Political Pistachio
By Douglas V. Gibbs
In the All-Star Game, New York Yankees’ slugger Aaron Judge had with him a baseball bat with his daughter’s name on it and a Christian Bible Verse. The incident was so amazing that a major news outlet felt compelled to publish an article about it. Christianity has gone from a foundational norm in the eighteenth century to an oddity that must be reported on should it surprisingly arise in settings outside the four walls of a church.
The whole thing reveals itself as a true marker regarding where we are in our Faith as a country, and why as a country we are experiencing a moral crisis with the tendrils of Woke Politics seething through the nooks and crannies of our once proud Christian culture.
Judge’s bat featured a reference to a passage from the Bible — 2 Corinthians 5:7.
The verse read, “For we live by faith, not by sight.”
Judge puts Christianity and faith before baseball in his social media bios. In 2022, he spoke about 2 Corinthians 5:7 being his favorite verse from the Bible.
“It’s one of my favorite Bible verses,” he said, via the Daily Citizen. “[I] try to live my life by it, and always trust the Man above and what He’s got in store for us. We never know what’s around the corner, but if we have faith in Him, He will lead us in the right direction.”
As a Christian and historian who has studied the positive impact Christianity has on nations, and in particularly the success of Western Culture, I applaud Aaron Judge for his courage while at the same time weep for the fact that portraying one’s faith today as he did is seen as a courageous act due to the hostility that has risen against Christianity and basic godly morals.
That all said, I saw that numbers recently among younger Americans show that the appeal of seeking out Christianity is on the rise, and the government attacks against Christianity via the IRS are retracting thanks to Trump era policies.
As Benjamin Franklin so wisely commented, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.”
John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
The progressive-left’s animosity against both the Constitution as originally intended and Christianity, I think, confirms what the Founding Fathers had to say on the matter. Another verse comes to mind as a result:
King James Bible: 2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
By Douglas V. Gibbs
I was talking to a friend of mine recently who corrected me when I said “Free Market.”
“We want a Fair Market, not a Free Market,” he said.
His intentions are essentially correct, but echoes an error that has plagued the American System since the word ‘Free’ got a makeover along the way from the Founding Fathers to our time today. With freedom comes responsibility. When we say “Free” in the terms of what America is about, of course we don’t mean “Free-for-all” or “do as you please without any restraints.”
But, understanding that, we have to be careful that we don’t lurch too far in the other direction. Words have meaning, yes, but we are supposed to apply common sense along the way. There are always exceptions, alleviations and reasonable expectations as we navigate the waters of history and liberty. I have the freedom, and the right, to swing my arms. I am free to swing my arms as I wish on my property and in my house, on a sidewalk as I walk down it, or in a crowd – providing that I am responsible with that right. If I swing my arms while performing another task it may create a dangerous situation. So, using common sense, I don’t swing my arms while operating my tractor, driving my car, or eating dinner. I also don’t swing my arms in a crowd because, while I have the right and freedom to swing my arms, others have a right not to be struck in the face. It is my responsibility to be reasonable with my freedom to swing my arms, and while there should be no government prohibition regarding the swinging of my arms there will likely be consequences according to the law if I try to swing my arms while driving my car, and there will definitely be consequences if I swing my arms into someone’s face, or if I crash my car because of my arm-swinging activities.
Yes, I am “free” to swing my arms, but the word “free” does not mean that there are no limits, or that there should be no limits. Most of those limits, however, need to be self-imposed while assessing the situation, a few might be imposed by the culture (a good thing if it is a virtuous culture), certain members of the public who have a respected voice, or the laws imposed by the government based on the details of the situation and the impact those details might have on the overall functioning of an orderly society, or the rights of others.
For the most part, that is how all of our freedoms, rights, and American activities are supposed to operate and be governed. There should be no law against swinging one’s arms, but there should be one against striking someone in the face. While I should be able to swing my arms in a responsible manner and in a way I prefer without government dictating to me my personal activities, and government should not call for the removal of my arms because I might use my arm-swinging pursuits in an irresponsible manner, the government should have laws in place that may address the results of me swinging my arms in an irresponsible manner; and if government doesn’t have such laws, once a few faces get smacked the people will likely call for those laws and they will emerge as time passes.
Such is the true nature of Freedom and Liberty and the real application of the consent of the governed.
Freedom and Liberty are not calls for a libertarian free-for-all. But the dangers of Freedom and Liberty being used in a manner that could have sour consequences does not mean we need to go in the opposite direction and succumb to rigid government regulatory tyranny.
Our Free Market is the same – so of course when I say that I believe in and that I am a firm supporter of Free Market Economics, I am not saying that I believe in a no holds barred out of control chaotic free-for-all. But, at the same time I do not support the irresponsible uncontrolled meanderings of government, corporations, or a mercantilistic combination of the two claiming to be residing in the false name of Free Economics.
We seek balance, and checks and balances, as we do with all things American.
