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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCNN: The First Nude "tried to sweep the Epstein saga away, but she ended up reviving it "
Melania Trump tried to sweep the Epstein saga away, but she ended up reviving it
Analysis by
Stephen Collinson
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/10/politics/epstein-melania-trump-statement-victims-analysis
The optics were of a first lady fed up with reports and speculation she believes falsely link her to Epstein. But she was not speaking in a vacuum. Her personal position is complicated by her proximity to her husband, who leads an administration accused by Epstein victims of silencing their voices.
The first ladys speech, which lasted just under six minutes, was confined to the Epstein controversy. But its implications will go far beyond the issue, since she chose a moment of huge political vulnerability for her husband to go public.
Melania Trump spoke from a White House that appears to be losing control of its preferred narrative of Donald Trumps second term. This trend was reflected in the presidents impulsive and chilling outbursts and threats over the war in Iran that fueled fierce criticism from usually loyal conservative media personalities.
Part of the motivation appeared personal. Melania Trump lashed out at unfounded and baseless lies over her connections to the financier who took his own life in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019. She referenced a friendly email exchange she had in 2002 with Epsteins now jailed associate Ghislaine Maxwell. She signed off the note Love Melania and Maxwell responded, calling her sweet pea. On Thursday, the first lady said that her reply was just a casual correspondence, and merely a trivial note.
Lovie777
(23,102 posts)everyday, shithole, the administration, cabinet, Republican congress and across board dig deeper into propaganda conspiracy bullshit which terrorizes Americans, kill people inside as well as in other countries.
Please let this nightmare end.
CTyankee
(68,262 posts)And trump knows this.
Miles Archer
(23,496 posts)And the man behind the curtain is the man who created him, Peter Thiel...far more dangerous and nefarious than Musk ever DREAMED of being.
Thiel is Musk without the malignant narcissist clown show. He's just Dr. Frankenstein, cooking up things in his evil broligarch laboratory.
niyad
(132,757 posts)bright, shiny distraction, far too lazy and ignorant to actually. . you know. .work! The thing about couchhumper is that he does not have a cult following, and is actively disliked by many.
Cirsium
(3,960 posts)I think that is an important point. Trump is a rare phenomenon. MAGA collapses without that energy. It is impossible to imagine Vance dominating the news every day for 10 years, for example.
niyad
(132,757 posts)Cosmocat
(15,434 posts)I can't disagree with that for sure.
And, "MAGA" is likely to fade away, like the "tea party."
But it will reform, like the tea party did into MAGA.
They already are trying rebrands like America First.
And, their touchstone is hatred of the evil liberal boogyman.
So, while it may not be the cult like thing that DT has created, they will rally around the bullshit veneer that is created for the next one - like W being a guy you would want to have a beer with.
I am old enough to see how this country has moved toward this point slowly over time, and this turbo boost has taken us even further down the rat hole, because they have not only blown up most of the norms and unstated "rules" that the likes of Karl Rove played fast an loose with, they have full on normalized wide open corruption, grift, congress, the Supreme Court and POTUS just flat out not following the law, etc. Not to mention the brainwashing that the the zombie base gets that used to isolated to AM radio and then Faux News is now being injected like a syringe into their bloodstream like heroin by their phones.
Escurumbele
(4,098 posts)republicans hate the guy, and so the rest of the country, so I don't think he will last once trump is gone. Who knows, maybe trump will leave of the kompromat information on all republicans who he has grabbed by the balls, and that could give him some leverage, but even then, I do believe Vance will be gone as soon as trump goes.
Irish_Dem
(81,580 posts)They totally ignore expert advice.
And they end up making things worse for themselves and looking like a guilty fool
Johnny2X2X
(24,280 posts)She did this on her own IMO and it's not to put rumors to rest. I bet you Trump and his people are furious with her.
GoCubsGo
(34,937 posts)It feels like shit's about to hit the fan (all of it), and she's trying too get as little of the Epstein shit on her as she can. The problem is, like her husband and everyone else around them, she ain't all that bright. I think we're about to witness some epic infighting, with The Stupid all turning on each other to try to save their own asses.
Johnny2X2X
(24,280 posts)But she has handlers who are smart.
I do believe that something is about to be released, if it wasn't, there is just no reason for her to go out and do this.
ScratchCat
(2,750 posts)She's now been activated for duty.
Escurumbele
(4,098 posts)getting in bed with trump, then telling a friend "having sex with trump is the best sex I have ever had in my life" to get to the buffoon's ego, it worked, he married her. And now Putin works through her.
From dancing on a pole to please Epstein to first lady? She is not smart enough to do it alone.
Skittles
(171,916 posts)she is desperate to distance herself from Epstein, Maxwell AND her POS husband
sop
(18,759 posts)Yep, that's how all my "trivial" notes to and from people I barely know are addressed.
Miles Archer
(23,496 posts)That was my reaction. I have friends, acquaintances, business contacts...I never sign my correspondence with them with "love."
GreenWave
(12,671 posts)GoCubsGo
(34,937 posts)to all of them? Go figure. (Mary, excepted.)
twodogsbarking
(18,889 posts)ChicagoTeamster
(1,015 posts)QueerDuck
(1,777 posts)MustLoveBeagles
(16,627 posts)Melania 💩 the bed.
mdbl
(8,705 posts)Sounds like her defense was written for her.
Kid Berwyn
(24,540 posts)Which endures her accent a special place in hee-story.
Kid Berwyn
(24,540 posts)The First Lady of the Night single-handedly knocked the war off the Wurlitzer and brought back the Epstein Saga.
She received more public attention than the premiere of Melania.
Amethyst Ring
(43 posts)Because there's plenty of doubt about it.
blue-wave
(5,263 posts)We might find out soon what it is.
RedWhiteBlueIsRacist
(2,076 posts)Dawson Leery
(19,570 posts)dweller
(28,472 posts)
😐
✌🏻
twodogsbarking
(18,889 posts)🤭
Journalists are still poring through the tranche of 20,000 files, which contain potentially damaging statements like, I know Im just emailing to schedule a haircut but have I mentioned that Donald Trump is a huge pedophile? and Donald and I are getting together to commit some pedophile sex crimes together this weekend, would anyone like to join us? Jeff. But the early reaction to these revelations has been mixed.
Fox News, for example, has called the files, the entirety of Jeffrey Epsteins life, and the majority of our collective human existence a left-wing hoax, while the New York Times has cautioned that its too early to draw any sweeping conclusions from statements like, Yo, its your boys Jeffy and Donny T., whos up for some last second sex offenses tonight???
Just to be clear, that site is satire. It is just really, really hard to tell these days.
I protest all this and want to go back to the good old days US presidents were only starting wars based on lies in the ME.
Ewwww..I almost miss Bush. wtf will the GOP of 2046 be like?
twodogsbarking
(18,889 posts)ananda
(35,227 posts)Two shitpeas in a shitpod.
Cha
(319,298 posts)coming ten miles away?
Bet PEEDO will be Enraged at the CNN "analysis".
TY