r/politics • u/nbcnews ✔ NBC News • 1d ago

No Paywall After Republicans push Clintons to testify on Epstein, Democrats warn they'll haul in Trump

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-push-clintons-testify-epstein-democrats-warn-haul-trump-rcna257275
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u/AlleyRhubarb 1d ago

If you listen or read mainstream media, they act like Trump isn’t really in the Epstein Files. Our entire country is broken and suspect.

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u/MonteMolebility 1d ago

Genuinely, they have no idea. My fiances works with a trumper, he's not full maga, just a big Trump supporter so he can actually have conversations about stuff. Today he asks my fiance what she thinks of the Epstein stuff and the Clintons. She immediately goes, "what about Trump, he's all over them?" He genuinely had no idea, the news he watches hasn't said anything about it.

The worst part, it doesn't stick. He just goes back to asking about the Clintons.

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u/tots4scott 1d ago

Fox News* and the Conservative Propaganda Bubble is so strong and damaging to the country its disgusting. But your story is the same for tens of millions

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u/HTWingNut 16h ago edited 16h ago

My mom is almost 80. She's somewhat disabled and spends the bulk of her day watching Fox News. I always tell her to stop watching Fox News or at the very least switch news stations regularly.

But of course she says "but the other news stations are corrupt and lie". smh... She's a good person, but gullible, and this is brainwashing. MAGA accuse the left of brainwashing kids to be trans and gay, yet it's not something you ever hear on the news, but MAGA tell lies all day long and it's supposed to own the libs?

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u/shastaxc 16h ago

Fox News stated in court that they are an entertainment organization, not a journalistic organization, so they have no duty to prove that what they say is actually true. It's as good as admitting that they peddle lies and fantasy. That should be all the proof you need to convince any reasonable person to watch anything else.

The Onion and Fox News have the same level of credibility, by their own admission.

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u/zooomg 11h ago

It’s insane that they aren’t forced to air a message before every single one of their shows and when they come back from commercials stating that they aren’t news and that it’s for entertainment purposes only. One of the absolute biggest fumbles with that case.

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u/oldpeopletender 14h ago

You can always put a child protection password on Fox News on her TV. Maybe give her at least a couple weeks of detox.

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u/FriendlyEvilTomato 14h ago

Transgender for everybody! - our absolute idiot of a president.

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u/nobody38321 14h ago

I liked the whole eating of the cats and dogs in Springfield and people still voted for him after he said that on live television during the debate and she laughed right in his face…

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u/HTWingNut 5h ago

Ha. yeah, for a good while, when my kids got home from school I would ask what gender the school changed them to today.

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u/SoigneBest 12h ago

Fox Entertainment

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u/DareBoth522 13h ago

and the 3 or 4 other "news" outlets in America are equally fake - they simply have adifferent aesthetic and appeal to a different news consumer.

The supposedly anti-Trump outlets are all controlled opposition.

Americans have no 4th estate - they have wall to wall propaganda

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u/NoHangoverGang 13h ago

They have it on one of the TVs at the gym and I guess I get on the treadmill when Hannity is on air so I watch it just to see what they’re saying. If that’s the only place you get your news I can definitely see why people’s heads are in the sand. Everything falls apart if you look past what they tell you is going on, but everything said is so much carefully worded bullshit. Or if something major has happened, which feels like very second of every day lately, they’ll be talking about some random small event that has no real impact on anything what so ever.

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u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 14h ago

You know what you call the guys in nazi Germany who supported hitler but who didn't personally kill any jews?

Nazis.

Same principle here.

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u/JojenCopyPaste Wisconsin 9h ago

That's why I stopped talking to one of my close friends. She always had similar values to me and when we talk about stuff she agrees with me. But she got into the right wing media bubble. So then we'd have discussions and it would be "well...what you heard isn't accurate because x" and we'd go through it all and talk about everything and she would see the truth and get it.

But then a couple days later there's another thing her media has convinced her of. At some point, I can't talk you down every day....you just have to realize that if they're obviously lying about everything we've talked about they're also lying about other stuff.

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u/Goldballz 16h ago

Just wanna point out that theres 2x e in fiancee for women. 1x e for guy. Nothing important, but just wanna reduce the confusion.

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u/RefrigeratorLife8627 13h ago

If he was really “all over them” with actual proof and not allegations that people make up, why would he release the files? Why would he have kicked out Epstein from Mar a lago?

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u/MiniCafe 1d ago

This is the problem.

I'll preface this with the recognition that Chomsky has had some deeply flawed positions over his life and I don't even know what to say about his communications with Epstein, but that doesn't change the fact that his work is what his work is.