Today, we have a civilization deeply influenced by ideologies and philosophies that stand in opposition of Free Market Economics. Karl Marx created a term to label the Free Market ideals of American Economics to make it nothing more than any other “-ism;” Capitalism. For fear of being a stereotype of the things that leftwing ideologues claim are the results of the sins of Free Market Economics we have moved away from the laissez-faire intent of the Founding Fathers, and now we have some kind of hybrid of what we once had and the Socialist Left’s version of what would be “fair.”
Suddenly, what has been advertised as irreconcilable opposites (capitalism and socialism) share a common core in their rejection of the originally intended idea of Free Market Economics as envisioned by the Framers of our young fledgling country as it was being forged during the fires of revolution and a dying Old World of Monarchies and Empires. The new Free Market claims to champion freedom and progress, with government sticking their giant wooden spoon into the bubbling stew to make sure everything mixes accurately and that no bad ingredients get thrown into the whole mix. For some that might seem noble on the surface, and when it comes to certain things government involvement with rules and regulations might even seem necessary. But at what cost? How is it that we are willing to give up a winning combination through paradoxical contributions that is actually facilitating the disappearance of the foundational principles of what the Free Market is actually truly about? They have replaced our liberty with regulations, our workers with foreign labor, and they have conjured up a hyper-administered system that benefits the global elites while claiming they are protecting us from the corporate robber baron elites who are laughing in the corner with the very people claiming they are our saviors.
Those who have convinced us that a truly free market is dangerous and that regulatory influences by government across the board are absolutely necessary have changed the system, and do so unapologetically because their implicit goal is to dismantle the Free Market, terminating the foundational principles that not only were instilled into our system by the Founding Fathers, but have historically crafted and sustained Western Civilization.
Historically, when Free Market ideals are unleashed in a system, even if in a limited manner thanks to the over-intrusive nature of today’s style of governing, the Free Market always wins – economies always improve and prosper. Every time! While they promote socialistic ideas that call for governmental intrusions into the very heart of what the concept of a Free Market is supposed to be about, inserting their forms of regulation or control over the means of production, the location of the workforce, the rules of marketing, and the method of delivery – if one dares to question one iota of their theories we are warned how dangerous a Free Market can truly be if a Free Market is unleashed without their ideological foot on the brake. Freedom, if untethered to government influences and control, they assure us, can be catastrophic. Then they parade in front of us the realities of the industrial titans of the Gilded Age, the claim of collusion between corporate elites and legislative members both at the State level and the federal level (an argument used to usher in another death nail into our republican form of government with the Seventeenth Amendment), Teddy Roosevelt’s trust busting and monopoly dismantling (which actually just added the government to the overall monopoly), and the advocacy of a global free market that contributed to a prioritization of corporate profit over the stability of local communities and the exportation of labor to overseas locations (namely our geopolitical enemy, China) of which the accusers are actually the purveyors of.
The Free Market was never supposed to be a free-for-all, but that doesn’t mean it was intended to be suffocated by excess regulations put in place by people who have never navigated through the turbulent waters of starting a business, wading through the red tape of running a business, paying the taxes, dealing with employees and the wild array of other issues associated with receiving and shipping, and operating under a constant threat of government fines and hostile lawsuits. Our Free Market is limping, but not gone, and it doesn’t need to be called anything other than what it is supposed to be, a Free Market – I don’t care how much the term has been demonized by lefties, progressives, socialists, Democrats and communists … but then, I am being redundant.
A responsible Free Market does not outsource production to lower-cost countries, does not collude with government, does not import illegal aliens to perform work they falsely claim the average American would not do (proof the Democrats are still in the business of slave labor) and does not attack the sensibilities of its consumers through methods that are devoid of ethical values and designed to bring about the self-destruction of the vary Free Market values they claim to tolerate.
Fortunately, the extinction of the Free Market as originally intended is not inevitable. We do have those in our midst who recognize that while laissez-faire may be gasping on an operating table in the Emergency Room, we have available to us all of the proper medications: localism when it comes to regulations and local production, domestic trade freedom, business ethics, creating an environment that encourages American manufacturing, American employment, American innovation, and putting into place policies and a restraint on certain federal intrusions that encourages the dignity of American values and production over blind corporate profit sought in an irresponsible manner.
The Free Market is a responsible market based on private ownership, private production, private innovation and growth that impacts communities and the entire market rather than a boardroom hidden somewhere in some high rise tower with colluding government interests shaking hands with them behind closed doors. Otherwise, thanks to the heavy weight of Cultural Marxism, we might end up with a system drowning in socialist ideas, centralized government engineering, government owned and/or controlled means of production, a mundane infrastructure devoid of innovation and growth, and the end of the dawn of American enlightenment as envisioned by the Founding Fathers.
