Top of Mind Thursday – November 20, 2025: Great Expectations

This week, President Donald Trump signed legislation to release the files collected by the Justice Department related to the trafficking of young girls by the late convicted felon Jeffrey Epstein.

Although releasing the “Epstein Files” was something Trump vociferously backed during his presidential campaign, he later did a 180-degree turn and called this a made up distraction once it became clear he is named within. However, even his strongest Republican backers voted overwhelmingly to demand release of the files, and Trump finally conceded.

For years, Republicans were convinced that leading Democrats were associated with Epstein’s misdeeds—and it’s quite likely they are. However, abusing young women appears to have no political boundaries, and Republicans—including Trump, who was a known associate of Epstein—are likely named as well. The man formerly known as England’s Prince Andrew has already been brought down by this scandal.

Many people are expecting there to be some kind of smoking gun—a list of people associated with Epstein’s nefarious activities, perhaps even noting who did what with which young girl. However, the case has been in the justice system for years. If such a “black book” existed, it would have certainly come to light by now (or been found and destroyed to avoid incrimination).

Make no mistake about it: What Epstein and his cronies did was despicable. The victims deserve justice and the people involved deserve to be punished. But experience tells us it’s unlikely that such major revelations will occur, and even less likely that everyone involved will be punished for what they did.

Perhaps the most promising outcome of all this would be measures put in place to ensure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again—including clear and decisive punishment outlined for both the people who enable this AND for those who participate. That might be expecting too much, but it would be an effective way to channel our collective outrage.

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