who “We the People” are. This is not politics as usual. This is not a policy debate about trickle down economics versus when Governments’ should intervene in the economy or provide a safety net for the less privileged, this is the real deal. The issue is whether only whites are the real Americans and regardless of whether they are in the minority should be in power running an authoritarian government. 

Just as there would not have been the 1861 Civil War sans Lincoln, there can be no “Second Civil War’ without Trump.The latter has the racist credentials to lead this fight with his resume of two ongoing public campaigns, calling for the death sentence of five African American youths who had been wrongly accused for a rape in Central Park and then his infamous thinly disguised racist attack on the first Black American President, Barack Obama, proclaiming that he was not legitimate for a period over nearly 7 years. Unlike Lincoln however who had a cabinet of “equals”, Trump has an administration of ignorant sycophantic nonentities.

This battle for the soul of America is ugly and undisguised. Donald Trump, the modern day Jefferson Davis, is even objecting to the historical narrative of what an abomination slavery was. Trump believes that slavery was not so bad. He has attacked the world renowned Smithsonian Museum complex’s focus, “Everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been”.His objective is to rewrite history while simultaneously conducting his second coup against the Constitution. 

WIN 2026 MIDTERMS BY CREATING MORE REPUBLICAN SEATS

Trump is justifiably fearful of the 2026 Congressional elections where under current circumstances the MAGA Republicans would definitely lose the House and have a reasonable chance of losing the Senate. His answer is to gerrymander the Republican States to obtain additional seats in Congress. So far the biggest move is in Republican Texas adding 5 seats. This effort has been met by California who have moved constitutionally to provide the same number for the Democrats. There are far more Republican States where he could pick up seats then there are Democratic opportunities.

It remains to be seen how the gerrymandering equation will end. Republican Congressmen in some instances are queasy about it as often their districts are turned from a definite “win” projection to a “lean” which could put them at risk especially the way the voters are reacting presently. Others will lose their seats in Democratic States. Trump has an agenda to limit minority opposition voting as well  by attacking methods used by them such as postal voting. 

Trump’s objective appears to be to make this the last election and he has said so in so many words, “This will be the last time you will vote”. At a Believer’s Summit, he declared to the attendants, “Christians, get and vote, just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed. It’ll be fine.You won’t have to vote anymore”. Trump has mused that maybe America would prefer a dictator,  “Maybe we like a dictator”. Finally, he has said the quiet part out loud,”If we happen to be in a war. No more elections. THAT’S GOOD”

THE CHAOTIC NEW ADMINISTRATION

Trump has through his cuckoo land cabinet and Elon Musk’s DOGE, (Department of Government Efficiency), ransacked the bureaucratic state. This is sure to cause chaos down the line. Although, for example, Social Security has not been touched as yet but if offices are closed, phones aren’t answered retirees won’t be able to register easily nor will queries be answered. In addition a whole cadre of expertise has been gutted across the board especially in the armed forces and national security. Trump terminated  the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he didn’t like the message of the low new job numbers. This is the path of all autocrats. Hitler as well, in the bunker, denied that the war was going badly on the Eastern Front, screaming at the messengers.

There is chaos everywhere. As Heather Cox Richardson points out the Federal Work Force has been short staffed for years. Scott Kuper Trump’s head of Office of Personnel Management, stated that there would be 300,000 workers less. The decrease includes those with expertise built up over decades, Particularly hard hit is the Center For Disease Control; (CDC), where the vaccine panel has been gutted and replaced by anti vaxers. His destructive behavior towards vaccines is criminal and will result in deaths. Thirty thousand scientists have either been axed or have resigned. The Head of the CDC was fired by Secretary Kennedy 5 months after her appointment, (a common occurrence in this administration). Kennedy who has no medical credentials has the most bizarre theories on health care. For example he stated authoritatively that there should be different vaccine schedules for African Americans. He also has a belief in the survival of the fittest.  

There is a daily score of how much the tariffs are going to be for this country or that. The policy is based on a lie in that Trump claims the countries pay the duty whereas it is in fact a sales tax on the consumer isn’t the only cause for confusion. This crude attempt at upsetting world trade is not based on any rationale. A 50 percent tariff on Brazilian goods because they are charging his friend President Bolsonaro with an attempted coup and the same for India because Prime Minister Modi is irritating him. The tariffs on Mexico and Canada, America’s largest trading partners have not been decided on. American agriculture trade, particularly soya beens, is at a halt because China is importing from Brazil. The final humiliation is that Trump didn’t bother to confirm that he was legally entitled to impose tariffs and an Appeal Court has ruled against him. He has to hope the Supreme Court will once again bail him out.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, (ICE), and all the cutely named concentration camps seem to be out of the news for the moment. The crudest one of the lot “Alligator Alcatraz” has been shut by court order. (It was hopelessly mismanaged and cost Florida 218 million dollars not to mention the Federal tax payer money spent without authority). If the poster child for the deportation of criminal illegals is Abrego Garcia the dysfunction is there for all to behold. Ever since March he has been in and out of detention centers including a period in the infamous Salvadorian concentration prison. At every step of Garcia’s saga the Trump administration insistence has been that he is going to be deported. As of August 25 the Courts have categorically instructed Trump’s Department of Justice not to remove him from “the continental United States”. So far Trump has abused the judiciary but not as yet defied them.