And before you respond with some Leftist Democratic Party commie talking point, please don’t forget one more thing about their tendencies: They (the opponents of Free Market Economics) lie about everything. They want to convince you that their way of doing things works even though history says otherwise. None of the ups and downs in a naturally operating Free Market has anything to do with racism, sexism, transgenderism, cultural fairness or whatever else they claim has anything to do with it – it’s all about the numbers. Supply and demand. Consumerism. What the market calls for, likes, and doesn’t like. Moral degradation doesn’t sell, but quality products do – especially when the cost of doing business is reduced because government gets out of the way and as a result prices come down. Unfortunately, the opposition of the Free Market goes way beyond what you see on the surface. It’s poisoned by wickedness. Pure Evil. There are forces that seek to oppose the very foundation of America, and going after Free Market Economics is a key way to do so. They need chaos. They need destruction. In the streets, inside hearts, and in the economic system. In the end it all has nothing to do with economics and everything to do with ideology, and the systematic destruction of the American System – laissez-faire and all.
Yes, a responsible Free Market is fair, but it is not a Fair Market, and I won’t call it that. It’s a Free Market. Responsible, private, and operational with as little government interference as possible. That’s what the Founding Fathers intended, and it is our duty to embrace that inheritance, no matter what the socialist lefty commies say about it. And if we do it right, we will not only launch a Golden Age and Make America Great Again, but we will push back into their shadowy hiding places the forces against a Free Market once again…at least for a while.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
By Douglas V. Gibbs
My co-host on KMET’s Constitution Radio Program, Dennis Jackson, asked me what I thought about the Epstein story a couple weeks ago, and I told him I believe it to be a non-story. There is no betrayal, the MAGA base is not up in arms, and the Trump Administration is telling us what they can. Beneath it all, however, it may be more complex than we may ever know. But, nonetheless, Trump’s opposition are doing what they always do – they are trying to create a false narrative out of it hoping to damage Trump’s presidency.
The leftist media — CNN, MSNBC, the whole alphabet soup of propaganda outlets — are trying to sell you a narrative. It’s a carefully crafted illusion that the MAGA base is in full-blown revolt over the Epstein memo. That Trump’s approval is tanking. That Pam Bondi’s days are numbered. That Kash Patel and Dan Bongino are storming out of FBI headquarters with their MAGA mugs in hand.
It’s all a lie. A fabrication. A fantasy cooked up in the fever swamps of the Democrat echo chamber because they have no agenda or set of policies to stand on so all they can to is target and attack.
Sure, there’s some chatter on social media. Yes, some influencers are venting. But let’s not confuse a few loud voices with the heartbeat of the movement. The MAGA base isn’t buying the hysteria. They’re not calling for Bondi’s head. They’re not turning on Trump. In fact, CNN’s own polling shows Trump’s approval among Republicans rising during this so-called “controversy” (I’ll get into the details of that later).
So what’s really happening?
The left is desperate. They thought the Epstein files would be their golden ticket to discredit Trump, to fracture his base, to sow chaos. But instead, they’re watching the base hold firm. They’re watching Trump brush off the noise and double down on his agenda. And they can’t stand it because everything they have tried hasn’t stopped him.
So they’re manufacturing betrayal. They’re inventing drama. They’re projecting their own disillusionment onto a movement that’s never been more focused.
I never planned to spend much time on the Epstein thing because to me it is for the most part a non-story, but now I’ve decided to talk about it – not because the MAGA base is crumbling — but because the leftist media and the Democratic leftwing political machine is.
So now we’ve got Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy AG Todd Blanche filing a motion to unseal grand jury transcripts tied to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. And why? Because President Trump is done playing defense. He’s flipping the script.
Let’s be clear: these transcripts aren’t just dusty courtroom relics. They’re the backbone of the 2019 indictment against Epstein and the 2020 charges against Maxwell. They hold the testimony, the timelines, the names. And Trump wants them out in the open. Not selectively. Not sanitized. All of it. After all, despite the Left’s ranting, he has nothing to fear, and everything to gain.
The media circus has reached peak absurdity. The Wall Street Journal — once a bastion of financial reporting, now reduced to tabloid theatrics — published a hit piece claiming Trump sent Epstein a “bawdy” birthday letter featuring a naked woman. Folks, this is the kind of garbage you’d expect from a gossip blog, not a legacy outlet. Trump denied it. Called it fake. And then — like a man who doesn’t flinch — he filed a libel lawsuit against Dow Jones, News Corp, Rupert Murdoch, and the two reporters who pushed the smear.
That’s not retreat. That’s not the actions of a man in fear. That’s not someone trying to appease anyone. That’s in-your-face, unapologetic offense.
Meanwhile, whispers from inside the FBI suggests that evidence tied to Epstein may have been destroyed. A whistleblower claims files were being shredded day and night. And Bondi? She’s not backing down. She’s demanding answers. She’s demanding transparency. And she’s demanding accountability.
You have to realize that when she had those files on her desk, and said as much, she figured all of the information she was looking for was in those files. I believe that the files had all been tampered with, missing key information, and filled with false information. Not exactly the kind of files you suddenly wish to throw out there for the hard left progressive maniacs to have a field day with. The truth has to be found, and the reality is that the truth was not in those files on her desk, and that’s why those files are not out for you to see. Not because the Trump administration is hiding anything, but because they want you to see The Truth, not a fabricated version of it planted by deep state swamp creatures.
