See, this is why I lean left. I'm not far left or alt left, I have some right leaning tendencies too, and I'm not gonna get into that because that's neither here nor there, but all told I do lean left. And the reason is, generally speaking people on the left have their morals too (and it's odd that the right says we don't) and if someone on our side, even if we think he's a saint (how people see Keanu Reeves, because he doesn't play villains and they never played Cyberpunk, I guess) or maybe the best chance of beating an alt-right candidate in a high stakes election... we will bring him down, with facts. We hold ours accountable. The right? They say it's fine for them to do bad things but for poor people? Stiff penalties because they gotta appear tough on crime... as long as it's poor, dark skinned, or LGBTQ+ people doing the crime. If it's them and theirs it's fine. Never forget, they nominated and elected a convicted felon, an insurrectionist, a rioter, a traitor... and oh yes, a pedophile. They had plenty of cleaner guys they could have ran but they didn't.
Now, there's a rule in law, or a rule of thumb, I'm not sure if it has a name. It basically says if you destroy or hide evidence, that evidence is whatever we say it is. I don't think it's an actual law, it's more of a philosophy of sorts. So everyone opposed to releasing the Epstein files, we can assume that either they are in them, or someone they owe favors to is, and it's worse than we think. Like, I'm inclined to think maybe Trump fooled around with some 15-16 year old girls who could pass for 18-20. Lot of rich people probably do. Grass green, water wet, news at six, etc. He knows his base doesn't judge him for the stuff we know he's done. So what's he afraid of?
Here's my theory: we all know Trump is in the Epstein files. It's a sure bet. I think that Trump doesn't care about his name being smeared. How much worse could his reputation get now? Nah, I think the GOP has a short list of younger men (guys in their 40s and 50s, say) who could carry the torch for the next 8 years. I don't doubt Trump would try for a third term if he had the health and youth for it. He has neither. I honestly think we need to stop worrying about his third term and start worrying about the two terms his successor is going for. Anyway, I think one or more of these successors are in the files, and they probably messed with some obviously underage and very young looking girls. Like 13 but can pass for 10, young. Underdeveloped, partly malnourished, that kind of thing. And these guys, after another 4 years of Trump, are going to come up and say they're going to fix things. They're going to fight hard for the middle and some of the left, but they're going to be just as bad. And I think Trump is trying to protect these guys more so than himself.