Not Walter Cronkite. It is hard to fathom a more unlikely Epstein party boy than Cronkite. The most trusted man in America, a former CBS news anchor and truly legendary newsman, was probably the last person you would expect to see in the Epstein files.
Yet, no doubt innocently, there he is, along with predictable party boys like former president, Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, and Mick Jagger, and dozens of others who crossed paths with the late financer and convicted sex offender who died, apparently by suicide, in jail in 2019.
To be sure, Mr. Cronkite was about 90 years old when he flew on Epstein’s private jet from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to the Virgin Islands in 2007, the year before Epstein was charged in Florida with solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18.
Like most of those on the list, absolutely nothing other than their chumming around together suggests Cronkite knew anything about Epstein’s secret life.
What is remarkable is how extensive and prestigious Epstein’s client list has turned out. For better or worse, the furor has become less about his young victims and more about which titans of news, entertainment and finance enjoyed his social largesse.
Perusing the names listed is like reading a 1990s-era Who’s Who at Elaine’s restaurant, the celebrity haunt uptown on 2nd Avenue, which closed in 2011.
As the documents dump from last week makes clear, this guy knew everybody from the cool to the coolest and apparently had dirt on an unknown number of well-known friends and associates.
They range from fantastically wealthy Sergey Brin, Google co-founder and client of Epstein, to Jean-Luc Brunel, an alleged high-class pimp who purportedly used his model agency to supply Epstein with teenage girls, and that is just the B’s.
I was going to continue alphabetically listing those whose lives intersected with the notorious Mr. Epstein, but ran out of energy and a lack of context to judge relative guilt. The only person to face justice aside from Epstein is his super fixer, Ghislaine Maxwell. She is appealing her conviction in federal court and lobbying strenuously outside of court for a presidential pardon.
So where does that leave us?
Epstein has come to represent the devaluing of children and the selfish narcissism and excesses of the last couple of decades. There is also the unmistakable feeling that some of the names on his list are avoiding justice. The grisly image of some potbellied super-rich sheik, prince, or president messing around with children groomed and sacrificed as a perk to guests of Epstein/Maxwell persists.
That lack of consequences is why the MAGA base refused President Donald Trump’s command to let the scandal die.
We are watching the Epstein saga alter the arc of American political life. Think about it. Undoubtedly at the request of Trump, who was frantic to keep the Epstein story as contained as possible, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson tried mightily to suppress it.
Then the four brave Republicans stepped up, defied the president and demanded a House vote on releasing the Epstein files.
Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia (until January), deserve major props. More significantly, the MAGA base is fractured, never to heal until the last drop of shame is extracted from the guilty parties.
Down the line, that will be Epstein’s legacy.