That’s why they are seeking to unseal the Grand Jury transcripts. They are hoping that evidence and clues of the truth may be contained in them. Representative Anna Paulina Luna confirmed it: the decision to unseal these transcripts wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction. It was in the works. It was strategic. It was deliberate.
And Trump’s message on Truth Social?
“This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!”
That’s not just a quote. That’s a declaration of war against the narrative machine spewing out false information.
So now we’ve got Ghislaine Maxwell — Epstein’s longtime associate and convicted trafficker — allegedly compiling a “special gift” for Epstein’s 50th birthday. A leather-bound album filled with letters from his elite circle, including one bearing Donald Trump’s name. And what does the Wall Street Journal do? They run with it. They publish a hit piece claiming Trump’s letter was “bawdy,” framed by a hand-drawn naked woman, with a squiggly “Donald” signature mimicking pubic hair.
Folks, this is tabloid trash masquerading as journalism.
Let’s be clear: the Journal didn’t publish the actual letter. They didn’t show the drawing. They didn’t verify the source. They didn’t confirm whether it was part of the Trump administration’s recent review. But they ran the story anyway — because the goal isn’t truth. It’s damage.
And Trump? He’s not taking it lying down. He called it fake. He called it defamatory. And he’s suing Rupert Murdoch, NewsCorp, and the reporters behind the smear. That’s not just a legal move — it’s a declaration of war against the media machine that’s been trying to tie him to Epstein for years.
Now we get back to their game of deception: the Left is claiming the Epstein files weren’t released to protect Trump. Really? These are the same Democrats who had four years under Biden to release those files. Four years with Garland at DOJ. Four years with Comey’s daughter on the case. And what did they do? They buried it. They shredded it. They destroyed the evidence.
And now they want to act shocked that Trump’s administration — after months of pressure — is trying to unseal grand jury transcripts?
Even The Washington Post, no friend of Trump, published a report that dismantles the Left’s narrative. No credible evidence links Trump to Epstein’s crimes. No documentation implicates him in trafficking. And we are being told that Epstein really did commit suicide, something I am not so sure of, but we’ll tackle those conspiracy theories swirling like vultures over a carcass in a moment.
Trump and Epstein may have shared social circles in the ’80s and ’90s, but they split in the early 2000s over a real estate deal. That’s not criminal. That’s capitalism. It’s like the whole “Trump was once a Democrat” thing, or that he hung out with the Clintons. Trump was in business to make money, and the fact is both sides have money. Profit, in his case, saw no red and blue, only green – but that doesn’t mean he was politically a lefty anymore than bumping into Epstein a bunch of times and talking to him at a gathering makes him any part of Epstein’s sickness.
So what’s the real story here?
It’s not about Epstein. It’s not about justice. It’s about desperation. The Left is watching Trump’s approval rise — even CNN admits it — and they’re panicking. They’re throwing everything they’ve got, hoping something sticks.
But the base isn’t budging. The truth is surfacing. And the media? They’re the ones drowning.
So, they decided to manufacture a new production. That’s what they do. They are the Hollywood of politics – tell a story, no matter how fictional, and sell it like it’s the real thing. And they will keep pushing the false narrative, and they have kept pushing it, even though Trump’s approval defies the narrative.
The Democrats and their media lapdogs are trying to convince you that Trump’s administration is imploding over the Epstein files. That Pam Bondi’s on the chopping block. That Kash Patel and Dan Bongino are packing up their MAGA mugs and heading for the exits. That Trump’s approval rating is plummeting faster than CNN’s primetime numbers.
None of it is true.
This is what the Left does best — they lie, they spin, and they project. Bondi said she had the files on her desk. She did. She assumed they contained bombshells. Turns out they didn’t. That’s not a cover-up. That’s called doing your job. But the Left saw an opening and pounced, hoping to fracture the MAGA base and paint Trump as a man betrayed by his own team.
And what happened?
Trump’s approval rating went up. Let me say that again for the folks in the back: UP.
Even CNN — yes, CNN — was stunned. They were probably warming up the graphics, prepping the doom-and-gloom segment, ready to declare the MAGA movement dead on arrival. But the numbers didn’t cooperate.
The CNN guy who’s been reporting on polls said on the air, “I think this one surprised me a bit… You might think his approval ratings were going down with Republicans. If anything, they’re going up…Donald Trump’s approval rating has gone up since this whole Epstein saga started. Republicans who said the top issue was the Epstein case? One. Not 1%. One person.”
According to the Q-Pac Poll, Trump’s approval among Republicans jumped from 87% to 90%. That’s not erosion. That’s consolidation.
So while the Left is busy chasing shadows and spinning fantasies, the MAGA base is standing tall. They see through the noise. They know the difference between a scandal and a smear. And they’re not abandoning Trump — they’re rallying behind him.
This isn’t a crisis no matter what you might be hearing.
