SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
indivisible
'Crisis of Elite Impunity': New Emails Show Jeffrey Epstein Scandal About More Than Just Trump
"The wealthy and powerful operate with a set of rules totally unrecognizable to the rest of us."
Nov 13, 2025
Although Democrats in the US House of Representatives have used newly unearthed emails from the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as a cudgel against President Donald Trump, many observers have noted that the full trove of messages also implicates multiple members of the American ruling class as complicit in a criminal conspiracy.
In particular, the emails reveal that Epstein maintained friendly ties with several people with enormous influence in US politics even after he served a prison sentence for soliciting a minor.
Among the prominent elites who maintained contact with Epstein were Larry Summers, former president of Harvard University and director of the National Economic Council under President Barack Obama; right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel, whose financing helped launch Vice President JD Vance's political career; right-wing podcaster and former Trump administration official Steve Bannon; and Kathryn Ruemmler, former Obama White House counsel and current attorney for investment banking giant Goldman Sachs.
Writing on Bluesky, political scientist Ed Burmila argued that the true scandal surrounding Epstein isn't just about one person, but a "crisis of elite impunity" in which the rich and powerful will brush off the crimes committed by their peers, even if they involve the serial sexual abuse of underage girls.
"The crisis of elite impunity that is ruining our society cannot be more clearly or convincingly demonstrated than with the fact that all of these people wrote all this stuff into an email and hit send," he said. "Some of these people are lawyers; the rest are intimately (phrasing) familiar with courtrooms and lawyers in their professional lives. They didn't put this stuff in writing because they're naive or ignorant; they did it because they have no fear of consequences. None at all."
Burmila's argument was echoed by commentator David Kurtz, who wrote at Talking Points Memo that reading the Epstein emails left him "astonished not so much by the chumminess he enjoyed with elites even after he’d served time for soliciting prostitution with a minor but by their flagrantness, their casual disregard, and their indifference to consequence."
Kurtz argued that this level of ruling-class impunity symptomatic of the deep rot inside American political, legal, and academic institutions.
"It is the same impunity that got us Trump," he wrote. "Like Epstein, Trump built a career on a transactional chumminess, mutual self-indulgence, and an alarmingly high tolerance level for misbehavior by the layers of political, business, media, and cultural elites surrounding him."
Leah Greenberg, co-director of Indivisible, shared Kurtz's essay on her Bluesky account and declared the Epstein scandal "a story about total elite impunity, how the wealthy and powerful operate with a set of rules totally unrecognizable to the rest of us."
MSNBC host Chris Hayes also thought the Epstein emails showed American elites in an unflattering light, and he observed on Bluesky that many of Epstein's correspondents showered him with "fawning and flattery," even though he comes across as "a pompous, sub-literate lech."
"Lots of people say: that’s because he’s blackmailing them, but I don’t think he’s blackmailing Kathy Ruemmler!" Hayes wrote. "I don’t think that’s what explains it. I think the banal answer is: he’s very rich and powerful and good at networking and this is how people act around very rich and powerful people."
Although Epstein was only ever criminally convicted on one charge of soliciting a minor in 2008, he was subsequently indicted in 2019 on charges of engaging in a broad sex-trafficking conspiracy involving dozens of teenage girls. Epstein would die in prison before he could face trial for these charges, and law enforcement officials would subsequently claim that he took his own life.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's longtime accomplice, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in helping Epstein groom and abuse underage victims.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Why Aren’t Any Senate Democrats Calling On Schumer to Step Down?
Despite outcry from progressives, no Democrats in the Senate have yet expressed support for replacing Schumer as leader.
Nov 11, 2025
With many Democratic base voters up in arms over Senate Democrats caving on the federal government shutdown fight, there have been calls for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step down from his leadership role.
None of those calls, however, have come from senators currently serving in the Democratic Caucus, including progressive stalwarts such as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
As reported by The American Prospect on Tuesday, no Democrats in the Senate have yet expressed support for replacing Schumer (D-NY) as leader, despite the fact that "every single one of them has the power to force a vote on Schumer’s continued control of the caucus" if they chose to do so.
According to the Prospect, any senator in the Democratic Caucus "could bring forward a motion to amend the Democratic Caucus Rules to say that he should lose his leadership position if a set number of members disapprove of him." What's more, the Prospect explained, "the motion would be 'self-executing,' resulting in Schumer’s removal at the same time that it’s approved."
As noted in a Politico report, Senate Democrats who were opposed to the shutdown cave did not directly criticize Schumer for his handling of the issue, and some, like Warren, tried to direct voters' anger toward Republicans.
