Epstein files: still not released

The news is swamped with stories about Charlie Kirk’s murder last week, but let’s not forget the other important story about the intersection of crime and politics: Donald Trump’s ongoing refusal to release the Epstein files. 

As I wrote last week, Karoline Leavitt’s lies about this are so bad that they have the potential to backfire. Details about Trump and Jeffrey Epstein’s friendship keep coming out and every time, they look worse. The Kirk story should fade soon, and Democrats need to get right back to exerting pressure to release the Epstein files. Don’t let Trump use this deplorable murder as an excuse to escape his own past behavior. 

MAGA is determined to scapegoat trans people

Donald Trump doesn’t actually care about Charlie Kirk. He’s made this clear by answering questions about his murdered “friend” by talking about how awesome his new ballroom is going to be. Gross, but just the most blunt version of what is visible across the MAGA world, which is that many of them seem way more interested in exploiting this murder to justify violence against the left than they do mourning their lost comrade. 

Kash Patel is among the worst. The FBI under his leadership is proving to be more focused on politicizing violence than they are solving crimes. They kept releasing false information to the press, such as suggesting falsely that they caught the shooter long before they did and worse, claiming there were “pro-trans” messages on the bullets. (It appears to be a video game reference.) 

When they finally caught Tyler Robinson — due to his father turning him in, not FBI efforts — it was clear he wasn’t trans. But the hope that they could pin this one on trans people has not died. Patel’s FBI has been “anonymously” leaking claims that Robinson’s roommate is trans and they were lovers. I would take this story with a whole rock of salt coming from Patel’s people, but even if it does turn out to be true, this behavior is unbelievably sick. 

By their own accounts, Robinson’s roommate is “aghast” at the shooting and is helping law enforcement. And this person is getting repaid by having Patel or his allies leak their photos and names to the right wing press, knowing full well that it puts this person they know is innocent in danger of retributive violence. This is why I don’t trust Patel. That is evil behavior. 

The eagerness to blame this on trans people is downright weird. It shows how much the trans thing is just the Satanic panic of our era. Everything the right doesn’t like is blamed on this tiny minority of people who are just trying to live their lives. It’s already led to violence and I fear it will lead to more. 

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The MAGA wife’s road to power

Monday, I published an article I’ve been working on for awhile, about the strange marriage of Pete and Jennifer Hegseth. Not just because it’s his third marriage, nor that he was still legally married to his second wife when his then-mistress had the couple’s first baby. No, I’m fascinated by the fact that Jennifer works as Pete’s top advisor, beyond all the paid ones. It struck me as odd that someone like Pete Hegseth, who clearly believes women belong in the kitchen and not in the boardroom, would still treat his wife as unofficial but top advisor at the Pentagon, of all places. 

But as Baylor historian Beth Allison Barr told me, ““Women’s intelligence and competence isn’t a problem as long as it is used to support men and remains safely contained in dependent roles (such as the pastor’s wife). It only becomes a problem when it threatens male authority.”

Before he was shot last week, Kirk’s wife, Erika Kirk, was playing a very similar role. She supposedly does have a job, according to a LinkedIn profile that says she’s a real estate broker. But in public, she presents very much as if her full-time job was being a wife. Not a housewife, either, but a person who worked tirelessly to boost her husband’s brand, giving speeches and hosting a podcast and otherwise making his career her career. But she went out of her way to look like a housewife, not just by supporting him but also dressing mostly in pink ruffles, really playing up the tradwife aesthetic. 

She’s continuing this work, filming and posting every step of the mourning process while vowing to keep Turning Point USA alive. There’s already a lot of speculation that she’s going to take over his role at the organization. This is not an uncommon path for women in conservative societies, where their only path to power is through their husband — even in his death. 

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What we're reading this week

• “Trump apparently thinks domestic violence is not a crime. That makes sense,” Moira Donegan, Guardian

• “Charlie Kirk Didn’t Shy Away From Who He Was. We Shouldn’t Either,” Jamelle Bouie, New York Times

• “The AI-Scraping Free-for-All Is Coming to an End,” John Herrman, New York

• “Charlie Kirk was preparing for MAGA’s future,” Madeline Peltz, Number Two Pencil

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