Bipartisan Outrage Over Epstein Is Just What America Needs
Not all conspiratorial thinking is healthy, but Democrats need to work harder to appeal to people who are alienated from politics and mainstream institutions.
Announcing charges in 2019.
Photographer: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images North AmericaThe controversy over the mysterious “Epstein Files,” which President Donald Trump’s administration first pledged to release and then decided not to, has Democrats back in touch with one of America’s great political traditions: anti-establishment conspiracy theories. Not only is this good for the party, it is also — dare I say it — healthy for US politics.
Theories of this type differ from the more extreme Russiagate allegations against Trump (or Trump’s infamous charges that Barack Obama was secretly born in Kenya) in that they are not narrowly partisan. As such, they are especially appealing to the kinds of people who are disengaged from politics and alienated from mainstream institutions. In other words, just the kinds of people who’ve flocked to Trump’s banner over the past decade.