"I want Republicans to actually grow a backbone and say, regardless of what [President] Donald Trump says, we’re actually going to restore these cuts on healthcare," she said on Sunday. "But it looks like I’ve lost that fight, so I don’t want to post more pain on people who are hungry and on people who haven’t been paid."
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) was more directly critical of the deal that Democrats cut on reopening the government, but he nonetheless stopped short of calling for Schumer's removal.
“This bill doesn’t do anything to arrest the healthcare catastrophe, nor does it constrain in any meaningful way President Trump’s illegality,” he said. “I think the voters were pretty clear on Tuesday night what they wanted Congress to do, and more specifically, what they wanted Democrats to do, and I am really saddened that we didn’t listen to them.”
The appetite for ditching Schumer appears much stronger among Democrats serving in the US House of Representatives, however.
Axios on Monday reported that House Democrats' anger at their Senate counterparts erupted during a private phone call among members, as Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) told her colleagues that "people are fucking pissed" at seeing Democrats once again cave in a fight with Trump.
One anonymous Democrat also told Axios that almost "everyone [was] strongly against" the deal Senate Democrats cut to reopen the government without an agreement to extend enhanced tax credits for Americans who buy their health insurance through Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges.
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), who is running a primary challenge against Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), called on Schumer to step down as minority leader, and challenged his opponent to do the same.
"If Chuck Schumer were an effective leader, he would have united his caucus to vote ‘No’ tonight and hold the line on healthcare," Moulton wrote in a social media post earlier this week. "Maybe now Ed Markey will finally join me in pledging not to vote for Schumer?”
Progressive advocacy organization Indivisible on Monday started ramping up pressure on Democrats to push for Schumer to step down as minority leader, and the group explicitly said that it would "not back any Senate primary candidate unless they call for Schumer to step down as Minority Leader."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Don't Stream Fascism': ICE Recruitment Ads Spark Calls to Cancel Spotify Subscriptions
"A platform built to connect creators and listeners is helping an authoritarian regime build up its secret police force," said Indivisible.
Oct 28, 2025
Outrage over Spotify running advertisements for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement ramped up on Tuesday, with the progressive advocacy group Indivisible urging users to cancel their subscriptions until the ICE ads are removed, engage in peaceful protests outside the streaming giant's offices and events, and call on artists to boycott the platform.
Aiming to deliver on President Donald Trump's campaign promise of mass deportations, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this summer launched an ICE recruitment campaign, with incentives including a $50,000 signing bonus, student loan repayment and forgiveness options, enhanced retirement benefits, and more.
With 276 million subscribers and 696 million monthly active users last quarter, Spotify is the world's largest streaming service. Earlier this month, a Spotify spokesperson told The Indepedent that the ads encouraging listeners to "join the mission to protect America" and "fulfill your mission" by applying to become an ICE agent do not violate the company's advertising policies.
The spokesperson added that the ads are "part of a broad campaign the US government is running across television, streaming, and online channels."
The British outlet noted that "they mirror similar advertising that has been seen on cable television, X, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Meta," and subscribers to ESPN, HBO Max, Hulu, and Pandora have also complained of encountering ICE ads.
As Trump's anti-migrant rampage continued in Chicago and other cities across the country on Tuesday, Indivisible sent out an email with the subject line: "Don't stream fascism. Cancel Spotify."
Spotify is now running ICE recruitment ads. We asked them to stop. They ignored us. Let's show them what we showed Disney. No Kings, No Collaborators, No Capitulators. indivisible.org/cancel-spotify
[image or embed]
— Ezra Levin ❌👑 (@ezralevin.bsky.social) October 28, 2025 at 5:24 PM
"Spotify is running ads recruiting agents for ICE," the email says. "Let that sink in. A platform built to connect creators and listeners is helping an authoritarian regime build up its secret police force. They're choosing complicity over the artists, podcasters, and fans who make Spotify what it is—and when users and musicians called them out, Spotify's first act was doubling down."
"But we're not going to idly accept that. We're going to make them listen," the email continues, pointing to the boycott of Disney in September, after the Trump administration's bullying briefly got Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show yanked off of ABC.
Indivisible also published a video tutorial for canceling a Spotify premium account and a webpage with its demands for the company's founder and chief executive, Daniel Ek, as well as incoming co-CEOs Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström:
- Immediately terminate all ICE and DHS advertising contracts with Spotify;
- Spotify must update its advertising policy to prohibit government propaganda and hate-based recruitment campaigns; and
- Spotify must commit to defending civil rights and standing up for communities under threat from authoritarian actions.
As for Spotify users who cancel their accounts and peaceful protesters, Indivisible is calling on them to promote their actions on social media with the hashtags #CancelSpotify, #DontStreamFascism, and #StopICEAds.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular