Epstein files a lightning rod for both #MeToo and Maga

2026-02-24 - 16:06

People of all political shades have been outraged by Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual crimes and are intent on uncovering his accomplices. Indeed, there are likely few among us who wouldn’t find Epstein’s offending repugnant. But despite the prevalence of sexual violence, only certain cases provoke the same level of public furore. My research on sexual violence politics has led me to question why some cases attract attention and outrage, but others do not. In the Epstein case, an optimistic position would be that left and right can unite as decent human beings against the sexual abuse of children. Yet, sadly, the evidence doesn’t support this conclusion. One of the reasons this case has gained notoriety is that it plays to representations of elites as sexually depraved. Such representations have a long history. Take the story of Lucretia’s rape by the king’s son, a pivotal event in the founding of the Roman Republic around 509 BC. Lucretia’s story was retold in 17th century England as coded criticism of the monarchy. Both left and right have traditions of depicting sexual violence and ‘wanton’ behaviour as symbols of illegitimate political power. For example, stories of a sexually debauched royal court added fuel to French revolutionary sentiment. Notions of elites as flouting proper middle-class sexual morals persist, particularly among conservatives. For some on the left and in the #MeToo movement, the Epstein case is further evidence of how elite men use their power to abuse and marginalise women: Epstein preyed upon impoverished teenagers who needed money, just as many girls and women have been abused in a world where men dominate politics and the economy. Conservatives generally take a hostile posture toward #MeToo and feminist framings of sexual violence. However, for sections of the right, Epstein’s crimes reveal a deeper truth about global power relations. For many diehard Trump supporters and those to the right of Maga, Epstein was one member of a debauched liberal elite that cooperates to amass wealth and power at the expense of ordinary decent people. In this view, Epstein represents a predatory powerful class of outsiders that threatens our daughters. These conspiratorial stories about Epstein as part of a global elite that sexually preys upon children also echo antisemitic narratives. Epstein embodied an antisemite’s fever dream. He was a wealthy, Jewish, Democratic Party donor who made his money in finance, and a sexual predator with extensive networks among global elites. The early 20th century conspiracy The Protocols of the Elders of Zion provides a template for some of the conspiracy theories that swirl around Epstein. This fabricated text cast Jewish people as subversives with no national loyalty and occultists who prey upon Christian children. Narratives based on the Protocols portray Jews as adept at sexually entrapping then blackmailing democratic political leaders who lack the established wealth of aristocrats. Through such machinations, Jews supposedly control world governments, global finance, leftist movements, media, and other cultural industries. Any cursory internet search also throws up claims Israel used Epstein to entrap and control members of the global elite with sexual blackmail. Right-wing US commentator Tucker Carlson gave air to allegations Epstein was working for Israel and maintained a blackmail list to influence powerful individuals to support Israeli interests. Maria Farmer, an outspoken Epstein victim, interviewed on a conspiratorial website, even commented: “It’s just unfortunate that all the Jewish people I met also happen to be paedophiles that run the world economy.” This is not to imply everyone calling for the release of the Epstein files is an antisemite. Antisemitism is a wedge issue in the Maga world, which includes many leading Jewish figures in Trump’s cabinet and family. For some, a shadowy liberal ‘deep state’ and global network form the centre of the conspiracy rather than Jews. Such conspiracy theories promise to expose knowledge of who is really running the world at the expense of moral hardworking people. The Epstein files in this conspiratorial imagination consist of a client list that will reveal who is involved in the conspiracy. For the right, sexual violence is typically about the rape of white innocents by foreigners, Jews, and liberal enemies of the nation. For the left, sexual violence is usually about the oppression of women. But the Epstein case fits narratives about elites propagated by some on both sides of the political spectrum. This is not to draw an equivalence between them. Rather, conspiracist thinking focused on Epstein has drawn disaffected elements across the political spectrum to focus their grievances on one man and his suspect associates, instead of the systemic causes of their disaffection. History shows us that sexual violence rarely attracts this level of public attention as an injustice in itself, unless it plays to pre-existing political grievances.