Trump has impacted every aspect of American culture and government from the logo of a folksy restaurant, Cracker Barrel to the sacrosanct, the axing of a Governor of the Federal Reserve. By the way he has also claimed to have settled 10 wars in the interim.

CRIME IS NOW PROBLEM NUMBER ONE NOT IMMIGRATION

Signs are that the number one Trump policy namely immigration has so disgusted the population that the issue du jour has changed to save America from crime. Trump apparently needs to send in the troops to effect this. So far there have been two experiments, one in Los Angeles and the other in Washington DC. In the former he was ostensibly just protecting Federal Buildings while in the latter his objective was to fight crime. While that was bogus nevertheless the Federal Government has extensive control over Washington and he could send in the National Guard. Trump has made it quite clear that this is his new thrust - clear up the crime infested capitols of the Blue Democratic States with the National Guard.

It is not coincidence that every potential city target for “crime prevention” has a black Mayor. The fact that crime has decreased throughout the country but particularly in the Blue States does not hinder President Trump anymore than the economy is worsening and prices are increasing as a result of his tariffs. His announced  next target for crime reduction via the National Guard is Chicago and then Baltimore. Governor Pritzker of Illinois all but told him to go to hell. For the first half of 2025 major crime is down in every sector in Illinois by a third. In an outright declaration of war Pritzker noted that 13 of the top 20 states where crimes was the highest in America had Republican Governors. More significantly 8 of the top 10 cities where crime rates were the worst were under Republican stewardship. Moving the National Guard in is going to be a hard sell for “crime” under these circumstances even for the Supreme Court. But Trump has other strings to his bow, more emergencies. 

SO WHAT CAN IMPACT TRUMP? 

Trump’s approval numbers generally and on every issue are in the tank. However in spite of the fact that he is delusional and he is running a sh-t show, he still exudes confidence and is set on his path to allow a MAGA authoritarian state to replace democracy.

Without Trump, MAGA is all but dead. Already Trump is losing the internet and only Fox News is credibly backing him. “The Epstein Files” have already done deep damage. (See Blogs; “This is Epsteingate and Trump: The Epstein Tsunami”). Public interest is not waning and 7 out of ten polled believed that he is not handling the issue well. For the moment troops in Washington and chaos in the CDC are diversion enough to keep this off the front page. Ghislaine Maxwell’s characterization of Trump as a “gentleman” preceding her removal to a low security prison also has grabbed the headlines. 

On September 3 a bipartisan resolution in The House of Representatives will demand the release of the full Epstein files, not the garbage that the Department of Justice has dropped thus far. The House Oversight Committee chaired by a Republican has subpoenaed the prosecutor who fully investigated Epstein in 2005. They have also subpoenaed a co operating Epstein estate for about a dozen different categories of documents including a “Birthday Book”.The latter allegedly includes a lewd drawing by Trump who signed his name in a wavy fashion where the pubis is. Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal has already published the picture together with messages about “the secrets” that Trump claimed he and Epstein kept together. As this story develops the Epstein’s family forensic pathologist’s finding that homicide was more likely the cause of death is being revisited on the internet.

So a bipartisan House maybe on their way to expose the knight who campaigned to uncover “The Deep State”. Joe Rogan the most followed Trump influencer with many others have stated Trump has already “crossed a line”.Could the avatar who campaigned to uncover the deep state be part it himself? It is Trump’s biographer and Epstein chronicler Michael Wolff’s opinion that the full contents of the Epstein files will never be released.

On the night of September 3rd there will be a bipartisan Press Conference where 10 victims will also appear and Trump’s omnipotence will have its severest test yet.  

AT THE END OF THE DAY

It really is hard to imagine what follows. Perhaps a significant loss of Congress will turn Trump into more than a lame duck and stop his Civil War dead. He is old, off his game and cognitively impaired. His only show now is his cabinet meetings which is a feeble mimicry of  Saturday Night Live. It is hard to see him winning in 2026. it is even harder to imagine him allowing the Democrats to take over Congress. Even if MAGA loses the second Civil War the path back to American “exceptionalism” will be long and hard.

There are serious questions being asked about the President’s physical and mental health. Vice President Vance has stated that he is ready to take over “God forbid a terrible tragedy with Trump” but that Trump is in “excellent health”. He added, smilingly, that he had enough on the job training, (in the last 7 months).