Projection – March 3, 2026

Not all that long ago we had a conversation on protectionism, an administration running full tilt on protecting their own and largely protecting Trump from his own past with Epstein. In that conversation we spoke a bit about Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA 14th District Retired) went from “future star” and “real winner” even “brilliant and smart” according to Trump’s love of TruthSocial to “she’s lost her way” and ultimately Trump calling her “a low IQ traitor.”

All over a conversation on Epstein transparency and ultimately a reported angry Trump yelling out to her on a call “my friends will get hurt.”

For the purposes of this conversation, we should explore the idea of Republican projection on the issue of questionable behavior. In some ways, an expansion of social media meme level rhetoric, sometime appearing on political debate sites, saying “every Republican accusation is an admission of guilt.”

Normally we try to gloss over this level of thinking, leaving to social media to spread and quick mainstream media as talking points into our out of commercial breaks, but for today we can explore the idea. The concept of projection, and by extension the concept of good for thee but not for me type hypocrisy but with the intention of protecting acts of creating victims.

Initial question – Is there validity to the statement?

Short answer, possibly leaning to likely.

What this ultimately means is exploring far more than just the Epstein and “my friends will get hurt” fiasco of legal case and mainstream media handling, but also exploring the general behavior of Republicans, and major supporters of Republicans. From a perspective of history up to current we have way too many examples, all of which did in fact create victims. That term, victims, may have various contexts and various levels of severity but saying that does not diminish activity of what can only be described as predator behavior.

In the prior conversation we touched on the subject of recent public discourse, perhaps the suggestion of investigations here and there, ultimately leading to a conclusion that many Republicans, but not all, seem to be in on the protectionism political goal for Trump and his close allies. More than redactions concerning Trump, but more recent understanding that some documents are still excluded from public release despite the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Also recently, both Hillary and Bill Clinton testified behind closed doors, despite wanting this to all be public, lead by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY 1st District) and close Trump ally. The natural question is where is the deposition of President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, both of whom seem to be in more pictures with Epstein than the Clintons. Shelve that for a moment.

Political self preservation suggests commands for protectionism, but it amplifies our conversation on projection.

When Republicans political frame the talking points as a “Democratic problem” trying to focus on typical targets like former President Bill and wife former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton we have to question the tactics. Republicans like Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY 4th District) and Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) seem to push for more transparency and wide net casting of information gathering by those named in the files, other Republicans like the already mentioned Rep. James Comer and even House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA 4th District) seem to step up efforts to protect.

So, let us explore this further by going further back.

One great example for this discussion is Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL 1st District Retired) who is looking at the next Florida Governors race. Used to be a frequent Trump ally and supporter ended up resigning from Congress. At the time Trump announced his intent to nominate him for US Attorney General, but that quickly fell apart with the pending release of a House Ethics Committee report on his behavior.

The report seemed to center on “substantial evidence” that Matt Gaetz had “regularly paid women for sex,” likely used illegal drugs including cocaine and ecstasy, and on at least one occasions had sexual relations with a 17-year old girl back in 2017. Of course Gaetz denied all allegations and claims to be “fully exonerated” since the Department of Justice did not bring criminal charges.

But, arguably the political damage was done. And suddenly Matt Gaetz was no longer on the hill much, no longer in the news much, and has been reduced to speaking at Republican events around Florida and his The Matt Gaetz Show, a nightly political talk show, on One America News Network (OAN.)

It gets worse…

Former North Dakota State Senator Ray Holmberg plead guilty in 2024 to federal charges related to traveling for illegal sexual conduct with minors. Former Pennsylvania State Senator Mike Folmer was convicted in 2020 on charges related to the possession of illegal materials involving minors. And, former Oklahoma State Senator Ralph Shortey ended up sentenced in 2018 for child sex trafficking involving a minor. Arguably, 2 of those 3 states at the time slid further right going with a sort of Christian Nationalism that became a MAGA Republican loyal base.

Not to leave out religion, the founder of Gateway Church Robert Morris resigned in 2024 following admissions regarding past misconduct with a minor. An independent investigation of Southern Baptist Convention published in 2022 detailed decades of mishandled reports involving hundreds of clergy and staff members accused of sexual misconduct. Minors included. In 2024, the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles reached a significant legal settlement to resolve claims from over 1,000 individuals involving historical allegations of clergy abuse.

The point being, there seems to be plenty of victims created by those who arguably lean right if not outright MAGA Republican supporters.

Explore this – Is there a Democratic element here?