The swamp creatures who were, and some who still are, a part of the Department of Justice wants you to believe — without a shadow of a doubt — that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide. Case closed. No client list. No foul play. Just a lonely man in a cell who took his own life. Unfortunately, even Trump and Bondi has bought into that idea.
Well, let’s pump the brakes on that narrative for a moment.
Michael Franzese, I got to meet him a bunch of years ago while he was out there promoting his book – bought it and got his autograph in it – is a former Colombo family capo who spent seven months in the exact same tier of the Metropolitan Correctional Center that Epstein was in, and he says the official story doesn’t add up. And folks, this isn’t some conspiracy theorist in a Reddit rabbit hole — this is a guy who knows prison from the inside out.
“There’s just no way to hang yourself. There’s nothing from the ceiling. There’s nothing from the bed. You’d have to be a midget and work really hard to try to hang yourself,” Franzese said on NewsNation’s Banfield.
He questioned the infamous “camera malfunction” — the missing minute in the surveillance footage. He said in eight years behind bars, he never saw cameras go down or guards skip their rounds. In fact, he said it’s so constant, you can’t even use the toilet in peace.
So what are we left with?
The only chink in Trump’s Epstein deal – a DOJ memo that says Epstein died by suicide, that there’s no client list, and that no further information will be released. I believe there’s a client list but they don’t have it, and they have a false list or false evidence so they are holding on to it for the moment. But, I don’t buy the suicide thing. As for the Left? They’re salivating. They’re spinning this as a betrayal of the MAGA base. They’re claiming Trump’s supporters are furious, that Bondi botched the release, that Patel and Bongino are threatening to quit.
But here’s the truth: Tump’s base is not buying the political theater. Again, yes, some folks are questioning. That’s healthy. But the majority? They’re not falling for the bait. They know the Left lies. They know the media manufactures outrage. And they know that if Epstein had secrets worth killing for, the people who had four years under Biden to release those files chose instead to shred them. The truth is still being pieced together, and deep down Trump may not believe the suicide claim – they may simply be saying that for the moment just to buy time as they seek to figure out the truth from the few clues remaining after the Democrats and the deep state destroyed most of it.
In the end, we have to understand that much of this isn’t about Epstein’s death. It’s about the Left’s desperation to fracture the MAGA movement. And it’s not working.
So now Ghislaine Maxwell — Epstein’s longtime associate and convicted trafficker — is back in the headlines, claiming she’s the victim of government misconduct. Her family’s out with an open letter saying she didn’t get a fair trial. That she’s ready to file a writ of habeas corpus. That she’s got new evidence. That she’s willing to spill the beans on Epstein’s secrets — including the perhaps real, perhaps mythical, “client list.”
Enter stage left, desperation.
Maxwell’s legal team is leaning hard on Epstein’s 2007 Non-Prosecution Agreement, arguing that it should’ve protected her too. That deal — crafted in the shadows and signed off by the Southern District of Florida — promised not to prosecute Epstein’s co-conspirators. But here’s the catch: Maxwell wasn’t named. And the DOJ says the deal only applied to that district. She was charged in New York. Game over.
But her lawyer, David Oscar Markus, is playing the Trump card — literally. He says, “I’d be surprised if President Trump knew his lawyers were asking the Supreme Court to let the government break a deal. He’s the ultimate dealmaker.”
Nice try. But Trump’s not the one who cut that sweetheart deal. That was the Bush-era DOJ. And let’s not forget: Trump’s administration is the one trying to unseal the grand jury transcripts. He’s not protecting Maxwell — he’s exposing the rot.
Meanwhile, the DOJ and FBI dropped a memo that reads like a bureaucratic shrug:
“No incriminating client list.” “No credible blackmail evidence.” “No reason to investigate uncharged third parties.” “Epstein died by suicide.”
And the Left? They’re losing their minds. Rep. Jamie Raskin and his Democrat colleagues are demanding subpoenas. They want Bondi, Patel, Bongino, and Blanche dragged before Congress. They’re accusing Trump of hiding something. They’re claiming the MAGA base is in revolt.
But here’s the truth: MAGA knows something’s up, and U.S. Representative Jim Jordan isn’t playing their game. He said Bondi and Patel were already scheduled to testify — just like every year. No subpoenas. No circus. Just facts.
And Jordan’s support for the administration? Rock solid.
So what’s really happening?
Maxwell’s trying to rewrite history. The Democrats are trying to rewrite the narrative. And the media? They’re trying to rewrite Trump’s legacy.
But the base isn’t budging. The facts aren’t changing. And the truth? It’s starting to fight through the muck and hopefully will eventually shine through.
So now, after years of silence, the Democrats suddenly care about Jeffrey Epstein. Not because they want justice. Not because they care about the victims. But because they saw an opportunity to sabotage Trump’s nomination of Alex Acosta — the man who oversaw the original federal case against Epstein.
Let’s not kid ourselves. Epstein wasn’t just a lone predator. He was part of a long, sordid list of sex offenders tied to the Clintons. And when he was arrested in 2019, that magical curtain of immunity — carefully stitched together by powerful hands — was ripped down. That arrest led directly to his death in federal custody. And with it, the truth was buried deeper than ever.
