I expect Trump will do the exact same thing he did when he sued Michael Cohen for defamation to the tune of $500 million: fold and withdraw the suit as soon as he is forced to give a deposition. How that will play out with his base I couldn't say, but I don't expect it will be pretty. Either way he fell into the outhouse he's been contributing to for years, and I'm more than happy watching it happen.
Problem. If he folds? The MAGAts will know he is joined at the hip to Epstein and Epstein's proclivities. If he is confronted with the card and other bits of evidence cementing his relationship with Epstein during an deposition? Again, they will know he and Epstein were soul brothers. Either way, he breaks the MAGA covenant. It can't come soon enough.
But if Trump could kill someone on 5th Avenue without losing a vote, why would raping a woman have a different effect? He raped E. Jean Carroll and still got re-elected.
That was then. This is now. The trust has been broken. Everything you are citing happened BEFORE the Epstein mess surfaced. This is a big deal, promises made, promises broken. It's not the same game. Add to that the mess he has made of the economy and life in general and people are much less forgiving. It's a gordian knot of his own making. There is no way out.
It has broken through a CBS poll that 89% of us want the bloody files released. All previous actions? Off the table.
...And let's not forget the Hollywood video bragging how he can "grab them by the Pussy" and "when you're a star, you can do anything.".......and "they" still voted for him. Don't forget the 26? woman who complained about him....and "they" still voted for him. He'll never do the deposition imho.
Because he is incapable of telling the truth, a deposition is testimony under oath, and violating gets you charged with perjury. Although committing perjury will get him absolutely no punishment, remember? I once met someone whose job it was to read a deposition of his in a past action and takes notes on his answers to give to an attorney working on the case. Over a thousand pages and not a single question answered. And here he is taking a wrecking ball to our country. Tired of the chaos yet?
There also is huge difference between a woman and young girls not of legal age. I keep thinking of the stories I've seen in which child molesters in prisons need special protection from other inmates.
Every court case he has faced has all been of his own making because he was operating in a way that implied he was doing so outside the law, but I get what you are trying to say about facing a reckoning.
They want Vance. He’s a more disciplined Heritage Foundation disciple, but lacks the charisma with the MAGA cult. Trump used the Heritage Foundation to achieve his goal of avoiding prosecution. The HF used Trump as a stepping stone.They always wanted Vance.
The thing Trump forgot was at Murdoch has it in for him after he, Trump, sued Fox for the voting machines defamation. He just handed Murdoch the tool he needed to get even. Let them do each other in is what I say.
My reply was to Pat Caracens…I’m quite new to Substack soI’ve not yet figured out how to make my comment sit where I think I’m putting it(e.g. directly after Caracen’s note). Why did the comment end up at a totally unrelated part of the discussion?
I saw a news item that mentioned that Dow Jones publishes the WSJ. And the report on the trump/Epstein note was a warning shot for trump to back off on his threats to fire Fed Chief Jerome Powell, which would roil the markets. Not sure if it’s true.
I think Trump is likely to back out of this one with his tail between his legs. If he lies under oath during the deposition that is not only a felony, but the Wall Street Journal could subpoena the Epstein files, and then all his pedophilia gets exposed.
Then, again with his rapidly failing health, he might not make it long enough for any of this to move towards fruition.
You don't have to be a conspiracist to believe that an international group of men "like" girls and women and are involved in a form of sex trafficking that secures these girls and women for the wealthy. While Epstein's final case was in 2019, there has long been widespread knowledge of what was going on. Both GQP and Dems looked the other way. This all could have come out prior to 2024. Trump will continue to avoid the consequences, something he is very good at. He will be *allowed* to do so as long as his masters are willing. But he has served his purpose. People like to focus on Trump, and he is horrible, but the rot goes much deeper. His masters continue on with their true work which is destroy the US.