Sadly, yes.

Former Virginia Democratic official Randon Sprinkle in January 2026 plead not guilty to federal charges of distributing child sexual abuse material and allegedly expressing interest in abusing a 9-year-old. Former North Carolina State Representative Cecil Brockman resigned in November 2025 after being arrested and charged with two counts of statutory rape of a minor (ages 13–15) and two counts of indecent liberties with a child.

Former chair of the Sussex County Democratic Party in Delaware Jeff Balk resigned in October 2025 after his 1980s criminal record for the sexual abuse of teen boys was publicly exposed. Somehow missed but ended up in a position of local party leadership. Former Arizona State Senator Tony Navarrete was convicted in 2024, following a 2021 arrest, for sexual relations with a minor and the case involves the molestation of two young brothers over several years. Even A former New Hampshire state lawmaker Stacie Marie Laughton ended up charged in July 2023, with aiding and abetting the sexual exploitation of children in connection with a Massachusetts daycare center case.

There are many, I mean many, more that could be named.

Lest we forget all the names of everyone in the Epstein files, unsure how many did what Epstein did against just happened to be with him on occasion, but we should question intention and mentality.

All of the following, and all overseas (hold that thought,) saw some degree of fallout from the release of the Epstein Files. Perhaps named, or helped in some way, or made reference to, or otherwise.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of royal titles in late 2025 and then arrested in Feb. 2026 for alleged misuse of office. Former British ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson, fired in September 2025 and arrested in February 2026 for misconduct. Former Norway PM Thorbjørn Jagland Norway was charged with “gross corruption” in February 2026 regarding Epstein ties. Also Norway, Mona Juul resigned as ambassador in February 2026 following reports of financial ties.

Miroslav Lajčák of Slovakia resigned as national security adviser in early 2026 over inappropriate communications regarding this. British Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney to PM Keir Starmer resigned in February 2026. Mohamed Waheed Hassan Maldives Special Envoy resigned in February 2026 due to extensive, undisclosed correspondence.

That is just government related.

Thomas Pritzker resigned as Hyatt Hotels executive chair in Feb. 2026. Kathryn Ruemmler resigned as Goldman Sachs chief legal officer recently (but effective June 2026.) Brad Karp resigned as Paul, Weiss chair in Feb. 2026. Casey Wasserman resigned from his own Wasserman Media Group then announced the sale of his agency also in February 2026. There were calls for him to walk away from some ties to these past Winter Olympics.

Now, these could be all argued as cut and paste examples but the counter-challenge may be how does that diminish the damage to victims.

Of which, there is a lot.

A question of motivations – Is this about wealth & power?

What this may be trending in the direction of is an attitude of ability. Something born from the idea of wealth and/or political power enabling certain behaviors, that everyone damn well knows is illegal and wildly unethical… but, quietly welcomed.

The challenge train of thought on all this, something to ponder, is what do all the above have in common. It may or may not have less to do with being Republican or Democrat as a political title, but more about being in a position of unchecked power and authority to take advantage of an underlying ideology of looking at some people as lesser than self. The ability to remove empathy, the ability to categorize younger to actual children as subjects for abuse, intention to create victims.

It may mean there is arguably little difference, severity of case notwithstanding, between a former Republican member of Congress hopped up on cocaine sleeping with a 17 year old (allegedly) or a Democratic State Senator having sexual relations with a minor who also has a history of incestuous molestation of younger brothers (this time convicted.) Ideologically, something is happening from a standpoint of empowerment. Even if self-issued to start.

Again, not an argument designed around better or worse or diminishing the more severe cases of sexual abuse against others, this is a conversation about the prevalence of this sort of attitude, mentality, and activity by those in positions of wealth and/or power.

And if we are willing to be very honest about all this, in this nation a child is sexually abused nearly every minute. That is over a half-million instances per year.

Potential Conclusions

None are great conclusions, all skepticism enhancing conclusions, unfortunately.

When we actually hear about these things, because it is safe to conclude we do not always know, but when people of wealth and/or power creating endless lists of victims at their delight are forced into public view we naturally question how often are these things happening. The categorization is somewhat natural, right down political lines or based on what mainstream media decides are the talking points, but what ends up shuffled to the back of the subjects to cover pile is all these victims.

All that said, and for the purposes of this conversation, a conclusion that has some merit for consideration is having a ‘D or ‘R behind the name is not entirely relevant to predictability of behavior. The position of authority or prominence itself seems to be far more enabling than a particular political ideology.

