I Know Something That's Definitely Not in the Epstein Files

If You Think Epstein Will Save Democracy, I Have a Maytag Plant to Sell You

If you talk to a certain type of Democrat lately, or listen to many on TV, there's a new conventional wisdom: Democrats should focus on Jeffrey Epstein.

This could be a political goldmine, the thinking goes, it might be the thing to finally bring down President Trump. He's skated everything from allegations of election interference to allegations of sexual assault to allegations of paying off porn stars. But can he really avoid this?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the Epstein files won't bring down President Trump. And the sooner Democrats focus on things that actually matter — like devastating cuts to Medicaid and out of control housing costs — the better. And the more likely they'll actually defeat the President and his party in the next election.

Do I think Jeffrey Epstein was a despicable human trafficker with connections to America's elite? Yes. Do I think his victims deserve justice? Absolutely — and they deserved to be heard long before they were.

Could exposing his secrets shine light on a gross cabal of leaders preying on young girls? Maybe. Do I trust this Justice Department to oversee that investigation? Absolutely not.

I am not obsessing over the Epstein files. Because I know one thing we will not find there: Healthcare for all.

Scandal Season Never Ends in Washington

For my entire adult life, Congress has been distracted by the latest sex scandal. The Epstein files are merely the latest example.

These fights tend to distract from much bigger issues with much more real day-to-day effects for voters.

When I came of age, Bill Clinton preyed on an adoring intern in a scandal that Republicans focused on like a laser — impeaching the President, shutting down the government, latching on to every twist and turn.

For all their focus on Clinton's zipper, in 1998 Republicans lost power. All this while the ground was shifting for American manufacturing. Clinton signed NAFTA into law in 1993, and by 2002 the obituary of a Maytag plant in my hometown of Galesburg, Ill., was written by The New York Times, too late to change that the plant would cease operations by 2004.

With all the focus on scandal, the groundwork was laid for a massive job transfer, the effects of policy changes not examined until it was too late. I feel the same is happening now. In an era where Americans are angry at United Healthcare, so angry some root for a shooter, here we are focusing on a dead guy instead of the people who could have health insurance to live.

Focus on Doing Better

Now is a good time to remind my fellow Democrats that we have substantive work to do.

We didn't solve healthcare with Obamacare. We put a patch in place, and that patch has been steadily undone by Trump and more recently weakened further.

My dad, who leans right, recently asked me to help a family member secure healthcare coverage. He was skeptical of their options given the terrible insurance reviews, and I didn't blame him.

As I told him: The only people I know who are genuinely happy with their healthcare coverage are those on Medicare.

A single-payer system would cost America less overall than our current patchwork of private insurance for the healthy and public coverage for those who aren't. But are we talking about that? No. We're talking about Epstein.

Media Madness and Missed Priorities

Epstein isn't the only "shiny object" Democrats are distracted by; they're taking advice from increasingly strange places in an attempt to stay relevant.

I watched ABC's "This Week" on Sunday and couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of watching Jon Karl ask ESPN's Stephen A. Smith for advice for Democrats. Epstein coverage and Stephen A. Smith — quite a combo.

ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith joins Jon Karl on ABC This Week.

Smith is a sports talker with zero political experience, no elected office background, and no policy expertise. Yet he's been making a media tour offering political advice since the election.

If I want advice for Democrats, there are countless people I'd rather hear from than someone whose qualifications amount to being loud on television. I'd rather listen to the single mom working as a waitress in Nevada, or the plumber running a small business who can't compete with larger companies that offer health insurance to employees.

Have we lost our minds? Is this what Trump does to us? Casting about for our own brand of outlandish commentator or outrageous topic in order to win a few news cycles?

This isn't how Democrats win elections, or at least it hasn't been, in my lifetime.

This might also explain why Americans have tuned out the news. It's completely out of touch with what actually affects their lives.

Jeffrey Epstein isn’t the foremost issue in the minds of the average American. In my experience, people are far more concerned about keeping a roof over their heads, feeding their children, and caring for family members when they fall ill.

The Predictable Outcome

Here's what's more likely to happen: After Todd Blanche, President Trump's Deputy Attorney General, spent about nine hours interviewing Ghislaine Maxwell over two days this week, Maxwell will cut some kind of deal. Maxwell's attorney has already suggested she's seeking a pardon.

Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein.

In return, Maxwell will spill what she has on those who are easily sacrificed and politically convenient for this White House. Democrats will have gotten distracted for nothing. They might even face some collateral damage.

Meanwhile, everything that actually matters to working people gets ignored. More days wasted, not focusing on pocketbook issues.

If Democrats want my advice: Change the conventional wisdom. Focus on healthcare, high costs of housing, actual policies that could change those things. But most importantly change Washington’s conventional wisdom, don't follow it. Because nothing actually changes for the American people until that happens.