AI Note
AI was used to help summarize David Frum’s analysis, but it’s absolutely worth watching the full episode for the complete conversation and nuance.
David Frum breaks down why the Epstein scandal uniquely destabilizes Trump: it’s the one case where Trump acts genuinely guilty, triggering the conspiratorial right that built Epstein into a master myth. Frum explains how Epstein’s Jewish identity fueled para-MAGA’s antisemitic narrative machinery, why Trump can’t escape the story, and how the moral collapse around figures like Megan Kelly and Marjorie Taylor Green reveals a movement increasingly defined by paranoia, cruelty, and self-destruction.
Also in this episode:
- Trump’s tariff policies and their role in raising consumer prices
- The administration’s sudden pivot to reverse tariffs to curb inflation
- Infighting across MAGA media personalities
- Anti-Zionism, antisemitism, and how both left and right weaponize the distinction
- Biden-era handling of Epstein/Maxwell documents
- Michael Flynn’s $50M claim against the U.S. government
- Political retaliation inside federal agencies during the Trump years
- Expanding use of force in immigration enforcement
- U.S. drug interdiction failures in the Caribbean
- Venezuela policy and speculation around U.S. intervention
- Canada’s economic vulnerabilities under Trump-era decisions