The Epstein story has long since left the realm of crime reporting. It’s now a playground for grifters, conspiracy theorists, and political opportunists. The Democrats are using it to target Trump. The media is using it to distract. And the truth? It’s nowhere to be found, and if it is out there (wow, I suddenly feel like an episode of X-Files is upon us), the Trump administration will dig it out of wherever The Swamp is hiding it.
What’s really revealing is how both sides — Left and Right — have decoupled Epstein from the Clintons. The only people who could’ve protected him across three states, shut down federal investigations, and reached into a federal prison. But politically, the Clintons are old news. The grifters have moved on. And the truth? It may never be known if Trump’s team is unsuccessful.
Even Alan Dershowitz — Epstein’s former lawyer — claims he knows the names. Says the files exist. Says they’re being suppressed. But he’s bound by confidentiality. And then, in the same breath, he goes on NewsNation and tells Chris Cuomo there is no Epstein list. Never has been.
So which is it? I like Dershowitz a little bit, but one wonders if someone has gotten to him. And that’s the story of the whole thing, and why Trump’s team is having so many difficulties getting at the truth. Lies, cover-ups, deceptions, and threats on people’s lives are all mixed into this.
President Trump has doubled down, though. He says that he thinks the Epstein files may have been created by James Comey, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. He’s calling them a hoax. A scam. A political weapon forged in the fires of the Deep State. Stranger things have happened. Look what they did regarding January 6, or the Russia-Russia-Russia hoax. There’s no place these people are not willing to go to try to create a spin to damage their opposition and cover-up their criminalities.
“For years, it’s Epstein, over and over again. Why are we giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration,” Trump wrote.
That’s not deflection. That’s frustration. That’s a man who’s watched the media twist every narrative, every memo, every binder into a weapon against him. And the reality is, Trump’s theory may have legs. There may be truth to it.
So where does that leave us?
With a story that’s been hijacked. With a truth that’s been buried. And with a base that’s still standing — still asking questions — still refusing to swallow the spin.
And, it’s all a distraction. The Left wants you mad at Trump and his team over Epstein so that your attention will be diverted away from all of his success. They’ve got nothing, and they know it, so smoke and mirrors and deceptive narratives are all they have remaining.
And as CNN’s polls have noticed, it’s not working.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
By Douglas V. Gibbs
The Not-So-Golden-Anymore State has always been fertile ground for unintended consequences thanks to the inability of the hard left leadership to critically think. The progressive left does not understand cause and effect, and they believe that when they make a law the response will be strict obedience. As usual, their policies are like a pile of leaves in the wind – and this time their idiotic policies about small gas engines are crashing and burning.
California, in its infinite wisdom, banned small off-road engines — mowers, leaf blowers, chainsaws — as part of its crusade to save the planet from Climate Change. Think about that for a moment: their answer to save the planet against a natural phenomenon that they claim is man-made is to implement authoritarianism as they scream and yell that the guy in the White House who is reducing the size of government and doing what he can to cut regulations and federal spending is some kind of fascist authoritarian.
The claim is that the move to ban these engines will save California from out-of-control emissions. A bold move, they said, when it was implemented. A climate victory, they claimed. But as any red-blooded American knows, where there’s a ban, there’s a workaround. And boy, have Californians found it.
Rather than surrendering to government dictates, residents are simply buying their equipment out-of-state or larger engines which are not banned. The bill is specifically aimed at banning all small off-road engines (SORE), mostly emergency response equipment, generators, and commercial lawn equipment – defining the SORE category as off-road spark-ignition engines that produce up to 25hp or less. This means that the list of banned equipment extends far beyond the focused products; industrial equipment, logging, golf carts, riding lawn mowers and most chainsaws. The result? Not only are they dodging the regulations, they’re deploying machines that often produce more emissions, not less. The law has boomeranged, and Sacramento’s bureaucrats are scratching their heads as their environmental utopia combusts in real time. Either, they will need to back off, or go more authoritarian – banning these pieces of equipment from crossing into California (like they’ve done with ammunition), and banning the larger engines, too.
The backfire ought to sound familiar. Think of the infamous plastic bag ban. Supposedly designed to rid the state of waste, it forced retailers to offer thicker, reusable bags for purchase. But guess what? Consumers still use those new bags in the same manner as they did with the old ones — tossing them into trash cans, using them as small trash can liners, using them to pick up after pets, and stocking up on them by the dozen. Except now, the bags take longer to decompose and require more energy to manufacture. As for the reusable bag idea, most people don’t use those things, and prefer not to because they are even more destructive to the environment when tossed, and dangerous if not cleaned completely from the previous leaking food-stuffs that had been shoved into them.
This is what happens when virtue-signaling replaces data, ideology outweighs practicality, and an aim for central-control in the name of the common good reaches way beyond common sense.