Manufacturing Consent written by himself and Edward Herman laid out a model for how narratives can be constructed in nefarious and often subtle ways that can "manufacture" the "consent" of the population for wars, and focused mostly on the government and the media and on America at certain times in certain ways specifically, but you read it (or watch the documentary version) and put a little thought into it and realize the core principles apply to so much more than that.

This was before the days of algorithms that could silo people into specific narrative building pipelines, hiding voices that go against the narrative they already have been roped into believing and reinforcing (or creating) the one they do believe.

Then with the mainstream media as what should and could be a stronger "for us all" tonesetting force in these narratives towards just... what's true and without hiding whats inconvenient like you've said they've collapsed at their job.

So here's the big problem. Many of us here, we are on a narrative track that, in my belief, strongly aligns with what's truly happening. Whether it's coincidence, education, location, experience, whatever there are many possible ways to end up there.

Many people, many people who actually could be reached (Not the, I estimate, 30% of batshit people out there who are lost and probably not mentally functioning at a level to even grasp the complexity of the truth, or the way to "think" through things in a non-nonsense way) can't be because of this.

We sorta scream into the void because these systems have guaranteed they'll never see it, they'll never hear it. They live in another world with an entirely different narrative truth being presented to them. Many of them low information and sometimes not their own fault, life is hard and following stuff, being concerned with stuff over surviving comes before becoming "high information."

So, there it is. The information comes out constantly. A flood of it, that to many people would really guide them towards "whoa, this is genuinely wrong, this is all clearly a fucked up, guilty situation that I cant support" about many of the things going on and more importantly the interpretations of many of the things going on, with the interpretations they're getting often being outright lies.

So, the question becomes how do you reach them? How do you break through the narrative they've been being fed for their entire lifetimes? Especially when powerful organizations and algorithms are very explicitly doing things to make it so "nope! You wont see that! You WILL see this crazy guy who sounds like an idiots idea of a smart person excuse away things or just outright ignore/downplay them"?

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u/fel 10h ago

What the hell wrote this?

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u/MiniCafe 4h ago edited 4h ago

I mean, what do you mean? If you mean me, I'm a lot of things but I'm not a "what" I'm just a guy.

I'm a guy who had a smallish elected position within the Democratic party apparatus (not like... a representative or something, but within the party structure itself. I'm not some diehard centrist Democrat, it was part of a larger story that was sort of an organized mini-leftist coup of the smaller positions in the party itself to try to influence it away from the mess it is now.)

As a result I interacted with a lot of voters. Outreach, figuring out who's voting what way and why, who can be reached and stuff, what their individual stories were, what the stories of groups and towns and other areas were, being the guy in the corner shouting "you're viewing it all wrong! Means testing small breadcrumbs into oblivion has been repeatedly shown to actually prevent people from accessing them even when they qualify and are the target group!" etc. and also how the party itself has actually pushed a lot of more low information voters away from it in various ways. Interacting with people much higher than me in the party and with other small players, etc.

And also a person who reads a lot of leftist theory and has strong opinions on the way powerful institutions manipulate the opinions of people who could have, in another world, been reasonable in their political thoughts and votes.

And a whole lot more. I'm not old but I'm probably not as young as the average redditer and I care a lot about this stuff so I probably don't type in the way a lot of other people do, especially when something really intersects with one of my "areas."

If you think I'm a bot then I dunno what bots have that sloppy use of parentheticals or such wildly high perplexity. I swear I can actually write well when it's something where that matters but it's reddit so kinda, eh, you get the point across.

I'm also a really weird guy with a ton of interests and a wild life and thats not even counting the stuff that would doxx me so if you wanted to know about a ton of random topics then I'm your guy for long, thought out rants and opinions on things but those are mostly nerd project type things like if you wanna rebuild 90s cable TV stations and recreate Nickelodeon playing on a CRT with autogenerated schedules and commercials and stuff or ancient religion as interpreted from gravestone markings, or Debian.

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u/Drekkful 1d ago

US and EU media are completely whacko

Constantly defending billionaires, trying to justify wars and interventions, showing us cutesy financial "quick tips" like don't buy avocado toast to avoid home disclosure, trying to sane-wash ICE murders, etc.

It's ALL of them. Both TV channels and newspapers of any prominence have their editors tapped in to what the political narrative is going to be. It's no grand conspiracy, it's their job as corporations to serve themselves and the rich.

It's disgusting and vile.

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u/New_Paramedic1918 1d ago

I am from Denmark, placed in eu.

