A quick aside from this very excellent piece, I really really appreciated you doing a voice-over of this piece, and not using an AI service that so many places are starting to use. It adds a layer of care and authenticity, as well as being accommodating.
Anand, this was the most powerful piece that you've ever written. Thanks for doing the voice-over yourself. It carries much more emotional impact than AI text-to-voice. It totally blows my average middle class American mind that this entirely separate world exists somewhere above while below exists a dark, racist, white-suppremist, fascist, nihilistic, violent subculture.
Yes, I agree. It is powerful. It helped me to see that the things I complain about daily— dehumanization in doctors’ offices, for example— are part of a larger picture.
As I read your eloquent piece, I am forced to wonder whether any of this is actually new. Isn't this how the world has always worked, and if so, how is it that so many of us didn't know?
Interesting thought! I don’t think it’s exactly repetition. More to do with the fact that we believed (and grew up inside of) the American dream and what we thought were American ideals and ideas. So- to have Trump and his gang of miscreants grab them away, is shocking in its own way.
“What team are you pulling for? … None” summed up, for me, that these elites ARE the team. That’s why they fluidly and effortlessly shift between the political parties and the policies of the parties. They are only interested in their own aggrandizement and their own betterment. Until they are reigned in (somehow, how?) we will be their subjects, given their immense wealth and mobility and ability to skirt whatever laws they decide are intrusive to them. This problem has been building for decades … and it will take an enormous effort to lessen or hopefully eradicate. The power is in our hands, yet like the Epstein elite, we need a leader to strengthen the bonds between us.
agree with what "BraverEveryday" said...thank you for summing it all up. Seared right through me. On another note, hearing Joe say "Facism" this morning...wondering if he made the retribution list today?
I have the same feeling reading this that I do flying through nasty weather that seems impenetrable and into the sunny blue sky that always lies above it, making everything clear - and possible. For me this is an instant classic, required reading. We always knew there's an elite class system, which is the part of the reason your kids need to go to a good college - it's the people you meet there and the network they can offer you that counts as much as getting in and doing well and actually learning something. But our current network got pierced by a guy who didn't do that, instead went to Europe where he learned a few tricks and very brilliantly used his only skill - math - to teach wealthy Manhattan girls and charm them into invitations to dinner at home as their tutor. Trump, his fellow Bridge-and-Tunnel outer borough outcast from Manhattan social circles, must have been astonished, and later saved by Epstein's Russian connections when US banks wouldn't lend to him because he was a deadbeat. There's the origin story.
Now we need the list, one name at a time, alphabetically, released every week. This administration can't be trusted not to destroy evidence and although many people know the details by heart, the evidence, and prosecution, is the crucial thing.
This is one of the finest essays on The Epstein Connections that I've read or expect to read
in the future. Congratulations to you, Mr. G. (I know how to pronounce your last name but hesitate to type it, as I'd be at risk of making a botch of that.)
Thank you for all you are doing to keep the rest of us informed & horrified.
A quick aside from this very excellent piece, I really really appreciated you doing a voice-over of this piece, and not using an AI service that so many places are starting to use. It adds a layer of care and authenticity, as well as being accommodating.
Yes. Thank you.
So good- only you could tie this all together so clearly and informatively! You are such a gem, thank you
🙏🏼
Brilliant. Best analysis I have seen bar none. I upgraded to pay!
This was a brilliant analysis and summary of what these files revealed about power.
Perfectly summarized! You painted the picture we avoided to see, but secretly knew to be.
Nailed it with that comment
Thanks
Anand, this was the most powerful piece that you've ever written. Thanks for doing the voice-over yourself. It carries much more emotional impact than AI text-to-voice. It totally blows my average middle class American mind that this entirely separate world exists somewhere above while below exists a dark, racist, white-suppremist, fascist, nihilistic, violent subculture.
Yes, I agree. It is powerful. It helped me to see that the things I complain about daily— dehumanization in doctors’ offices, for example— are part of a larger picture.
As I read your eloquent piece, I am forced to wonder whether any of this is actually new. Isn't this how the world has always worked, and if so, how is it that so many of us didn't know?
Interesting thought! I don’t think it’s exactly repetition. More to do with the fact that we believed (and grew up inside of) the American dream and what we thought were American ideals and ideas. So- to have Trump and his gang of miscreants grab them away, is shocking in its own way.
That world isn't visible or accessible to us mere commoners. As Wajahat Ali says, "It's a big club, and you ain't in it."
“What team are you pulling for? … None” summed up, for me, that these elites ARE the team. That’s why they fluidly and effortlessly shift between the political parties and the policies of the parties. They are only interested in their own aggrandizement and their own betterment. Until they are reigned in (somehow, how?) we will be their subjects, given their immense wealth and mobility and ability to skirt whatever laws they decide are intrusive to them. This problem has been building for decades … and it will take an enormous effort to lessen or hopefully eradicate. The power is in our hands, yet like the Epstein elite, we need a leader to strengthen the bonds between us.
agree with what "BraverEveryday" said...thank you for summing it all up. Seared right through me. On another note, hearing Joe say "Facism" this morning...wondering if he made the retribution list today?
This is the message I have been waiting for. You have the insight we need. I hope you will be able to spread it far and wide.
I have the same feeling reading this that I do flying through nasty weather that seems impenetrable and into the sunny blue sky that always lies above it, making everything clear - and possible. For me this is an instant classic, required reading. We always knew there's an elite class system, which is the part of the reason your kids need to go to a good college - it's the people you meet there and the network they can offer you that counts as much as getting in and doing well and actually learning something. But our current network got pierced by a guy who didn't do that, instead went to Europe where he learned a few tricks and very brilliantly used his only skill - math - to teach wealthy Manhattan girls and charm them into invitations to dinner at home as their tutor. Trump, his fellow Bridge-and-Tunnel outer borough outcast from Manhattan social circles, must have been astonished, and later saved by Epstein's Russian connections when US banks wouldn't lend to him because he was a deadbeat. There's the origin story.
Now we need the list, one name at a time, alphabetically, released every week. This administration can't be trusted not to destroy evidence and although many people know the details by heart, the evidence, and prosecution, is the crucial thing.
Brilliant and edifying. I would refer people to Sarah Kendzior’s work. She’s on Substack. She’s been on to this for years. Worth a look.
This is one of the finest essays on The Epstein Connections that I've read or expect to read
in the future. Congratulations to you, Mr. G. (I know how to pronounce your last name but hesitate to type it, as I'd be at risk of making a botch of that.)
Thank you for all you are doing to keep the rest of us informed & horrified.
Linda Winston
“This diversity masked a greater solidarity.” That sentence helped me see. This is a brilliant piece of writing. Thank you.
This is one of the best, most insightful pieces I’ve yet read on this topic. 🙏
Excellent essay! Thanks for this.