The Lesson of the Epstein Disclosures: It Helps To Have Some Eccentrics in Government
Populist and anti-establishment politicians don't always get it right, but they are essential part of the system.
In the next few days, the U.S. House of Representatives will finally vote to disclose the contents of the federal government’s investigation into the late billionaire and alleged child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
It was hard to believe this day would ever come. President Donald Trump, whose name allegedly appears in the investigation in some capacity, has lobbied his party hard against supporting any such release.
He has blocked his administration from unilaterally disclosing the files, and he has put pressure on Congressional Republicans to prevent the passage of bills that would mandate their release.
That’s when California Democrat Ro Khanna, a stalwart progressive from the coast, had the idea of pushing forward a discharge resolution. The way a discharge resolution works is if you get the signatures of the majority of the U.S. House, you can force a vote on pretty much anything.
But you might be wondering how Khanna found success when Democrats don’t control either chamber of Congress. He did so by teaming up with Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, a known libertarian-leaning lawmaker who probably agrees with Khanna on next to nothing.
Yet together, the duo managed to convince every House Democrat and four House Republicans to support the discharge petition. When a newly-elected Democrat was just sworn in, that gave them enough signatures to push forward the petition and force a vote.
The four Republicans who broke with Trump on the Epstein issue all have something in common. Reps. Thomas Massie (KY), Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA), Nancy Mace (SC), and Lauren Boebert (CO), are all known to march to the beat of their own drums.
They’re considered among the most eccentric members of the House Republican caucus, frequently finding themselves in controversy for their odd duck behavior or beliefs.
In Official Washington — the place I spent a decade of my life working — these kinds of black sheep lawmakers are often looked down upon. They don’t play well with their colleagues, they are obsessed with social media stardom, and they have all kinds of kooky beliefs.
I’ve always been the kind of person willing to stick his neck out and say that in a representative democracy we need at least a few people in office who are willing to march to the beat of their own drum.
I was raked over the coals earlier this year when I wrote in the Washington Post that MTG was earning my respect for being willing to break with Trump on key issues. Thousands of horrified Democrats all but accused me of losing my mind.
And yet without her vote, the petition mandating a vote on Epstein disclosure would never have gotten the necessary support in the House. And really, it takes someone like MTG to be able to defy Trump — your ordinary, by the book Republican thinks the safest thing to do is to keep their head down and bow down before Dear Leader. And they’re probably right!
It’s always fun to look down on outcasts. But every now and then, you need them around.
As George Bernard Shaw once wrote, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”