At the risk of going too far off course, we have plenty of other examples of those in positions of wealth and/or power ending up as high profile convictions for behavior that is predicated on the idea of taking advantage of others.

Harvey Weinstein was convicted of rape and sexual assault in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years; however, his New York conviction was overturned in 2024 leading to a planned retrial. Entertainer R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2022 for crimes including the sexual exploitation of children. Bill Cosby, used to be revered, ended up convicted of drugging and molesting a woman in 2018. His conviction was later overturned in 2021 due to a prior non-prosecution agreement. Literally, got away with crimes.

Larry Nassar was sentenced to at least 40 years for sexually abusing hundreds of young gymnasts, the story rocked the Olympic skating world resulting in damage to so many and courage to go in front of Congress and testify about how so many turned a blind eye to what was happening. FBI included. Danny Masterson, popular actor, ended up sentenced to 30 years to life in 2023 for the rape of two women.

Matt Lauer, ended up fired from NBC’s Today show in 2017, after reports of inappropriate sexual behavior. Les Moonves resigned as CEO of CBS in 2018 following multiple accusations of sexual assault and harassment. Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly were both were ousted from Fox News following numerous harassment claims, a literal sexual harassment party going on over at Fox.

John Lasseter stepped down as head of Pixar and Disney Animation in 2018 following reports of unwanted touching. And chef Mario Batali has to step away from his restaurant empire in 2017 after admitting to sexual misconduct.

The metoo movement had validity, took down a plethora if high-profile names, but we are still stuck with a mentality of self-issued enablement by those in some position of prominence creating another set of victims.

Conclusion question – What will it take to break this terrible cycle?

The obvious answer of being more critical of those in positions of authority, in any regard, but it also potentially means leaving the confines of political and/or economic tribalism and seeing all people as responsible for what they do.

Right to left, Republicans to Democrats, wealthy executives in the media to wealthy power brokers out in Hollywood, this all screams for a time where no one in the above club of degenerates is protected out of some aligned based loyalty.

On The View, just today, a back and forth occurred with the subject of the Clintons and their closed-door depositions before the House. One mentioned, “has any of the victims come forth and accused the Clintons of wrongdoing?” (That is a bit paraphrased but you get the challenge.) Well, in answer, there is a victim out there somewhere depending on point of view.

Her name is Monica Lewinsky, it just happens to be that this has nothing to do with the Epstein case… sort of.

Consider that in all this protectionism is who did what, what did it mean, and who complained there is an alternate conclusion. Bill Clinton, as President and 49 at the time, had what was once referred to as a “consensual relationship” with a 22 year old White House intern… by that same 22 year old.

Later, the original stance on this changed to something more metoo movement oriented, suggesting the “vast power differentials” made way for a “gross abuse of power.” That was from a Monica Lewinsky essay for Vanity Fair titled “Emerging from ‘the House of Gaslight’ in the Age of #MeToo.” Hillary and Bill Clinton both said that was not the case, only to find out later images of Bill Clinton in a pool with someone else young surfaced.

Is that an accusation of Bill Clinton nefarious involvement with Epstein? Not the intention, this conversation is about mentality by those in positions of wealth and/or power with others way too naive to understand. More importantly, this is about a mentality of predator and victim making.

All things considered, and the history books are likely to agree, Monica Lewinsky ended up with all the “scapegoat” style fallout.

So much for metoo. The mere idea of a 22 year old White House intern being able to “consent” with a sitting US President some 27 ‘ish years her senior puts stress on the idea of her own original take on that relationship. Does not mean she is entirely in the clear, does not mean former President Clinton is either. One might be curious to know if Whoopi Goldberg would come to his defense along those lines.

Ultimately we are back to the same concern.

How to deal with people in positions of wealth and/or power looking at others as literally beneath them, victims to treat differently and in the majority of the above cases to their own selfish self-rewarding purposes.

Question all this as more comes out over Epstein, as more see some degree of fallout or are at least forced to explain what had to have become a very uncomfortable relationship of some type. And absolutely question this when the next effort is made by Ghislaine Maxwell to “testify” in front of whoever and wherever that Trump is not guilty of any wrongdoing… in exchange for clemency.

So much projection of guilt these days, from the confines of one club with an accusation against someone from another club.

This is a subject demanding skepticism. The world of politics to the world of business, the world of entertainment to the world of sports, and so many socialite circles enabling so many via position over others.

Including royalty… and perhaps a currently sitting President.