Epstein

 I am generally hostile to conspiracy theories, but even I am struck by what's happening with the so-called Epstein Client List. This skepticism is overwhelmed, however, by the massive schadenfreude that I'm experiencing as we watch MAGA tear itself apart.

Since I'm congenitally skeptical of conspiracy theories, here's my take: There was no "list." Epstein would have been a fool to write those names down with information like "Alan Dershowitz, January 5th, 16 year old girl." To quote Stringer Bell, "Is you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy?" Epstein would have wanted that information kept as close to him as possible; it's existence could let it fall into someone else's hands and destroy whatever leverage he felt he had.

Also, he killed himself, because the mad, depraved world he had created was crashing down and his life in prison would be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. 

However, two things.

First, go ahead and run with this as Trump destroying the list. I love that Democrats are hammering Trump and Bondi for covering up the list and hiding links between Epstein and Trump. Those links are absolutely real, whether the list exists or not. The absence of proof is not the proof of absence, so there is really no way for Trump to deflect these attacks. If the list never existed, then Bondi can't prove she didn't destroy it. Go to town on that!

Second, this is already creating MAGA-on-MAGA violence (sadly only rhetorically at this point). This is because conspiratorial thinking is at the very heart of MAGA. Conspiracies are the refuge of the ignorant, and, well, if the shoe fits... Take Marjorie Traitor Greene's bizarre obsession with weather machines and Jewish space lasers. Because she is not only profoundly ignorant, but also profoundly incurious, rather than learn about climate change, why not just create a scientifically impossible conspiracy?

Of course, QAnon was one of the early avenues of Trump's rise to power, which was itself fueled by Trump's embrace of the Birtherism, itself a conspiracy theory. Even the idea that globalists (read: Jews) are outsourcing jobs, importing immigrants and implementing the Great Replacement Theory is central to Trumpist politics.

Trump is the hub from which a hundred conspiracy theories radiate outwards.

All of this means that you cannot really disentangle Trump from the unfortunately large number of Americans who marinate in conspiratorial thinking. This is why the Epstein shit is potentially really harmful for him and the various minions who are already drawing the long knives for each other. I don't care if both Dan Bongino and Pam Bondi lose their jobs, but if one of them does, that's great! (It will be Bongino, if anyone.)

A central tactic of Trump that he learned from Bannon is to "flood the zone" with shit. It is a constant struggle to know which outrage to focus on from day to day. However, while the tactic might work to fluster your enemies, it is also antithetical to decent governance (which we know Trump doesn't care about, but stick with me). What's more, the chaos within Trump's inner circle is an inevitable byproduct of the people he needs around him and the batshit lunacy that they swim in.

For every ounce of energy expended in Epstein crossfire, that's energy that can't be focused on dismantling the government, expending resources on creating an American Gestapo and destroying the rule of law. It's not a perfect cure, but "confusion to my enemies" is always a good step, especially when Democrats are largely excluded from power at all levels of the Federal Government.

If Epstein leads to a full on MAGA civil war (I'm skeptical, but these people really are nuts), that will be to the advantage of the country as a whole. 

UPDATE: You want to see how this brain rot plays out? Watch these bullshit.