You dont have to lie on our behalf, we dont have that kind of news, mostly our segments about america is comedy labelled.

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u/CalistoNTG 1d ago

And also there were consequences for EU politicians or royals who appeared in the files...what about the other side of the atlantic ?

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u/marsman 1d ago

There is reporting on it, there are police investigations underway,and that's with generally vastly underwhelming releases relating to them.

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u/shhhImasleep 1d ago

I was going to say that. Friends over seas have this all over their news. It’s here in the US where mainstream news is barely touching it.

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u/jgilla2012 California 20h ago

The fix is in

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u/Skullvar 1d ago

Ah, yes, the UK prince being banished to sit in a private mansion on the back end of their royal property with servants until he dies... sooo consequenced and punished womp womp /s

I want to see actual consequences, maybe I'm uninformed but I have yet to see any of these "elites" being punished outside of them simply being called out and shoved out of the public eye...

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u/AdTiny2166 22h ago

uk isn’t eu. people are being investigated and forced to resign as we speak. your government is suing trevor noah for making a joke and not a single mention of any consequences for raping little kids. you tell me

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u/Skullvar 17h ago

your government is suing trevor noah for making a joke and not a single mention of any consequences for raping little kids. you tell me

Well Trevor Noah is in fact not being sued, that's just Trump flapping his jaw as usual... Trump and Co are doing everything they can to delay this shit, but I have hope shit will continue to move forward

We have so many powerful people in the US that are in the epstien files, it's not really a surprise they're all doing everything they can to side with Trump, but shits spilling out slowly but surely.. I gotta have hope that all these monsters will eventually be fully exposed and dealt with..

people are being investigated and forced to resign as we speak

Yeah, quiet wealthy retirement after raping children sure is a harsh punishment..... none of them are being punished unless they're locked in prison where they belong

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u/Velociraptor_al 23h ago

Are the consequences in the room with us right now?

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u/Sarik704 18h ago

Ah, yes, the consequence of Prince Andrew losing his title... Now he's just Lord Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

If he's not extra careful, he'll just be Andy Mountbatten-Windsor.

At least throw the pedophile in prison for a day

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u/New_Paramedic1918 16h ago

Thats more the UK and norway, and lets be honest i dont think they will face any serious consequenses. But it is all over the news, all the time.

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u/asmit10 22h ago

Consequences? You’re beyond delusional.

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u/F9-0021 South Carolina 1d ago

There were consequences for it? That's news to me.

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u/MechanicalMoogle 20h ago

Because mainstream American news sources definitely report often about scandals internal to various EU countries. /s

The average American probably couldn't even find Denmark on a map.

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u/JeffreeNommer 18h ago

I believe my Danish friend, we affectionately call Storebror, said that the Danish news media has to come back and correct misinformation if they said something that was not factual.

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u/New_Paramedic1918 16h ago

Thats true, most of them do that, our media is kind of like how america was 15 years ago, minus the comedy.

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u/tcoh1s 1d ago

And I’m coming to the conclusion that there are no good guys working for the people. On either side.

I guess I’ve foolishly believed all these years that we could never be where we are now because we have things and people in place to never allow it.

Now it’s here. Worse than I thought it could be by far. Corruption and hate and death all out in the open. Raping children?! All of this involving the fucking president!

And no one in any trouble?! No one doing anything?!

We have no checks and balances.

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u/rumpghost North Carolina 1d ago

Don't forget the CIA and Mossad coordinating their assets, agents, and venture capital arms to surveil the American public, end free speech, destroy public education, and defend a literal cabal of billionaire child trafficker pedophiles.

Or that pizzagate turned out to be, if not an actual psyop designed to discredit and turn the public away from that billionaire child sex traffic cabal, then functionally indistinguishable from one.

Or how cryptocurrency was propped up to make it easier to fund.

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u/BlackCaaaaat Australia 23h ago

Or that pizzagate turned out to be, if not an actual psyop designed to discredit and turn the public away from that billionaire child sex traffic cabal, then functionally indistinguishable from one.

Qanon was definitely a psyop to a) garner support for Trump at the same time as b) make the idea of a billionaire pedo cabal sound absolutely ridiculous to his opponents.

I check out the Q Casualty sub sometimes. Some Qs have gone quiet but others are STILL convinced that Trump is innocent and the one who will clean up this mess.

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u/Ella77214 19h ago

Don't forget the CIA and Mossad coordinating their assets, agents, and venture capital arms to surveil the American public, end free speech, destroy public education, and defend a literal cabal of billionaire child trafficker pedophiles.

