As substack continues to grow there are a myriad of writers one can choose to follow. Your writing is factual, with warmth and compassion. You are my go-to. Thank you for all you do! 🐶✨
"THEY'VE" been doing a damn good job at dismantling the rights of everyone. It makes me sick to my stomach. How DARE they do this crap? All I can say is I hope there are a buttload of people that have to be pissed off about what is going on! Taking us back to the stone age isn't a revision and not making this country any better! I know they don't care but they should.
The measure of a civilization is how well it protects people without power from those who have it. By that reckoning, our civilization itself that is being dismantled.
While the details might differ, this scenario has played out many times before. A society starts with the goal of being equitable, but as the powerful become fewer and more powerful, they dismantle the guardrails and countervailing structures. Then what was at least a nominally civilized society becomes an autocracy.
Sometimes the institutions hold and they roll the damage back. But sometimes the don't.
Thanks again Olivia for you smart and intuitive reporting on current events . It's disheartening to me to see the "skinhead" tactics and influence of the Trump administration happening this very minute in the USA. Sadly,through much misinformation and outright lies of the past 2 decades , or maybe longer, the Republican party has given way to an ultra far right mentality that is frightening. It seems that the checks and balances that I am counting on by the legislative and judicial branches of government have been taken over by these anti-woke ,anti-rino ideologues, to the detriment of our very existence . I'm growing a little worried daily at what is happening and wonder if the Democratic party is up to countering it when the mid-term elections come around. I'm not sure that Shumer's idea of just letting it happen is the right approach ,as it will take so long to right the ship if we don't turn some of these right wing moves around starting now.
If a victim lashed out at her (or his) abuser, would “I did all the right things but the system ignored me. What was I supposed to do then, nothing?” be a valid defense? It should be, and those in the system who did the ignoring should be held accountable as contributing factors.
Please run for your school board on a save democracy platform in groups of four so democracy holds the power. For decades too many of our schools have been run by fascists who control their boards. (How we lost democracy by the way.) We can turn that around. For more information - WhiteChalkCrime.com. Citizens can force democracy on our schools and compensate for what Trump is doing federally to our schools. The power is in our local school
Thank you Olivia for the informative updates of the day. Unfortunately the men with the power , Trump and his cabal have very little respect for women. You got a fellow JD Vance who feels women should just be subservient to the male population, stay home , have babies and take care of their partners needs. How sick it that. When it comes to sexual assault , well that is just too bad , look how she dressed, she was just asking for it. and all the other sick statements just make me sick. Real men like and love strong, vibrant intelligent women. Men like Trump, Hegseth and Vance are just wimps who would starve to death if they had to cook or look after themselves. Power and money bring all sorts of perversions. I think of Jim Jordan and the predator Dr. Richard Strauss, of Ohio State University assaulting young men over an eighteen year period. Jim stayed mum on the issue , knowing full well of the crime , He is just as guilty as the doctor. Then there is Dr.Larry Nassar assaulting young girls on the National Olympic team. All these victims be young or old are looking to make their mark in society and are just easy prey for these perverts. These assaulted men and women have had their souls murdered. So what does a powerful and rich man do who controls the helm and happens to assault little girls do, he cut out all the beneficial services that help victims. Release the Epstein files . Lets be done with this .
How the President Turns Survivors’ Trauma Into a Partisan Smear to Protect Himself
There’s a particular kind of moral bankruptcy that only Donald Trump can achieve: looking into the wreckage left by a convicted child sex trafficker, seeing the women and girls who survived him, and deciding the best course of action is to sneer, “They’re Democrats.”
Multiple sources say the president has privately dismissed Epstein’s accusers and their families as partisan enemies—people conspiring to “make him look bad.” This from a man whose name appears in the government’s own Epstein files, whose Justice Department just moved Ghislaine Maxwell to a cushier prison, and whose aides have floated the idea of commuting her sentence.
