This afternoon the House is expected to vote overwhelmingly to demand the Department of Justice release all the Epstein files, a fact that led Donald Trump to reverse himself Sunday night and say he supports the release. Yesterday’s essay “Can America Avoid Moral Collapse?” underscored my belief that this is no reason to celebrate. As I noted, “Trump’s reversal is not a sign that he intends to come clean about his involvement with sex traffickers and child molesters Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell—not after he’s worked so aggressively to deny any role.” There is a long road ahead in our fight for the truth and the removal of this man from our nation’s highest office.
This was one of the key topics in my live conversation yesterday with Mary Trump, who—for anyone who doesn’t know—is a clinical psychologist, bestselling author and fearless critic and analyst of her uncle, Donald. This was an opportunity to get her reading of her uncle’s decision to reverse course on releasing the Epstein files (“Donald’s greatest terror is to be humiliated. He will move mountains in order to avoid that.”); whether this firestorm can be his undoing (“To be fair, why should he ever think he’ll be held accountable for anything? Because he hasn’t.”); and how this whole terrible chapter will end (“Donald is a nihilist…If he gets to that point, he will take down as many people as he possibly can. He’ll burn it all down.”).
Through it all, Mary, like me, is still looking ahead to a positive future. “We need people who are creative and imaginative and brave and are willing to do the kind of work we’ve never managed to do as a country,” she said.
I wanted to share this conversation with everyone today, as we watch the House vote, reflect on the path forward for our country and consider how we can be helpful in driving change. I hope you’ll give it a listen.
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