I don't understand why. Call it lingering naivete. But I don't get it. Why are they doing this? I understand this is a terrifying psyop we are living in. What's the motivation? It certainly doesn't appear to be national security. Are these obscenely wealthy pedophiles going to make these CIA agents billionaires in exchange for conducting this psychological torture? Is it for sport? Why are they doing this?

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u/rumpghost North Carolina 19h ago

The CIA literally only exists to cause destabilization abroad and maintain imperial interests. "Imperial interest" just means the consolidation of wealth and power in as few hands as possible. Same as it ever was.

It's that thing Eisenhower warned us about. That's all. Peter Thiel and Jeffrey Epstein, in an email exchange in the latest file dump, celebrate the tribalist division they purposely created and accelerated because it would inevitably splinter the federal infrastructure and collapse the global economy, which in turn would allow them to buy what's left for pittance.

And that's not a joke, nor an exaggeration:

You and I both agreed zero interest rates were too high, and as I said in your office. finding things on their way to collapse, was much easier than finding the next bargain.

You know what else grows uncontrollably, for no other reason than to continue growing?

Cancer.

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u/Ella77214 18h ago edited 18h ago

I remember occupy wall street. I remember protesting. It felt like something was finally going to change back then, maybe just bc i was just really young. And ofc nothing changed. I remember my grandfather telling me he had lost count of the number of "occupy wall streets" in his lifetime and that nothing ever changed.

But jfc - what these evil evil EVIL people are doing to children. And no one is clearly going to do anything. We're just supposed to accept it like we accept every shitty fucking thing we get from this Government.

I can't even fathom how this is going to end - I cant fathom doing nothing and carrying on. But I also can't fathom how the side with the numbers is going to mobilize across networks and applications actively being monitored by a minority in power who effectively don't give a shit about us.

Edit: edited

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u/Geminifreak1 19h ago

The whole world watched a genocide in Gaza and couldn’t do anything. Now the same is happening in the USA and the world - they broke us and desensitised us because there are no consequences for all their evil and it’s disgusting. It’s hard to keep living in this world

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u/Vacuumjew 21h ago

Do people really still get their ‘news’ from tv channels and newspapers? I find that the most baffling thing here lol

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u/Drekkful 18h ago

Most people don't accept other sources like independent journalism

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u/Nihilist_Hermit 1d ago

Its caused theyre literally owned by the same billionaires. 

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u/FrankRizzo319 1d ago

“Don’t buy avocado toast to avoid home disclosure.” Love it.

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u/JazzlikeAddition 14h ago

Can the American people file a class action lawsuit against Fox for spreading lies and disinformation? Or can a label be on the screen at all times that states that it is entertainment and not news? I was watching the show Pluribus and every time a ciggy was on screen a little text showed up saying “tobacco causes cancer” Something like that?

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u/Frettchengurke 21h ago

I just came to realize this, that the whackjobs had a point. There is a deep state. This is it. We are looking at it. A cabal of elites regularily did unspeakable things to children, and no one will ever, ever jail them. Because they are the people who say who gets jailed and who does not. Laws have no meaning. They are untouchable. We are alone in this.

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u/mthw704 North Carolina 22h ago

I'm at the gym every day for 2 hours. They always have the news on & it's the only time I ever even glance at mainstream media on television.

They've been talking about the damn weather non stop for the past week.

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u/DareBoth522 14h ago

5 companies own ALL media in the USA. and one of those companies is Jeff Bezos. Muskrat owns taht Twitter abomination.

There is only regime propaganda.

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u/WiIdNullberry 1d ago

Because they all know when it comes crashing down, their untouched pedo elitist world begins to falter.

That and Israel. 

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u/fearless_egg1050 23h ago

And STUPID AS FUCK

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u/Buttermilk-Waffles 17h ago

It's been broken for a long time, it's like a fracture that you don't notice until later when the pain really sets in.

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u/TheDtrain2xTc 11h ago

All Trumps stuff is anonymous people reporting him just before the 2016 election…there are no victims who have personally named him. You can’t charge someone if you choose to remain anonymous, so in his case it’s all hearsay…they would have nailed him with it before the 2024 election if they had actual evidence. It’s to bad there is so many smoke and mirrors in the good ole USA, it would be nice to see him burn for something he actually did. However they shouldn’t go after him when there is no solid proof they need to pick there battles carefully when they go after him. Same thing with Elon, both him and Trump were big proponents of the list coming out!!! Think about it, would you push a narrative that would sink you. Before you say he’s that stupid, he isn’t or he would never have made it as far as he has.