A President Who Sees Victims as Obstacles
The cruelty is calculated. It doesn’t just erase—it grinds down the voices of women like Annie and Maria Farmer, who as teenagers were groomed and assaulted in Epstein’s orbit, and who have spent decades clawing their way back from the shame, nightmares, and panic that never fully leave. For years they have relived their trauma in courtrooms and interviews, not because they wanted to, but because they believed that telling the truth might finally mean something—that maybe the powerful could be held to account.
It sneers at Danielle Bensky’s raw plea that survivors are being “erased” by a White House determined to bury them under spin. She was barely out of childhood when Epstein stole her innocence, and yet here she is, forced to fight not only her abuser’s legacy but the machinery of the U.S. government.
And it spits in the face of the family of Virginia Giuffre—a young woman who, at 17, was forced into the hands of the rich and connected, and who fought for years to make her voice heard. This year, after enduring relentless public attacks and gaslighting, she took her own life. To them, her death is not a tragedy to be mourned but a convenient data point for Donald Trump to twist into his own defense. Her life, her suffering, her humanity—flattened into just another prop in the president’s paranoid narrative.
Erasure as a Political Strategy
These women are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for basic decency: transparency from the government that was supposed to protect them, accountability for those who enabled their abuse, and respect for the dead. Instead, they get presidential sneers and a Justice Department that shields its files like state secrets. They get a head of state who treats child sex trafficking as a political inconvenience and their pain as a partisan talking point.
The Reflex of the Unaccountable
This is not just cowardice—it’s contempt. It’s the reflex of a man who has never believed the rules apply to him, who treats the pain of others as a PR inconvenience, and who sees the machinery of government as nothing more than his personal damage-control department.
Trump isn’t just dodging accountability—he’s smearing the very people whose suffering demands it. And if history is any guide, the smears will only get uglier. Because for Donald Trump, there is no bottom—only a deeper hole to dig when the truth gets too close.
As substack continues to grow there are a myriad of writers one can choose to follow. Your writing is factual, with warmth and compassion. You are my go-to. Thank you for all you do! 🐶✨
Thank you! This means a lot to me.
"THEY'VE" been doing a damn good job at dismantling the rights of everyone. It makes me sick to my stomach. How DARE they do this crap? All I can say is I hope there are a buttload of people that have to be pissed off about what is going on! Taking us back to the stone age isn't a revision and not making this country any better! I know they don't care but they should.
Lyft has a program for women riders to get women drivers. So this is a good reason to use Lyft. HERide is a smaller ride provider for women.
The measure of a civilization is how well it protects people without power from those who have it. By that reckoning, our civilization itself that is being dismantled.
While the details might differ, this scenario has played out many times before. A society starts with the goal of being equitable, but as the powerful become fewer and more powerful, they dismantle the guardrails and countervailing structures. Then what was at least a nominally civilized society becomes an autocracy.
Sometimes the institutions hold and they roll the damage back. But sometimes the don't.
Olivia, you left out Asst. Coach Jim Jordan of Ohio State's wrestling team. I hate that duplicitous worm.
Thanks again Olivia for you smart and intuitive reporting on current events . It's disheartening to me to see the "skinhead" tactics and influence of the Trump administration happening this very minute in the USA. Sadly,through much misinformation and outright lies of the past 2 decades , or maybe longer, the Republican party has given way to an ultra far right mentality that is frightening. It seems that the checks and balances that I am counting on by the legislative and judicial branches of government have been taken over by these anti-woke ,anti-rino ideologues, to the detriment of our very existence . I'm growing a little worried daily at what is happening and wonder if the Democratic party is up to countering it when the mid-term elections come around. I'm not sure that Shumer's idea of just letting it happen is the right approach ,as it will take so long to right the ship if we don't turn some of these right wing moves around starting now.
Thank you!
This is another reason we need to clear all fascist Republicans out of government. They don't serve the people.
They serve money.
If a victim lashed out at her (or his) abuser, would “I did all the right things but the system ignored me. What was I supposed to do then, nothing?” be a valid defense? It should be, and those in the system who did the ignoring should be held accountable as contributing factors.
