"The Ick"

Epstein is rupturing MAGA and may bring Trump down

So… In what follows I include some very repulsive details about pedophilia and Trump. Please don’t read it if you might be triggered by it. I intend to start writing about beautiful things again. I have been re-reading a wonderful book by a British poet, The Black Goddess and the Unseen Real, about our various extrasensory capacities. But sadly, I feel the need to keep focus on the current political nightmare at the moment.

The unraveling of Trump and MAGA could change the dynamic in the U.S. in unpredictable but potentially beneficial ways (hard to imagine it getting worse). There is a great possibility, if Trump goes down, that J.D. Vance will not be able to hold together the various factions and cults who have united behind Trump. Narcissistic cult leaders tend to be sui generis: They can’t pass on their aura of invincibility to their sycophants.

A big question we must consider is whether the MAGA cult mind-control program is finally breaking as a result of the unbelievably inept Epstein cover-up. All of the evidence points to Trump’s deep connections to Epstein’s pedophile ring. Journalist Nick Bryant, speaking with Chris Hedges, discusses his many years of research into Trump’s activities with Epstein. Bryant was the investigator who found Epstein’s infamous “Black Book.” Among other topics, Bryant discusses an affidavit by the pseudonymous Katie Johnson, who has not come forward to go after Trump but was apparently trafficked to him as a 13 year old.

“In the affidavit, she said that apparently Trump liked to watch Epstein's orgies while he got a hand job,” Bryant noted. “That he complained about the oral sex given to him by apparently this 13-year-old and a 12-year-old.” Could this be the kind of salacious detail that Trump doesn’t want revealed to the armed-and-dangerous MAGA hordes, which is all over the un-redacted Epstein files?

I’ve been compulsively reviewing different perspectives on whether and how the Epstein scandal could rupture MAGA and bring down Trump. I appreciate Jim Stewartson of MindWars who writes: “The President of the United States is in a state of narcissistic collapse about Jeffrey Epstein, and the entire government is decompensating [this word is Stewartson’s coinage — perhaps he means ‘decomposing’?] as a result.”

Some commentators argue that cult believers will double-down on their fealty to Dear Leader because the absurd Epstein cover-up functions as another “loyalty test.” I don’t agree. Trump promised to hunt down and catch the global pedophile ring (supposedly of prominent Democrats, Hillary Clinton, George Soros, etc). This was, really, the most important guarantee and the main promise that he made to his followers, who don’t seem to care about human rights or children’s lives in any other circumstance. That Trump is, himself, deeply implicated in the Epstein pedophile ring and covering up for it is going to be an impossible stink to get rid of.

Seth Meyers did a wonderful job excavating the absurdity here:

I particularly enjoyed this bit:

I have no idea if Trump committed a crime with Epstein, but the reason we’re talking about this at all is because Republicans hyped it up for years thinking it would damage their political opponents. Dan Bongino once said, “Folks, please keep your eye on this case. I can’t emphasize to you enough. This Epstein thing is more than—there’s more than meets the eye there. Who’s on the Epstein tapes, folks? Who’s on those tapes? Who’s in those black books? Why have they been hiding it?”

That’s Dan Bongino, who is now the deputy director of the FBI. So when you say, “Why have they been hiding it?”—the “they” is you now, bro. These guys are going to have to start doing conspiracy podcasts about themselves. “Why am I hiding the Epstein files? Who got to me?”

Below, I explore cult dynamics. According to experts, nnce the mind-control programming breaks, the structure wobbles and, ultimately, collapses.

Apparently, over the last week or two, the FBI assigned 1,000 agents to go through the Epstein Files (which Trump has also claimed don’t exist, or are scams created by Obama, while also saying he knows who is in them) and flag every mention of him in the files. That indicates the scale of his problem! Trump’s personal lawyer (who defended him in the Stormy Daniels case) just met twice with Ghislaine Maxwell, most probably seeking to arrange a deal with her where she gets a pardon for exonerating Trump of wrong-doing. I don’t think this will help Trump’s situation: It may make it worse.

I definitely find that it helps to clarify our drastic/dire situation to think of MAGA as a cult — a massive cult — under the thumb of a classic narcissist psychopath. The similarities with Jonestown, Heaven’s Gate, Mormonism, etc, are straightforward. Many Christian supporters of the Trump regime believe he is a redemptive figure who will usher in the “End of Days” and the Rapture. If Trump were to suddenly keel over and die of heart failure (which seems increasingly likely as he seems to be decaying rapidly), many of his followers would be very confused, because Biblical prophecy would not be fulfilled.

My spirits were lifted yesterday when I discovered @cultcollege on Youtube (Friendly Honey Badger on TikTok). I binge-watched a series of her short videos. She was part of Mormonism as well as another cult. After breaking away, she became an expert in cult dynamics and narcissistic leaders. While she believes the MAGA cult is breaking up, she notes how incredibly difficult it is to leave a cult:

I promise you something: leaving a cult is one of the hardest things that a human can do. This isn’t a choice. There’s no choice to be in a cult. There’s no choice to fall for a con man. There’s no choice of when to leave or how long you stay. This is all a function of the brain.