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marmar

(80,399 posts)
Sat Jun 27, 2026, 10:33 AM Yesterday

Why Democrats are running against the 'Epstein class'


Why Democrats are running against the ‘Epstein class’
Candidates are casting their messaging around Epstein’s associates and the unaccountable elite, betting that voter distrust of powerful institutions can help them shape the midterm debate.

Grace Panetta
Politics Reporter


(The 19th) After Graham Platner secured the Democratic nomination for Senate in Maine, his first ad of the general election didn’t mention his opponent, Sen. Susan Collins, or the Republican Party. It focused on the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and who he called the “Epstein class” of elites in both parties.

....(snip)....

It’s not just Platner: In midterm races from Texas to Maine, Democrats and at least one Republican are running against Epstein and “the Epstein class,” a term Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California first used last year to describe the men among the economic and cultural elite who traveled in Epstein’s social circles and helped rehabilitate his reputation after the multimillionaire ex-financier became a convicted sex offender in 2008 for soliciting prostitution of a minor.

“I’ll give the survivors credit, but I did coin the phrase ‘Epstein class’ because they’re a group of rich and powerful people who are not playing by the rules, and it offends the sense that we have one tier of justice,” Khanna told The 19th.

The number of candidates highlighting Epstein in their campaign messaging, Khanna argued, “shows what a powerful issue this is to win the midterms and win back the trust of the American public.” .....................(more)

https://19thnews.org/2026/06/the-epstein-class-political-ads/




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Why Democrats are running against the 'Epstein class' (Original Post) marmar Yesterday OP
The 'Epstein Class' consists largely, if not entirely, of oligarchs. usonian Yesterday #1
The difference Whip-poor-will Yesterday #2

usonian

(27,190 posts)
1. The 'Epstein Class' consists largely, if not entirely, of oligarchs.
Sat Jun 27, 2026, 10:57 AM
Yesterday

Oligarchy, and the insane concentration of wealth and power in the US (and the world) are the cause of most problems.

In fact, there is enough for all, if more evenly distributed.

Generalizations are dangerous, except when they help save democracy and the planet. Perfectionism is the enemy of almost everything (exceptions for things like brain surgery and so on).

Put simply, they do what they want and use trickery to deceive people into fighting with each other, not the "privileged"

Wilhoit's law.

“Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” That line—written by Frank Wilhoit—has become a popular aphorism to sum up the hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of the modern Republican Party.

https://pylimitics.net/wilhoits-law/





Whip-poor-will

(650 posts)
2. The difference
Sat Jun 27, 2026, 11:18 AM
Yesterday

Between rape and making love.

Rapist take what they want and victimize the woman, they rule like epstein would

Lovers share the love without intentional harm and seek to act beneficially towards each.other, a governing situation.

Start castrating the rapists and they will go away, don't and you wind up with a rape club of good old boys.



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