65 years ago Dalton Trumbo wrote the following Spartacus dialogue between Charles Laughton‘s Gracchus and John Gavin‘s Julius Caesar. The subject was Gracchus having arranged with Cilician pirates to provide ships to help Spartacus’s slave army escape from Italy:
Julius Caesar: “So now we deal with pirates. We bargain with criminals.”
Gracchus: “Now, don’t be so stiff-necked about it! Politics is a practical profession. If a criminal has what you want, you do business with him.”
Not so much any more.
The release of the Epstein files has adversely affected POI (people of influence) who had any kind of friendly relationship with the late Jeffrey Epstein during the ’90s, aughts and teens. We’re talking about a “social crime” or “stain” upon reputations, and the ones who’ve suffered the most in this regard are Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (recently arrested), Kathryn Ruemmler (Goldman Sachs GC…resigned earlier this month after reports she was a friend of Epstein’s), Brad Karp (Paul Weiss chairman), Larry Summers, Casey Wasserman (LA 2028 chair…tarnished by friendly emails with Ghislaine Maxwell).
I’m not aware that these people are guilty of any kind of hard criminal activity with Epstein, according to the files. Maybe I’m overlooking stuff, but as far as I know they were just chatty with the guy. I’m presuming they saw a financial upside in keeping Epstein in their corner. Nothing more than that.
Somebody needs to find Trumbo in heaven and tell him that the rules have changed. If a criminal has what you want, you avoid him like the plague lest you be condemned for merely being loose and friendly with the guy.
Bill Clinton is going to be grilled half to death when he testifies next week.
