"The Cost Of Looking Away"

The truth is coming whether we’re ready or not; and if Democrats flinch on accountability towards one of our own, the Epstein files could rewrite 2026 and hand Trump a narrative we can’t undo.

For more than three decades, the women, then children, brutalized by Jeffrey Epstein have waited for a moment like yesterday; waited to be truly seen, to be heard, to have their suffering acknowledged not as a political prop but as a national moral failure. And yesterday, finally, Congress has delivered something that should have been done months ago: a bipartisan bill compelling the release of the Epstein files. The House and Senate; two bodies that can barely agree on what day it is, came together to force transparency on one of the darkest scandals in modern American history.

That alone is monumental. That alone should be a moment when we step back and recognize the sheer courage of the survivors who refused to disappear, refused to be intimidated, and refused to let powerful men bury the truth. Their voices pushed this bill through. Their refusal to be silenced has brought us to the cusp of long-overdue accountability.

But; as always, politics has a way of staining even the righteous moments.

And right now, the stain is coming not from the GOP, but from within my own party.

I’m talking about Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his refusal to acknowledge the obvious: the censure of Rep. Stacey Plaskett for her texting with Epstein during my live congressional oversight hearing. That incident didn’t just happen in a vacuum; it is burned into the public memory because it symbolized exactly why people believe politicians are full of shit. When Democrats talk about transparency, accountability, and justice, yet can’t bring themselves to say, “Yes, one of our own owes the public an explanation,” it reeks of hypocrisy.

Why is that so hard to say? Why can’t Jeffries simply look into a camera and state the plain, moral truth: As the leader of the House Democratic caucus, I expect Rep. Plaskett to explain her conduct. Period.

Instead, we get the same old political tap dance. The avoidance. The hedging. The silence. And silence is corrosive; it eats away at trust, at credibility, at the moral high ground Democrats claim to stand on. By refusing to meet the moment with honesty, Jeffries isn’t protecting the party; he’s weakening it. He’s making it harder for independents and moderate Republicans to step toward the Democratic line in 2026; a midterm that may determine whether American democracy can still defend itself.

This isn’t just a messaging problem. It’s failed leadership. Full stop.

But there’s an even bigger danger looming in the release of the Epstein documents, and it’s one no one in Democratic leadership seems willing to say out loud.

What happens if some; or all, of the claims about Donald Trump’s relationship with Epstein turn out to be wrong?

What happens if the documents show that Trump did, in fact, kick Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago because he thought the guy was a “creep”?

What happens if the files don’t show any evidence that Trump participated in sexual acts with underage girls?

I say “What If” because no one knows yet what the files contain. I know Trump. I know how desperately he clings to victimhood, how he weaponizes it, how he marinates in it like it’s oxygen. If the Epstein files fail to implicate him; if they even partially exonerate him, he will turn that into a nuclear weapon aimed straight at the heart of the Democratic Party.

He will say it was all a witch hunt; the same refrain he’s used time and again whenever scrutiny gets too close. Just as he insisted the Russia investigation and the Steele Dossier were a “hoax.” Just as he labeled the Mueller probe a “witch hunt,” the Ukraine impeachment the “Ukraine Hoax,” the New York inquiries into his finances a “political attack,” and the FBI’s classified-documents case the so-called “Boxes Hoax.”

And the worst part? Millions of Americans will believe him.

If that happens, Democrats won’t just have to rethink their strategy; they’ll have to confront the possibility that they’ve handed Trump another grievance, another narrative, another megaphone. And with that megaphone, he will energize his base, mobilize the disaffected, and march into the 2026 midterms with the wind at his back and the moral authority; yes, the moral authority, of someone who can claim vindication.

Can we afford that? No. Not even for a second.

Because the stakes aren’t abstract. They’re existential. The tripartite system of government; checks and balances, the separation of powers, the fundamental structure of American democracy, cannot survive another round of Trumpian authoritarianism. We cannot hand him the opportunity to consolidate executive power even further.

So what do Democrats need to do?

Be righteous. Be moral. Be better than him; not just in rhetoric, but in conduct.

Acknowledge wrongdoing when it’s on our own side. Demand explanations even when it’s uncomfortable. Protect the integrity of the process, not the ego of a politician or politicians.

The victims of Epstein have fought for decades to have their truth recognized. We honor them not by engaging in partisan bullshit, not by hiding behind talking points, and not by pretending our side is incapable of failure.

We honor them by standing tall in the light.

Because if there is anything this moment demands; anything this country desperately needs, it’s the courage to tell the truth, even when it hurts, even when it’s politically inconvenient, and especially when the alternative hands Trump exactly what he wants: the chance again to claim he’s the real victim.

If Democrats want to lead, the path is simple: act like leaders. The country is watching. And so are the survivors.

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