Trump registered as a Republican in Manhattan in 1987; since that time, he has changed his party affiliation five times. In 1999, he changed his party affiliation to the Independence Party of New York. In August 2001, Trump changed his party affiliation to Democratic. In September 2009, he changed his party affiliation back to the Republican Party. In December 2011, Trump changed to "no party affiliation" (independent). In April 2012, he again returned to the Republican Party.[19]
In a 2004 interview, Trump told CNN's Wolf Blitzer: "In many cases, I probably identify more as Democrat", explaining: "It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans. Now, it shouldn't be that way. But if you go back, I mean it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats...But certainly we had some very good economies under Democrats, as well as Republicans. But we've had some pretty bad disaster under the Republicans."[20] In a July 2015 interview, Trump said that he has a broad range of political positions and that "I identify with some things as a Democrat."[19]
We’ve been to this point so many times over the last 10 years, I’ve forgotten the count. “We’ve finally gotten him”, we all said when he was convicted in the Stormy Daniels case, when he hid and refused to give back classified documents, when all of the witnesses testified during the Jan 6 hearings, when the charges were filed in Georgia, when Jack Smith filed his damning indictments. And then SCOTUS said he was immune from all of it. So excuse me if I am skeptical that he faces accountability now. Like a snake, he always slithers away. With all of that said, his base stayed strong and even got stronger during everything I just talked about. The Epstein situation seems to be different. Maybe, just maybe, the minions are starting to see that they may have been conned. Only time will tell.
Michael Cohen who knows him better than most thinks Murdoch and the WSJ will cave and will settle like the others. I wouldn’t bet against him. Wishful thinking has proven fruitless in the past. We live in hope, but don’t count your chickens…
The thing Trump forgot was at Murdoch has it in for him after he, Trump, sued Fox for the voting machines defamation. He just handed Murdoch the tool he needed to get even. Let them do each other in is what I say.
Harry, I'm interested in you exploring the complex dynamics that Trump's law suit imposes upon Murdoch.
On one hand his major outlets, including Fox News, The Sun, and The New York Post rake in serious profits pandering to the pro-Trump audience.
On the other hand, I can't imagine that the Murdoch family will want to encourage any support of Trump during this lawsuit.
At the same time, it would appear that Trump would not want to lose the support of a Fox News, and so on.
So how do you think this will work out?
One possible resolution to this messisthat Trump will drop the lawsuit. Perhaps it's possible that the Murdoch's will pay him off behind the scenes for an undisclosed sum.
Maybe they will not have to even admit whether the the drawing was authentic or not.
Or here's another option. Trump will claim that the you doing was found in Epstein's safe, but that the FBI did not have proper warrant to go into it. Didn't that kind of argument work in the Mar-a-Lago stolen document case?
Or if the assumption is that the drawing has been in the position of GMax All these years, you could continue maintaining that it was a fake that she set up that had nothing to do with him.
Of course that kind of claim could be shot down very quickly if the people who have possession of the drawing subjected it to forensic fingerprint tests which could then be tested against Trump's fingerprints, if you get my drift.
I like the scorpion and the frog analogy Harry used. Even if the Journal does a solid for a solid, as Harry meticulously discussed, he won’t fully mitigate the damage. MAGA will continue to implode. People will be unmasked and their dirtiest proclivities will be exposed.
Disclaimer - it is beyond delicious in an existential sense to eye-witness the Epstein imbroglio for all of us gobsmacked - at daily encounter with or upon reflection - at the last 10 years of America's conjoined travels with DJT. It. Is. Savory.
But... “'This lawsuit is filed not only on behalf of your favorite President, ME, but also in order to continue standing up for ALL Americans who will no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media,' Trump wrote in a social media post shortly after the WSJ lawsuit was filed." [NYT - July 21, 2025]
Since it first emerged - before Bondi's flip-flop on whether there was any 'there' actually 'there' ...or the WSJ cornered Donald - I've been cynical about the political blast damage the Epstein affair might inflict upon Trump, let alone the GOP, come the next and only moment it would matter... [Spoiler alert - the midterms, over a year from now].
And I remain cynical. And not just because Trump is a Master of Deflection and distraction [above]. And not just because the MAGA fringe and influencers whose faith he frets has been shaken are, come end of day, cultists with an IQ around freezing temperature. Or, that SCOTUS has accorded Donald immunity to have SEAL Team 6 assassinate Rupert should he deem it necessary. Or, that the dopey lawsuit Trump reflexively filed against Murdoch is docketed [SURPRISE - NOT] in Aileen Cannon's S. Florida District Court. Or, as importantly - that the Democratic Party hasn't any Galahad within sight to muster message and a following that'd successfully drive the stake home.
