Donald Trump is very pleased with himself for being president during the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Hijacking a Black History Month event on Wednesday, he gloated that, along with the Olympics and the World Cup, “I get the 250th year.” This wasn’t just the latest in a series of tacky gestures toward the nation’s semiquincentennial from a man the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein claimed as his “best friend.” It ended up being another disturbing reminder that Trump is on a mission to destroy everything the revolutionaries fought for, and not just because he continued to push his belief that he was entitled to steal the 2020 election. Because a few hours later, the literal British Crown took a stand for equality under the law and elite accountability that Trump and Pam Bondi, his lackey attorney general, have been doing everything they can to avoid.
On Thursday morning in the United Kingdom, Thames Valley Police took the unprecedented move of arresting Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the younger brother of King Charles III and son of the late Queen Elizabeth II, on what was his 66th birthday. Theaction was historic. The former Prince Andrew is the first senior royal in the modern era to be arrested by law enforcement. The last was Charles I, who was arrested in 1646 and executed three years later for treason.
Mountbatten-Windsor has already been stripped of his titles, styles, public role and home due to the fallout from his lengthy relationship with Epstein, including accusations of sexual abuse of minors. The ex-prince was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office in the wake of newly-released Epstein files from the American Justice Department that showed he may have been sharing confidential government documents with Epstein while serving as a British trade envoy. Held in police custody for 11 hours, which would have included questioning under caution, Mountbatten-Windsor was released while the investigation into his conduct continues.
What is truly remarkable is how Charles immediately came out in support of the notion that his younger brother is not above the law. “What now follows is the full, fair and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities,” the king said in a statement issued by Buckingham Palace. “In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and cooperation. Let me state clearly: the law must take its course.”
On the other side of the pond, Trump was, unsurprisingly, unwilling to take a hard stand against a fellow close associate of Epstein’s. “I think it’s very sad,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One. “I think it’s so bad for the royal family.” The president did not express sympathy for the victims or explain what was sad — the alleged crime itself, or that Mountbatten-Windsor may eventually face prosecution, trial and punishment for what he reportedly did.
Charles also strongly diverged from Bondi, who is supposed to be the top law enforcement official in a nation founded on the rejection of monarchy and the belief that rule of law should apply equally to all.
To state this more plainly: The literal throne America rebelled against is now honoring the nation’s constitutional principles and ideals better than those who swore an oath to uphold them.
To state this more plainly: The literal throne America rebelled against is now honoring the nation’s constitutional principles and ideals better than those who swore an oath to uphold them.
That Bondi is using her power to shield Trump and his rich friends from accountability was underscored yet again last week when the attorney general testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee about the department’s failure to release all of its files on the Epstein case as required by law. She was repeatedly asked — mostly by Democrats, but also by GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky — about the withheld documents and seemingly illegal redactions of the names of potential Epstein co-conspirators. Instead of explaining these discrepancies, many of which work to hide information about Trump and his wealthy allies — including some members of his very administration — Bondi deflected by yelling, filibustering and calling members of Congress names.
One thing is certain: The cover-up isn’t being conducted in the shadows. When Lex Wexner, the former Victoria’s Secret CEO and massive political donor, was deposed last week by the House committee in an effort to examine his extensive relationship with Epstein, no Republican representatives bothered to show. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was recently forced to admit that, after claiming he had cut off contact with Epstein in 2005, he was in fact involved with the financier for years later. The White House shrugged this off, just as they did with Epstein’s ties to multiple administration officials including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Commissioner Mehmet Oz, Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan.
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Then there’s Trump himself, whose name appears thousands of times in what has been released of the documents, including one time when he reportedly told Florida law enforcement that “everyone has known” about Epstein’s crimes following the sex offender’s first arrest. (It’s also important to remember that Epstein got an infamous sweetheart deal from federal prosecutor Alex Acosta, who later served as labor secretary under Trump in his first administration.) Then there are the redactions that seem to be about Trump. These include at least one photo from the lengthy time period he was partying constantly with Epstein. According to Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a search of the unredacted Epstein files revealed “more than a million” references to the president. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche denied that the Justice Department is covering up mentions of Trump, but from an administration that appears to lie about everything, his statement means nothing.
The actions taken by British police — which also included raids on residences belonging to former U.S. ambassador Peter Mandelson, a Labour Party stalwart with deep links to Epstein — only makes the Justice Department’s inaction look worse by comparison. Before he died in jail in 2019, Epstein had friends all over the world, but he was an American. Most of his alleged crimes took place in the U.S., and most of the people suspected of being involved were also Americans. Yet while top federal officials appear to be shielded from consequences in what is purported to be the world’s oldest democracy, real accountability can be seen overseas. Norway’s former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland has been indicted on corruption charges. The son of the country’s crown princess is awaiting trial on 38 charges, including four counts of rape. Top officials from the UK, Sweden, France and Slovakia have all lost their jobs due to having Epstein connections. But only a handful of people in American business or academia have faced professional consequences, and aside from Epstein’s associate and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, there have certainly no legal consequences.
Trump built his political career on laughable claims that he is an anti-elite actor who wants to drain Washington’s swamp and serve the interests of everyday Americans. To his detractors, who tend to engage real news at much higher rates than Trump voters, this was always an obvious lie. The president is the heir of a massive real estate fortune who spent his whole life defrauding investors and the government, as was proved in court, in a lifelong bid to buy his way into fancy New York circles. As the Epstein files definitively show, it worked. Trump spent years as Epstein’s shadow while the sex criminal hobnobbed his way through the world of the rich and powerful — and yet he managed to hoodwink millions into thinking he isn’t the living embodiment of a corrupt elite.
When organizers of the nation’s biggest anti-Trump protests landed on the “No Kings” branding, they got a lot of criticism from those who argued it was both hyperbolic and weirdly old-fashioned to suggest Trump wants to be a king. But it’s increasingly obvious that “king” — even more than “dictator” — captures Trump’s view on what he should be. By running the Justice Department like it’s a royal spy agency serving a 16th century king and his court rather than a civilian-controlled law enforcement agency, Bondi is reinforcing Trump’s anti-democratic ambitions.
“If a Prince can be held accountable, so can a President,” tweeted Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M. According to the Constitution and the values that fueled the American Revolution, this is an understatement. The president is supposed to be a citizen representative held to the rule of law, not a medieval monarch placed above it.
But now, in our topsy-turvy world, the literal King of Great Britain and Northern Island is standing against his own brother to uphold equality under the law, while the attorney general of the United States runs cover for a whole mess of wannabe aristocrats in what is supposed to be a democracy. Trump may gloat about being the president on our country’s 250th anniversary, but his presence there is a travesty that will resonate through history.
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