What California’s policymakers don’t grasp is simple: forcing people to “go green” doesn’t change behavior (not that government should be in the “we’ve got to change your behavior” business — it just redirects it, often toward costlier and dirtier alternatives. The result is a loophole economy: a patchwork of evasions that undermine the very regulations meant to save the planet from a scam that even Al Gore couldn’t salvage at this point.
This is the kind of legislative lunacy you get when you increase the Democrat Party’s leftist grip on a State through things like term limits and democratic control by the big cities. And as Rush Limbaugh might have torn into it if he were still with us, it is “the predictable failure of liberal do-gooderism.” Either way, it’s more proof that centralized control breeds chaos, not progress.
Sacramento set out with a utopian vision but ignored the real-world mechanics of consumer choice, market reaction, and basic human nature. Instead of incentivizing innovation or allowing choice in education, they mandate bans and expect miracles. In reality, people adapt — not in ways that lawmakers imagine, but in ways that shield their wallets and preserve their routines. The larger engines now dominating the landscape are not a rebellion — they’re a workaround. And they’re entirely legal. That’s the lunacy: laws so riddled with blind spots that compliance actually undermines the original misguided goal; but to eliminate the blind spots the law would have to be even more authoritarian.
It’s a bunch of collectivist bureaucrats who have for the most part never worked a day in the private sector or have done the kind of work that needs the equipment being banned believing they know better than the citizen — an arrogant assumption that lecturing people into behavioral change will somehow fix systemic problems while killing production. It’s not policy; it’s theatrics masquerading as progress. Remember, these are the same folks who told us bigger plastic bags would fix litter, more money given to a failing education system will stop its downward spiral, and heavier taxes on gasoline would make people buy electric cars. Instead, they gave us thicker trash, a higher energy cost to produce the alleged solution, a higher cost to kill education and a bunch of people who can’t afford electric cars paying higher gas prices that forcing them to choose between going to work, or the grocery store. This is the same mindset that promotes subsidized solar panels while the grid buckles under the pressure of lost base load capacity. The same thinking that puts windmills in the desert, using more energy and cost to produce them and stand them up in the sand than the things will ever be able to save – if they don’t fizzle out before their projected lifespan is up. It’s a cycle of ineffective intervention that feels good in press releases but flops in practice.
In the end, California isn’t becoming greener. It’s becoming a labyrinth of contradictions — where the louder the virtue signal, the more likely it is to backfire.
The Founding Fathers were no strangers to the dangers of centralized power — and they worked diligently to dilute it. They envisioned a republic where states operated as sovereign laboratories. That wasn’t just poetic — it was strategic. By granting states autonomy, they allowed policies to rise and fall within state lines, shielding the rest of the union from catastrophic missteps. That brilliance is playing out in real time: California’s climate crusade might set its lawns ablaze with oversized mowers, but thankfully, flyover America isn’t forced to follow suit.
Bans like these would crumble under constitutional scrutiny at the federal level. The Tenth Amendment exists precisely to prevent nationwide lunacy from taking hold when only one corner of the country wants to experiment with extremism. It’s a safeguard, and thank heavens for it. Federalism is all about the States handling their local issues, and the federal government handling the issues related to the Union – which means that the genius of federalism is that it does not provide a centralized license for self-destruction.
California’s demise is, as a result, their own dang fault. It’s like the old saying, “You made your bed, now sleep in it.” The problem is, California will try to avoid paying the consequences for its idiotic actions. While they think they are testing policies they are actually stress-testing the limits of ideological governance. At what point does environmental virtue signaling collide with economic and civic collapse? Will residents quietly absorb the consequences, or will the state spiral until the lesson is too bitter to ignore?
The hope is that California learns before the tipping point. The fear is that it won’t. The realization is that the U.S. Government will probably wind up bailing them out, and if they don’t pay the painful consequences for their idiotic ideologically leftwing policies, they will keep going down the same failed path over and over. That’s what the Democrats excel at: doing the same stupid things over and over and expecting a different result.
Pure insanity.
By Douglas V. Gibbs
Did you notice that during the whole fight over the One Big Beautiful Bill and the recent $9 Billion Spending Rescission Bill the Democrats fought tooth and nail against both? Do they hate Donald J. Trump so bad that they were willing to even go against the Republicans regarding reducing taxes for all Americans and eliminating wasteful and unconstitutional spending?
No, it goes way beyond that.
All one has to do is look back upon history to learn the truth.
Every time tax rates are slashed, the economy breathes easier. History reveals that solid truth over and over. Tax cuts and spending cuts are essentially economic oxygen. When you let businesses keep more of their hard-earned profits, they invest, hire, and expand. When you allow average Americans to keep more of what they earn, they spend it and invest it more into the system, which then encourages businesses to produce more and innovate more. In the long run, because of the increase in economic activity and ultimately in manufacturing and other production the government actually pulls in more revenue. The coffers end up heavier with funds every time. It’s a simple case of cause and effect.
