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Is Epstein the big issue for the 2026 elections?

People have thoughts about Epstein

Right now, there seem to be two main issues that the news media and the public are talking about. The first one is the thuggish behavior of ICE agents attacking and imprisoning protesters, non-criminals, and even children. However, Donald Trump‘s administration is making it as difficult as possible for people to protest, film, or even write publicly about the illegal ICE activities.

The second issue the news media and many voters are talking about is the Epstein files. There, the Trump administration is having less success keeping the story under control. In recent testimony before Congress, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi tried her best to protect Trump and make the issue go away, at one point even saying that Americans should not be talking about the horrors of the Epstein files because “the Dow is over 50,000 right now.” However, every day, it seems additional prominent people become implicated in the Epstein story to one degree or another, from being friends or socializing with Jeffrey Epstein or riding on his plane, all the way to allegations of raping underage girls. In other countries, Epstein files revelations have taken down, demoted or sullied the reputation of high-placed officials and prominent figures, including:

Republicans run distraction playbook on Trump Georgia phone call

Donald Trump busted acting like a Mob boss on the phone

One of the go-to tactics in the Republican playbook is distraction. In particular, when Republicans are caught doing something wrong, they try to distract the media and the public by focusing not on the substance of their wrongdoing, but on who leaked the story of the wrongdoing. We saw that, for example, in 1997, when Republican U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich was caught on an intercepted cell phone call coordinating his response to ethics charges with Republican House leaders Richard Armey, John Boehner and others, in violation of Gingrich’s ethics case settlement. The Republican distraction by focusing on the interception of the call rather than improper call itself, was a success in that instance.

On Sunday, something similar happened with Donald Trump. The Washington Post released the recording of a recent telephone call from Trump to Georgia‘s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, on which Trump begs, cajoles and even threatens Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” to change the certified result of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

The 2018 midterms were a change election

Google page telling people to “Go Vote” on Election Day

If the Devil had shown up Tuesday morning and had said to Democrats, “I’ll give you control of the House of Representatives, but my price is the loss of a few more seats in the Senate where you’re already in the minority,” that would have been a good deal all day long. That result is just what happened in the 2018 midterm elections. While all the votes have not yet been processed, we know that Democrats have taken control of the House of Representatives, and that Republicans have kept their slender majority in the Senate, possibly improving on it by several seats. The flipping of the House to the Democrats, however, represents tremendous change, while Republicans keeping their Senate majority, even possibly winning a few more seats, does not. Moreover, at the state level, the Democrats won numerous victories which could change the political landscape further. Additionally, many of the victors this year were women and people of color (often both), the vast majority of them Democrats. Finally, younger voters came out in much bigger numbers this year.

Donald Trump’s Constitutional crisis

Richard Nixon leaving White House grounds by helicopter after resignation.

Richard Nixon leaving White House grounds by helicopter after resignation.

In October 1973, President Richard Nixon committed the “Saturday Night Massacre,” in which he fired the Watergate Special Prosecutor who had been appointed at the behest of Congress, which caused the U.S. Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General to resign. Nixon also abolished the office of the special prosecutor. This Constitutional crisis, which occurred nearly five years into Nixon’s presidency, ultimately led to Nixon’s impeachment and his resignation.

Last night, after just 10 days in the White House, Donald Trump had a Saturday Night Massacre of his own. Trump fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates after Yates wrote a letter to top Justice Department lawyers, directing them not to defend Trump’s Muslim immigration ban in federal court. Trump also fired Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Daniel Ragsdale, for reasons thus far unspecified. Several days earlier, Trump fired top career officers in the State Department.