Photo by Carson Daniel

Normally, when a president is a card-carrying pedophile protector; an inside-trading stock jobber; an obstruction-of-justice hall of famer; a lifetime subscriber in the emolument-of-the-month club; and a godfather of both Icemen and the hangmen of Mike Pence, there would be no shortage of candidates to bring him down—from the House Judiciary Committee to the Supreme Court. Keep in mind that it was the nudge from mainline Republican senator Hugh Scott that got President Richard Nixon to leave by the back door (as he was proclaiming that “my mother was a saint”).

For the moment, Thirty-Four-Felon Trump lives under his own Immunity Golden Dome, which means that no one or nothing can touch him. He can shake down the Qataris for a plane or deposit Venezuelan oil revenue in his private checking account, and no one in power will say “boo.” From history, we do know that someone will stop him, one of these days. But who?

The Epstein Victims

You have to admire their determination and courage, to stand in front of klieg lights or sit on Oprah-like stage sets and recount endless abuse at the hands of white men in suits or golf pants. Already there are dozens willing to testify, which means that another legion remains in hiding, horrified at the prospect of bringing down the world’s press on their doorsteps, so that they can recount more lurid tales of a massage-table kind. I don’t doubt that all of them are telling the truth, including what they are saying about Ep-bestie Donald J. Trump. But as the only one held responsible for such a worldwide procurement ring is a white, middle-aged British woman, I am guessing that the victims lack the institutional muscle to bring Trump down (and slut-shaming helped to keep the Clintons in power).

Venezuelan Hot Money in Qatar

You might think funneling Venezuela’s oil revenue through a personal checking account in Qatar (do the checks have a little drawing of the purloined 747?) might raise conflict-of-interest questions from money-laundering watchmen or at least trigger a few FNBAR reports. Instead it seems almost like a patriotic mission to throw a Latin American drug runner in the trunk of........

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