The Democrats once knew the truth, or at least they acted like they did. Under President John F. Kennedy the beloved Democratic President reduced taxes with the express desire to increase revenue – which he then wound up spending on socialist New Deal policies. Fast forward to today, and what have the Democrats done with this knowledge? They ignore it. Deliberately.
Instead of promoting prosperity, they push tax hikes like it’s a moral crusade. Every time they slap corporations and small businesses with higher taxes, guess who pays the price? You do — at the checkout line, at the gas pump, in your rent. Businesses either pass the cost to the consumer or they scale back, shed jobs, or shrink innovation. But Democrats? They keep marching forward with the same failed formula.
They call it “progressive taxation.” It’s actually one of the Ten Planks of Communism established by Karl Marx. They use the word progressive in an attempt to make it sound noble even though it is a communist concept that is all about a redistribution of wealth. In the end there is nothing noble about it. It’s punishment. The higher your income, the higher your rate. Success is penalized. Productivity is stifled. This isn’t about revenue; it’s about control. It’s about shrinking the winners so everyone fits inside their box of government dependence.
The left doesn’t want thriving entrepreneurs, they want compliant citizens. They don’t want upward mobility, they want redistribution — with themselves as the gatekeepers. This is wealth transfer disguised as compassion. It’s envy economics. It’s socialism. It’s Marxism at its worse, and when they get their way the economy pays the price – which means all of us pay the price; except those in power.
In every socialist and communist regime in history, the elite flourish while the people flounder. Equality, they say—except the ruling class always finds a way to exempt themselves. That’s not compassion. That’s tyranny dressed in bureaucratic clothing, and that is what is behind the Democratic Party’s hatred of cutting taxes.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
By Douglas V. Gibbs
The Democrats no longer operate on any semblance of a platform that resembles America. Their position in regards to any moral standard is somewhere out in – well – left field. Their moral compass is so broken, it couldn’t find true north if it had GPS attached. Adam Schiff is the latest leftwing arrogant smug Democrat to be caught traipsing along the line into Illegalville – embroiled in what may be one of the most brazen examples of political hypocrisy this side of the Potomac.
President Trump, in a blistering Truth Social post, alleged that Shifty Schiff is guilty of “possible mortgage fraud.” He alleged that the California Senator misrepresented his primary residence to secure favorable mortgage terms. Schiff, remember, spent years painting Donald J. Trump as the villain in his own political horror story, but now finds himself cast as the crooked protagonist in a scandal that reeks of elitist entitlement and bureaucratic sleight of hand.
Schiff reportedly claimed both his Maryland home and his California condo as “primary residences” between 2009 and 2020 – and it was no clerical error. He provided a sustained pattern of occupancy misrepresentation, according to Fannie Mae investigators. While the memo stops short of using the word “fraud,” the implications are clear: Schiff was trying to game the system to get a cheaper mortgage in Maryland while representing Californians.
Wait? Isn’t that also a violation of the Constitution? Article I, Section 3 of the United States Constitution requires that a Senator is an inhabitant of the State he represents.
Maryland is not California, and you can’t legally be a primary resident of two different States.
Schiff’s defense?
Adam Schiff says the Trump Administration is going after him because it’s all political retaliation – like the Democrats predicted Trump would do before he won the election. They claimed that Trump just wanted to jail his political opponents and would do so without any consideration of the rule of law. He also said that Trump is trying to distract everyone from the Epstein debacle (which isn’t a debacle, but we’ll write about that one later).
Schiff claims he’s been transparent from the start. He was clear about what he was doing, so it’s okay.
That’s like claiming that a bank robber left a note so it’s fine that he emptied the cash drawers and pulled cash from the vault. That doesn’t make it legal and it doesn’t make it right.
Remember, Adam Shifty Schiff is the same political knucklehead who led the impeachment charge against President Trump during his last presidential term, calling for transparency, ethics and accountability. But now that the spotlight has been turned on him, he cries foul and plays the victim. It’s the classic lefty progressive commie Democrat Party playbook: accuse your enemies of the very crimes you commit, then feign outrage when caught.
The real kicker is that Schiff’s alleged mortgage maneuvering could be in violation of both federal and state laws, including California’s election code and Maryland’s fraud statutes. If proven, this goes way beyond the word “scandal.” It’s a felony, and could be punishable by many many years in prison. Yet, the mainstream media has been yawning as the ideological lefty colleagues of Schiff have been circling the wagons.
The political fallout is already beginning. Schiff’s credibility is crumbling faster than Biden’s failing mind. His re-election campaign faces headwinds, and the MAGA base is fired up. This isn’t just about one Senator – it’s about exposing the rot in the Democratic establishment.
What’s next? Investigations? Indictments? Another round of media gaslighting? Whatever happens, remember that the truth always has a way of surfacing. Your sins will always find you out, even when buried under layers of leftist spin.
The American people are tired of being played, and they are finished with the Democratic Party and their corruption – which means Schiff will not simply be able to ride out the storm. The swamp is draining, the tide is turning, and the criminals are being found out.
Are you ready to invest in an orange jumpsuit producer, yet?
— Political Pistachio Constitutional News and Commentary