I'm cynical primarily because everyone's bemused fascination with how the GOP Congress and tin foil hat MAGAverse is digesting it is misplaced. Sure - it'd be a wondrous let alone MIRACULOUS thing if MAGA turned on their King. Politically fatal, at least in furtherance of Trumpian policies ... But not fatal because they abruptly begin to vote Democrat.
No - the only metric and demographic that really matters is that slice at the other end of Trump's plurality... Suburban women/mothers; small business owners roiled by the tariff thingy; the < 30 set roiled by interest rates; inflation; postponed marriages and an uncertain job market; naturalized Hispanics [or Asians] getting frisked by ICE and shaken to hear their lately arrived abuela has been kidnapped to Alligator Alcatraz, or El Salvador. And Black males lately unnerved by all the white supremacist stuff on the one hand and evisceration of safety net on the other.
Most of these folks have - or will soon - face a plethora of more self-interested reasons to squint at the idiotic, immoral choice they made last November. The Epstein thing likely doesn't concern or surprise them. Sadly, Trump's character long, long ago became a non-issue in I daresay every American's mind... something you can only wince at - before locating a more personally cogent reason for supporting or objecting to the man.
I expect Trump will do the exact same thing he did when he sued Michael Cohen for defamation to the tune of $500 million: fold and withdraw the suit as soon as he is forced to give a deposition. How that will play out with his base I couldn't say, but I don't expect it will be pretty. Either way he fell into the outhouse he's been contributing to for years, and I'm more than happy watching it happen.
From an extreme distance.
Jeesh, he smells bad enough just on an hourly basis, falling into the outhouse he has contributed to will be, well YIKES! 💩🪰🦂🐸
Taco Chicken Trump is a coward of the worst kind.
Problem. If he folds? The MAGAts will know he is joined at the hip to Epstein and Epstein's proclivities. If he is confronted with the card and other bits of evidence cementing his relationship with Epstein during an deposition? Again, they will know he and Epstein were soul brothers. Either way, he breaks the MAGA covenant. It can't come soon enough.
But if Trump could kill someone on 5th Avenue without losing a vote, why would raping a woman have a different effect? He raped E. Jean Carroll and still got re-elected.
That was then. This is now. The trust has been broken. Everything you are citing happened BEFORE the Epstein mess surfaced. This is a big deal, promises made, promises broken. It's not the same game. Add to that the mess he has made of the economy and life in general and people are much less forgiving. It's a gordian knot of his own making. There is no way out.
It has broken through a CBS poll that 89% of us want the bloody files released. All previous actions? Off the table.
...And let's not forget the Hollywood video bragging how he can "grab them by the Pussy" and "when you're a star, you can do anything.".......and "they" still voted for him. Don't forget the 26? woman who complained about him....and "they" still voted for him. He'll never do the deposition imho.
Because he is incapable of telling the truth, a deposition is testimony under oath, and violating gets you charged with perjury. Although committing perjury will get him absolutely no punishment, remember? I once met someone whose job it was to read a deposition of his in a past action and takes notes on his answers to give to an attorney working on the case. Over a thousand pages and not a single question answered. And here he is taking a wrecking ball to our country. Tired of the chaos yet?
There also is huge difference between a woman and young girls not of legal age. I keep thinking of the stories I've seen in which child molesters in prisons need special protection from other inmates.
I think the old Renaissance metaphor "hoist with his own petard" is a propos here.
Good on him!!! FINALLY HE FACE A RECKONING OF HIS OWN MAKING!
Every court case he has faced has all been of his own making because he was operating in a way that implied he was doing so outside the law, but I get what you are trying to say about facing a reckoning.
He's always going to play the victim. And his lawyers are (cough cough) top notch. 🙄
I've heard that Alina Habba's schedule may be opening up soon.
😊
Why would WSJ want this fight? It seems to be a planned provocation. The Fox machine does not do news unless they have an end game.
They want Vance. He’s a more disciplined Heritage Foundation disciple, but lacks the charisma with the MAGA cult. Trump used the Heritage Foundation to achieve his goal of avoiding prosecution. The HF used Trump as a stepping stone.They always wanted Vance.
The thing Trump forgot was at Murdoch has it in for him after he, Trump, sued Fox for the voting machines defamation. He just handed Murdoch the tool he needed to get even. Let them do each other in is what I say.
