By Mordecia Specktor

Trump, Epstein and the R-word
In July, the current occupant of the White House was bombarded by questions about the late child rapist Jeffrey Epstein. Trump and Epstein had a long, close friendship — a Google search will reveal numerous photos and videos of the pair partying together. There are also photos of Epstein’s consort and procurer Ghislaine Maxwell and Melania Trump enjoying the company of Trump and Epstein.

In 2008, Epstein entered into a plea agreement and was convicted in Florida state court of procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute, and served 13 months in prison, with extensive work release. In July 2019, Epstein was arrested again, this time on federal charges of sex trafficking minors. He died in his jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019; the medical examiner determined that he committed suicide by hanging.

Maxwell, a British socialite, recruited young girls for Epstein and was convicted, in 2021, on federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy related to her role in child sexual abuse and prostitution, as per press reports. She was sentenced to a 20-year prison term; however, in July, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who has served as an attorney for Trump, traveled to the Tallahassee, Florida federal prison where Maxwell is being held and met with her and her lawyer over two days. There has been speculation that Trump might commute Maxwell’s sentence in exchange for her silence about the president’s relationship with Epstein.

This is a sordid and disgusting business, and Trump has been trying varied ruses to distract from the scandal and bipartisan calls to release the Epstein files in the possession of the FBI and Department of Justice. Of interest to readers of The Circle, Trump called on the Washington NFL franchise to revive the teams former moniker, the R-word racial slur.

On July 20, Trump posted the following on Truth Social:
The Washington “Whatever’s” should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team. There is a big clamoring for this. Likewise, the Cleveland Indians, one of the six original baseball teams, with a storied past. Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen. Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them. Times are different now than they were three or four years ago. We are a Country of passion and common sense. OWNERS, GET IT DONE!!!

I have written previously about Trump’s animus against Indian tribes that he viewed as competitors to his Atlantic City casinos decades ago. (Trump managed to bankrupt his casino holdings.) More recently, Trump, in his bid to undo birthright citizenship, has argued that American Indians are not U.S. citizens due to their tribal citizenship. As if dual citizenship was not a thing; my three sons are dual citizens of the U.S. and Sweden, a benefit of having a Swedish mother (who is a dual citizen).

In any case the courts have ruled against Trump’s bid to upend birthright citizenship with one of his bogus executive orders. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” The language of the amendment is clear; however, Trump has little regard for the law or the Constitution.

Getting back the R-word distraction, Trump posted again on Truth Social that unless the Washington NFL franchise “change[s] the name back to the original ‘Washington Redskins,’ and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, ‘Washington Commanders,’ I won’t make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington. The Team would be much more valuable, and the Deal would be more exciting for everyone.”

Trump, who has no sense of shame, ended his post by declaring, “Indians are being treated very unfairly. MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)!”

This football business is just a sideshow; of far more consequence, Trump and his GOP lackeys are about to exacerbate the climate crisis by rescinding “the 2009 declaration, known as the endangerment finding, which concluded that planet-warming greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health,” according to The New York Times.

On July 29, Lee Zeldin, a Trump sycophant and the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said that the administration “would revoke the scientific determination that underpins the government’s legal authority to combat climate change,” the Times reported. Zeldin said the proposal would erase limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks on the nation’s roads.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Republican Party is a criminal conspiracy to destroy life on planet Earth.