Maddow Blog-Trump won't stop talking about Epstein, says he never had the 'privilege' of island visit

[LetMyPeopleVote]

The Epstein scandal has become quicksand for the president for a variety of reasons, including his own misguided rhetoric about the intensifying story.

Trump won’t stop talking about Epstein, says he never had the 'privilege' of island visit
The Epstein scandal has become quicksand for the president for a variety of reasons, including his own misguided rhetoric about the intensifying story. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— US News Now - the World’s leading Liberal Voice (@democracyblue.bsky.social) 2025-07-29T13:06:27.296Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-epstein-says-never-privilege-island-visit-rcna221667

On Monday, the Republican sat alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and fielded a series of questions about the late millionaire sex offender, and each answer seemed to get progressively worse.

A possible pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell: Asked whether he’s prepared to rule out a pardon for Epstein’s convicted associate, common sense might’ve suggested that the president close that door. He did largely the opposite, telling reporters, “Well, I’m allowed to give her a pardon, but nobody’s approached me with it. Nobody’s asked me about it.”

He added, “Right now, it would be inappropriate to talk about it,” while talking about it......

His falling out with Epstein: The explanation surrounding Trump’s relationship with Epstein has been a moving target, with some allegations that Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago for being a “real creep,” while others have pointed to a falling out over a real estate deal. The president offered a third possibility on Monday, stating Epstein did something “inappropriate” by hiring people who worked for Trump.

The island invitation: As The New York Times summarized:

President Trump said on Monday that he had ‘never had the privilege’ of visiting Jeffrey Epstein’s private Caribbean island because he had turned down an invitation from the financier. As part of a continued effort by Mr. Trump to distract, deny and deflect from his long-running relationship with Mr. Epstein, the president vigorously denied that he had ever visited Mr. Epstein’s private islands in the Caribbean, while in the same breath baselessly accusing his predecessor, former President Bill Clinton, of visiting the islands, his latest bid at conspiracy deflection.

“I never went to the island, and Bill Clinton went there supposedly” a number of times, Trump said, referring to locations in the U.S. Virgin Islands where Epstein allegedly trafficked underage girls for sex.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/post/3luzsvrp7ha2h

Link to tweet

....There were a great many ways the Republican could’ve talked about this without using the word “privilege,” but this was the message the president chose to deliver to the world.

[OLDMDDEM]

1. I bet ut's just another lie.

[Brainfodder]

2. Incoming deluge of island pictures?

[malaise]

3. Dementia Donnie is going to blurt it all,out

One of these days.
The end is nigh.

[usonian]

4. I don't talk about the brutality that I have done to others.

Because THERE IS NONE.

Methinks he doth protest too much.

And he'd like us to forget about this "minor" matter.



But the "Streisand Effect".

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

The Streisand effect is an unintended consequence of attempts to hide, remove, or censor information, where the effort instead increases public awareness of the information.


The term was coined in 2005 by Mike Masnick after Barbra Streisand attempted to suppress the publication of a photograph showing her clifftop residence in Malibu, taken to document coastal erosion in California, inadvertently drawing far greater attention to the previously obscure photograph.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. "Privilege"??? His words, not mine.

"Privilege"??? His words, not mine.

— Jennifer Shin - WTAF (@jennifershin.bsky.social) 2025-07-29T13:41:15.886Z