Dare I say this was always the plan…they only needed Trump to help put him in play!
This comment was made in reference to Rob Caracen’s earlier post regarding the Heritage Foundation’s support for Trump.
My reply was to Pat Caracens…I’m quite new to Substack soI’ve not yet figured out how to make my comment sit where I think I’m putting it(e.g. directly after Caracen’s note). Why did the comment end up at a totally unrelated part of the discussion?
Follow the money. Who's next in line? And who's funding him? It's all pretty gross, no matter how you slice it.
Very gross in the finest Rupert tradition
I saw a news item that mentioned that Dow Jones publishes the WSJ. And the report on the trump/Epstein note was a warning shot for trump to back off on his threats to fire Fed Chief Jerome Powell, which would roil the markets. Not sure if it’s true.
To get rid of a horrible, terrible president
I think Trump is likely to back out of this one with his tail between his legs. If he lies under oath during the deposition that is not only a felony, but the Wall Street Journal could subpoena the Epstein files, and then all his pedophilia gets exposed.
Then, again with his rapidly failing health, he might not make it long enough for any of this to move towards fruition.
Yeah but … he gets away with felonies. Remember?
This is a civil trial, Trump is bringing this to court himself
You don't have to be a conspiracist to believe that an international group of men "like" girls and women and are involved in a form of sex trafficking that secures these girls and women for the wealthy. While Epstein's final case was in 2019, there has long been widespread knowledge of what was going on. Both GQP and Dems looked the other way. This all could have come out prior to 2024. Trump will continue to avoid the consequences, something he is very good at. He will be *allowed* to do so as long as his masters are willing. But he has served his purpose. People like to focus on Trump, and he is horrible, but the rot goes much deeper. His masters continue on with their true work which is destroy the US.
Interesting that when all this was going on, Trump *was* a Democrat
"Self-described
Trump speaking at CPAC in 2015
Trump registered as a Republican in Manhattan in 1987; since that time, he has changed his party affiliation five times. In 1999, he changed his party affiliation to the Independence Party of New York. In August 2001, Trump changed his party affiliation to Democratic. In September 2009, he changed his party affiliation back to the Republican Party. In December 2011, Trump changed to "no party affiliation" (independent). In April 2012, he again returned to the Republican Party.[19]
In a 2004 interview, Trump told CNN's Wolf Blitzer: "In many cases, I probably identify more as Democrat", explaining: "It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans. Now, it shouldn't be that way. But if you go back, I mean it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats...But certainly we had some very good economies under Democrats, as well as Republicans. But we've had some pretty bad disaster under the Republicans."[20] In a July 2015 interview, Trump said that he has a broad range of political positions and that "I identify with some things as a Democrat."[19]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Donald_Trump#Health_care
We’ve been to this point so many times over the last 10 years, I’ve forgotten the count. “We’ve finally gotten him”, we all said when he was convicted in the Stormy Daniels case, when he hid and refused to give back classified documents, when all of the witnesses testified during the Jan 6 hearings, when the charges were filed in Georgia, when Jack Smith filed his damning indictments. And then SCOTUS said he was immune from all of it. So excuse me if I am skeptical that he faces accountability now. Like a snake, he always slithers away. With all of that said, his base stayed strong and even got stronger during everything I just talked about. The Epstein situation seems to be different. Maybe, just maybe, the minions are starting to see that they may have been conned. Only time will tell.
Brilliantly written! And hopefully it comes true.
Michael Cohen who knows him better than most thinks Murdoch and the WSJ will cave and will settle like the others. I wouldn’t bet against him. Wishful thinking has proven fruitless in the past. We live in hope, but don’t count your chickens…
Is this going to be TACO man falling out of the FOX entertainment channel propaganda?
Murdoch owns both
The beginning of July ish, Murdoch father and son met with Vance in Montana
Somehow Elonia was rumored to be in Montana at the exact same time with Stephen Millers wife and hanging with JV and company
Unclear if he attended the meeting with the Murdochs however.
The thing Trump forgot was at Murdoch has it in for him after he, Trump, sued Fox for the voting machines defamation. He just handed Murdoch the tool he needed to get even. Let them do each other in is what I say.
He’s hiding himself and being paid to hide others. There are so many fearing their downfall.
We, however, are ready for a rebuild.
