Week 54 - The Return
Two weeks after Democrats decidedly won the election, this week we see a shift
Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember.
Two weeks after Democrats decidedly won the election, this week we see a shift: the first instance of Republicans pushing back against Trump during his second regime. The Epstein files started as a drip, drip, with Trump and his senior regime officials trying to intimidate four House Republicans into not signing a discharge petition. But once the horse was out of the barn, by the week’s end, the House voted 427–1 to release the files, and hours later the Senate did the same under unanimous consent.
The swing was a remarkable shift for Republicans, who up until now had blindly abdicated their role, and had been unshakably obedient to Trump. Not to do the right thing per se, but sensing the American people turning on them ahead of midterms, with a Marist poll showing voters favoring Democrats by 14 points, the highest level in eight years. Trump’s approval continued to hit new lows with several pollsters, as did his handling of major issues, including affordability, which he haplessly continued to assert this week is really not an issue. Just 20% approve of his handling of the Epstein files.
The regime continued its quiet work of dismantling federal agencies from within, and carrying out Trump’s orders. Yet another head of FEMA resigned this week, and there continues to be alarming exits and firings from the Justice Department and Fannie Mae, both at the center of Trump’s retribution campaign. In other federal agencies like DHS, agents are being reassigned to help on immigration, as Trump abandoned largely unsuccessful efforts this week in Chicago and Portland.
Notably in closing are Trump’s blatant conflicts of interest, and how easily he is escaping accountability. Lest we forget how many inspectors general he has already fired! This week Trump’s pardon of Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao came back into focus. As did his family’s significant business dealings with Saudi Arabia, as Trump hosted crown prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud in an extraordinary state visit.
An AP-NORC poll found just 33% of Americans are happy with the way Trump is running the government, down from 43% in March. Among Republicans, the number dropped from 81% to 68%. His approval fell to 36%, a pollster low for the second regime, while 62% disapproved.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 38% approval, the pollster’s low for the second regime. Just 26% approved of Trump’s handling of the cost of living, while on immigration his net approval was -10, and the economy net -22. Just 20% approved of Trump’s handling of the Epstein files.
On Wednesday, shortly after Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released three emails from the Jeffrey Epstein estate, Republicans released 20,000-plus pages of emails, after the White House accused Democrats of cherry-picking emails.
Trump posted on Truth Social, “The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again,” claiming, “to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown,” and warning, “Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap.”
A WSJ analysis of the 2,324 email threads found that Trump was mentioned far more than any other person, in 1,670 of the 2,324 threads, second to former president Bill Clinton, who was mentioned in 512 emails. No president emailed directly with Epstein.
In a 2019 email, Epstein wrote to himself, “Trump knew of it. and came to my house many times during that period.” Trump has claimed that he had no idea what Epstein was up to in 2019, telling a reporter, “I had no idea.” Trump and the regime have frequently repeated that claim.
CNN reported that as the House convened, and the discharge petition needed just one more signature, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel met with Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert in the Situation Roomto pressure her to withdraw her signature.
Trump also reached out to Republican Rep. Nancy Mace to pressure her to withdraw her signature. Mace said in a public statement, “I will NEVER abandon other survivors.” Trump had also called Boebert on Tuesday morning.
The House convened. Rep. Adelita Grijalva was sworn in 50 days after the special election. She said of House Speaker Mike Johnson, “This is an abuse of power. One individual should not be able to unilaterally obstruct the swearing in of a duly elected member of Congress.”
Grijalva also acknowledged the two Epstein survivors in the House gallery, saying, “Justice cannot wait another day.” Then, she immediately signed the discharge petition, the final signature needed, forcing a full vote on the House floor.