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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026

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See even if we live to see 100% of all the Epstein files unredacted, including those concealed by the Massie/Khanna bill, the mega narrative is never gonna unravel now.

If those files put "Trump" and "sex" together 600,000 times in Epstein's island, the obvious takeaway is Old Don is a pedo rapist. Even if his supposed "victims" were adult women who retrofitted their episodes with Epstein as "grooming" for multimillion dollar settlements. Because popular imagination is convinced that any kind of sexual activity that took place in that island involved some kind of child sexual abuse. If they did release the files and it was a whole lot of nothing, then obviously all the "real files" were scrubbed long ago Parallax Corp style. If they sit on their hands and do nothing, what the hell are they covering up? The facts don't matter anymore. Not even the most exhaustive documentary review or adjudicated exoneration vindicating the named individuals is convincing anyone. I checked reddit, well, not to say everyone outright buys the cannibalism and 9yo victim stories, but it's certainly in the ballpark. Maybe the global elite is shitting bricks, except it is less about the contents of these files and more about the volatility of an international public primed for outrage.

See even if we live to see 100% of all the Epstein files unredacted, including those concealed by the Massie/Khanna bill, the mega narrative is never gonna unravel now.

One big issue here: When there's a really really blatant coverup going on, it's hard to trust any claims of "there you go, we gave you everything now". If you're constantly lying and hiding something, suddenly choosing to be truthful and open for once does not rid you of rightful and fair suspicion. Still, plenty of people will be satisfied enough and if you do a proper job from now on you can slowly start to convince them and flip the margins. You don't need every Tom Dick and Harry convinced.

The facts don't matter anymore. Not even the most exhaustive documentary review or adjudicated exoneration vindicating the named individuals is convincing anyone. I checked reddit, well, not to say everyone outright buys the cannibalism and 9yo victim stories, but it's certainly in the ballpark. Maybe the global elite is shitting bricks, except it is less about the contents of these files and more about the volatility of an international public primed for outrage.

Can't be reaping "there's a global elite pedo cabal" theories when it's politically advantageous and not expect people to actually want you to expose the global elite pedo cabal. Play with fire you get hurt.

If you're constantly lying and hiding something, suddenly choosing to be truthful and open for once does not rid you of rightful and fair suspicion. Still, plenty of people will be satisfied enough and if you do a proper job from now on you can slowly start to convince them and flip the margins.

I think you're putting too much stock on the mob's purported composure. This is such a salacious narrative that none of the media bigshots and political pundits are about to let go of. This story has to end with arrests, anything else would be too anticlimatic. And the fact that there isn't any camp particularly keen on rehabilitating Epstein (unlike Russiagate) makes it unlikely that anyone not politically and socially suicidal will pursue it, so I have to commend guys like Tracey, Taibbi and Hanania for taking the lead.

Can't be reaping "there's a global elite pedo cabal" theories when it's politically advantageous and not expect people to actually want you to expose the global elite pedo cabal. Play with fire you get hurt.

Absolutely, my most generous 2 cents is that even Trump did not initially expect to see his own name in those files with such frequency. They may not be particularly incriminating, but still supremely humiliating and he deserves the generational aura loss for fanning the flames all these years. But irregardless of opportunistic snakes seeking to abuse moral hysteria, this feverish conspiracy mongering in the face of all facts to the contrary cannot be the antidote.

EDIT: When you see instances like this, which is far from unfamiliar in the recent history of our cultural landscape, when does conceding narrative control to the faceless mob become too dangerous? Who will be held accountable for this madness?