Please run for your school board on a save democracy platform in groups of four so democracy holds the power. For decades too many of our schools have been run by fascists who control their boards. (How we lost democracy by the way.) We can turn that around. For more information - WhiteChalkCrime.com. Citizens can force democracy on our schools and compensate for what Trump is doing federally to our schools. The power is in our local school
boards.
Thank you Olivia for the informative updates of the day. Unfortunately the men with the power , Trump and his cabal have very little respect for women. You got a fellow JD Vance who feels women should just be subservient to the male population, stay home , have babies and take care of their partners needs. How sick it that. When it comes to sexual assault , well that is just too bad , look how she dressed, she was just asking for it. and all the other sick statements just make me sick. Real men like and love strong, vibrant intelligent women. Men like Trump, Hegseth and Vance are just wimps who would starve to death if they had to cook or look after themselves. Power and money bring all sorts of perversions. I think of Jim Jordan and the predator Dr. Richard Strauss, of Ohio State University assaulting young men over an eighteen year period. Jim stayed mum on the issue , knowing full well of the crime , He is just as guilty as the doctor. Then there is Dr.Larry Nassar assaulting young girls on the National Olympic team. All these victims be young or old are looking to make their mark in society and are just easy prey for these perverts. These assaulted men and women have had their souls murdered. So what does a powerful and rich man do who controls the helm and happens to assault little girls do, he cut out all the beneficial services that help victims. Release the Epstein files . Lets be done with this .
TRUMP TO EPSTEIN VICTIMS: “YOU’RE JUST DEMOCRATS”
How the President Turns Survivors’ Trauma Into a Partisan Smear to Protect Himself
There’s a particular kind of moral bankruptcy that only Donald Trump can achieve: looking into the wreckage left by a convicted child sex trafficker, seeing the women and girls who survived him, and deciding the best course of action is to sneer, “They’re Democrats.”
Multiple sources say the president has privately dismissed Epstein’s accusers and their families as partisan enemies—people conspiring to “make him look bad.” This from a man whose name appears in the government’s own Epstein files, whose Justice Department just moved Ghislaine Maxwell to a cushier prison, and whose aides have floated the idea of commuting her sentence.
A President Who Sees Victims as Obstacles
The cruelty is calculated. It doesn’t just erase—it grinds down the voices of women like Annie and Maria Farmer, who as teenagers were groomed and assaulted in Epstein’s orbit, and who have spent decades clawing their way back from the shame, nightmares, and panic that never fully leave. For years they have relived their trauma in courtrooms and interviews, not because they wanted to, but because they believed that telling the truth might finally mean something—that maybe the powerful could be held to account.
It sneers at Danielle Bensky’s raw plea that survivors are being “erased” by a White House determined to bury them under spin. She was barely out of childhood when Epstein stole her innocence, and yet here she is, forced to fight not only her abuser’s legacy but the machinery of the U.S. government.
And it spits in the face of the family of Virginia Giuffre—a young woman who, at 17, was forced into the hands of the rich and connected, and who fought for years to make her voice heard. This year, after enduring relentless public attacks and gaslighting, she took her own life. To them, her death is not a tragedy to be mourned but a convenient data point for Donald Trump to twist into his own defense. Her life, her suffering, her humanity—flattened into just another prop in the president’s paranoid narrative.
Erasure as a Political Strategy
These women are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for basic decency: transparency from the government that was supposed to protect them, accountability for those who enabled their abuse, and respect for the dead. Instead, they get presidential sneers and a Justice Department that shields its files like state secrets. They get a head of state who treats child sex trafficking as a political inconvenience and their pain as a partisan talking point.
The Reflex of the Unaccountable
This is not just cowardice—it’s contempt. It’s the reflex of a man who has never believed the rules apply to him, who treats the pain of others as a PR inconvenience, and who sees the machinery of government as nothing more than his personal damage-control department.
Trump isn’t just dodging accountability—he’s smearing the very people whose suffering demands it. And if history is any guide, the smears will only get uglier. Because for Donald Trump, there is no bottom—only a deeper hole to dig when the truth gets too close.
I appreciate your writing style. Factual, meat on the bones, but not like drinking water out of a firehose. Thank you.