The Epstein case is laying bare America's morally bankrupt ruling class

Why do we let people like this have any power or authority?

Jeffrey Epstein.

I like making lists. Here is one of some notably terrible people: The celebrity law professor who first made his name defending the Deep Throat guy and went on to advise upstanding characters like Harvey Weinstein. The gazillionaire lawyer who bankrupted Napster and hired a firm with the so-evil-it-sounds-made-up name of "Black Cube" to discredit and silence Weinstein's accusers. A two-bit hustler from Arkansas who makes a living by shaking down sheiks and tycoons for donations to his alleged charity. The president of the United States.

What do they all have in common? (Beside the fact that they are all incredibly rich, I mean.) Alan Dershowitz, David Boies, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump are only a few of the names caught up in the alleged Jeffrey Epstein pedophilia scandal. This isn't six degrees of Kevin Bacon. These people all know each other well and have for decades. They go to one another's weddings, ride on the same airplanes, and do business together. They are all old and white. They all have the same kind of anti-aesthetic, which I would loosely describe as "New York Daily News sleezebag chic." They are what passes for the ruling class in this country.

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Matthew Walther

Matthew Walther is a national correspondent at The Week. His work has also appeared in First Things, The Spectator of London, The Catholic Herald, National Review, and other publications. He is currently writing a biography of the Rev. Montague Summers. He is also a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow.