The day Jeffrey Epstein died, I was at the Iowa State Fair hearing from presidential candidates, and he was not exactly on their minds.
asserted
he → die → minds
When left-wing podcasters asked 2020 hopefuls if they’d probe the circumstances of the convicted sex offender’s death, a few looked rattled.
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few → ask → death
They’d prepped for so many questions, but not this.
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They → preppe → questions
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. was an exception, questioning how a man on suicide watch could hang himself.
uncertain
man → question → himself
She also had to explain, for some reporters, what she was talking about: “This was a sex trafficking scheme.”
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This → have → what
Voters no longer need refreshers on Epstein.
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Voters → need → Epstein
Democrats have run hundreds of ads this cycle linking their opponents to the disgraced financier, worth tens of millions of dollars.
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Democrats → run → dollars
I’m not the first take-slinger to ask whether this is the “Epstein election.”
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this → ’m → ?
I’m here to answer with the reason why the message is working.
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message → ’m → reason
We’ve witnessed the biggest donation in American history by one man (Elon Musk) to help one candidate (Ken Paxton).
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We → witness → candidate
For the first time, off-year elections have attracted more cash than was spent to win the presidential race two years earlier.
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elections → attract → race
The very wealthy can spend unlimited sums on campaigns, and while plenty of candidates denounce this — “overturn Citizens United” will thrill the audience at any Democratic town hall — there’s no serious effort to pass a constitutional amendment that would shrink that voice.
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that → spend → voice
That’s where Epstein comes in.
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Epstein → ’ → ?
Many Americans are predisposed to think that wealthy people earned their money and that it’s churlish to try to take it away from them.
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it → predispose → them
But it’s easier than ever to argue that some ultra-wealthy people are strange, selfish, and even evil.
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people → ’ → ?
Democrats, the GOP pollster Patrick Ruffini wrote this week, exploited the “conspiratorial, anti-system tendencies in the electorate” and found a much sharper weapon to swing at Republicans.
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pollster → write → Republicans
If this pays off for Democrats, serious credit will be due to California Rep. Ro Khanna.
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credit → pay → Khanna
As a co-chair of the 2020 Bernie Sanders campaign, he saw how clarifying it could be for audiences to hear that billionaires were hoarding wealth while most people struggled.
uncertain
people → see → wealth
After President Donald Trump promised to release Epstein case files but didn’t, Khanna and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., found the votes to force it last year.
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Khanna → promise → it
The files didn’t take down the Trump presidency.
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files → take → presidency
But Khanna found a framework for anti-billionaire populism in battling the “Epstein class.”
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Khanna → find → class
“The Epstein class has become a symbol [of] how the wealthy and powerful rig the system to avoid accountability and enrich themselves,” Khanna told me as he campaigned for the Democratic challenger in a Wisconsin seat Trump won by 5 points.
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Trump → become → points
This theme aligned with what Democrats wanted to do anyway: run against Republicans as pawns of the ultra-wealthy.
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Democrats → align → wealthy
Why wouldn’t the GOP slow data center construction?
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GOP → slow → construction
Why wasn’t Congress bringing down costs for regular people?
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Congress → bring → people
When Trump was on the ballot, it helped Republicans that he was perceived as so wealthy that other billionaires couldn’t influence him.
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billionaires → help → him
Democrats struggled to land the anti-plutocrat attacks that worked against Mitt Romney because prominent billionaires and corporate leaders refused to support Trump.
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billionaires → struggle → Trump
That changed after Trump returned to power last year, and Democrats got comfortable again with populism.
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Democrats → change → populism
Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, who picked up the “Epstein class” term from Khanna, pointed to its presence at Trump’s inauguration: “They are the elites they pretend to hate.”
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they → pick → inauguration
If Democrats have a good Tuesday, their willingness to run against vast wealth and suggest that there’s something evil about it will have proven essential.
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willingness → have → it
“If you’re a billionaire, Ohio looks picture-perfect,” Ohio’s Amy Acton says in one of her final ads – one of several, from her allies, that go after GOP gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy for the crime of flying a private jet.
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that → ’re → jet
And when former President Barack Obama headlined a Michigan rally with Abdul El-Sayed, an attendee shouted affirmation back at him: “Obama’s not on the Epstein files, either!”
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Obama → headline → files
El-Sayed pointed and smiled at the man.
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Sayed → point → man
He let the applause ring out.
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applause → let → ?
Republicans have some substantive rebuttals to this line of attack.
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Republicans → have → attack
Hadn’t the president jawboned other billionaires into funding child investment accounts?
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president → jawbone → accounts
Wasn’t everyone invested in tech stocks getting richer?
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invested → invest → stocks
Not as rich as the people who had money already.
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who → have → money
In fact, the best counter to the anti-billionaire line has proven to be … turning it on Democrats.
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counter → prove → Democrats
In Wisconsin, and other places where LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman has funded Democratic PACs, Republicans attacked Hoffman’s friendship with Epstein and asked why Democrats weren’t giving back his money.
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Democrats → fund → money
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
