The name “Jeffrey Epstein” should not evoke whispers about a “scandal.” It should provoke outrage over one of the most brazen and well-connected criminal operations in modern American history. Epstein didn’t just throw lavish parties and rub shoulders with the elite—he orchestrated a sex trafficking ring that exploited underage girls, enabled by money, power, and silence. Yet somehow, the public and the media still refer to this as a “scandal,” a word that implies moral failure or social embarrassment, not systemic abuse and federal crimes.
Let’s be clear, what Epstein did was not a scandal—it was a crime. Repeated, premeditated, and protected crime. That distinction matters, especially when examining the web of powerful men linked to Epstein, including President Donald Trump.
Trump’s connection to Epstein is not merely speculative. The two were close friends for years. In a 2002 quote for New York Magazine, Trump said, “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” This statement, made long before Epstein’s first arrest, aged into something deeply disturbing—not just in retrospect, but in context. People around Epstein knew.
To be fair, Trump has since distanced himself, claiming he “wasn’t a fan.” But that doesn’t erase the record: he flew on Epstein’s private jet several times, welcomed him regularly at Mar-a-Lago, and even had him as a guest at his wedding. Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s accusers, has said she was recruited while working at Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s defenders call these “loose associations,” but they are pieces of a larger, murkier puzzle.
This isn’t about guilt by association. It’s about accountability in a system where elites regularly escape scrutiny. If we keep labeling this a “scandal,” we’re letting people off the hook. “Scandal” suggests a PR problem, something to be managed or buried. But sex trafficking, abuse, and the cover-up of those crimes by institutions and individuals alike—that’s not a scandal. That’s an atrocity.
The media should stop soft-pedaling what Epstein and his enablers did. Legal systems should stop treating elite connections as shields. And the public should stop being distracted by euphemisms. If we keep calling it a scandal, we’re complicit in minimizing the suffering of Epstein’s victims and the enormity of what really happened.
Call it what it was: a crime. Call out those who helped make it possible.
Even if one of them was a president.