Harry, I'm interested in you exploring the complex dynamics that Trump's law suit imposes upon Murdoch.
On one hand his major outlets, including Fox News, The Sun, and The New York Post rake in serious profits pandering to the pro-Trump audience.
On the other hand, I can't imagine that the Murdoch family will want to encourage any support of Trump during this lawsuit.
At the same time, it would appear that Trump would not want to lose the support of a Fox News, and so on.
So how do you think this will work out?
One possible resolution to this messisthat Trump will drop the lawsuit. Perhaps it's possible that the Murdoch's will pay him off behind the scenes for an undisclosed sum.
Maybe they will not have to even admit whether the the drawing was authentic or not.
Or here's another option. Trump will claim that the you doing was found in Epstein's safe, but that the FBI did not have proper warrant to go into it. Didn't that kind of argument work in the Mar-a-Lago stolen document case?
Or if the assumption is that the drawing has been in the position of GMax All these years, you could continue maintaining that it was a fake that she set up that had nothing to do with him.
Of course that kind of claim could be shot down very quickly if the people who have possession of the drawing subjected it to forensic fingerprint tests which could then be tested against Trump's fingerprints, if you get my drift.
What do you think?
I've read a theory that the WSJ gave Trump a chance to sue them and win therefore putting the Epstein Affair to bed. Lord protect us!
I like the scorpion and the frog analogy Harry used. Even if the Journal does a solid for a solid, as Harry meticulously discussed, he won’t fully mitigate the damage. MAGA will continue to implode. People will be unmasked and their dirtiest proclivities will be exposed.
the message about the old lady and the snake is what trump was telling us about himself!
Exactly. That part.
Disclaimer - it is beyond delicious in an existential sense to eye-witness the Epstein imbroglio for all of us gobsmacked - at daily encounter with or upon reflection - at the last 10 years of America's conjoined travels with DJT. It. Is. Savory.
But... “'This lawsuit is filed not only on behalf of your favorite President, ME, but also in order to continue standing up for ALL Americans who will no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media,' Trump wrote in a social media post shortly after the WSJ lawsuit was filed." [NYT - July 21, 2025]
Since it first emerged - before Bondi's flip-flop on whether there was any 'there' actually 'there' ...or the WSJ cornered Donald - I've been cynical about the political blast damage the Epstein affair might inflict upon Trump, let alone the GOP, come the next and only moment it would matter... [Spoiler alert - the midterms, over a year from now].
And I remain cynical. And not just because Trump is a Master of Deflection and distraction [above]. And not just because the MAGA fringe and influencers whose faith he frets has been shaken are, come end of day, cultists with an IQ around freezing temperature. Or, that SCOTUS has accorded Donald immunity to have SEAL Team 6 assassinate Rupert should he deem it necessary. Or, that the dopey lawsuit Trump reflexively filed against Murdoch is docketed [SURPRISE - NOT] in Aileen Cannon's S. Florida District Court. Or, as importantly - that the Democratic Party hasn't any Galahad within sight to muster message and a following that'd successfully drive the stake home.
I'm cynical primarily because everyone's bemused fascination with how the GOP Congress and tin foil hat MAGAverse is digesting it is misplaced. Sure - it'd be a wondrous let alone MIRACULOUS thing if MAGA turned on their King. Politically fatal, at least in furtherance of Trumpian policies ... But not fatal because they abruptly begin to vote Democrat.
No - the only metric and demographic that really matters is that slice at the other end of Trump's plurality... Suburban women/mothers; small business owners roiled by the tariff thingy; the < 30 set roiled by interest rates; inflation; postponed marriages and an uncertain job market; naturalized Hispanics [or Asians] getting frisked by ICE and shaken to hear their lately arrived abuela has been kidnapped to Alligator Alcatraz, or El Salvador. And Black males lately unnerved by all the white supremacist stuff on the one hand and evisceration of safety net on the other.
Most of these folks have - or will soon - face a plethora of more self-interested reasons to squint at the idiotic, immoral choice they made last November. The Epstein thing likely doesn't concern or surprise them. Sadly, Trump's character long, long ago became a non-issue in I daresay every American's mind... something you can only wince at - before locating a more personally cogent reason for supporting or objecting to the man.
🙏🏻
I pray you are correct!