Models and Millionaires.

Hoist by his own petard.

Turnabout is fair play.

The karma boomerang.

Trump is the victim of conspiratorial suspicion. He set a fire, and now he is being burned by it.

Donald Trump was involved with a business adjacent to -- but not necessarily criminally engaged with -- sexual favors with very young women. He owned Trump Model Management for 18 years, finally shutting it down in 2017 after being elected president.

Trump has long been seen as oddly incautious in his remarks about his attraction to young women. He integrated those comments into his overall brand as an alpha-male with appetites. He was a winner in sex, business, politics, and statecraft.

Trump dealt with suspicion about himself with diversionary attacks on Democrats. Whatabout Bill Clinton? Whatabout Bill Gates? Whatabout Larry Summers?  He was just asking questions.  

This tactic worked well with GOP voters. Trump "just asking questions," as a form of accusation, and forever failing to be satisfied with the answer, convinced most Republicans that Barack Obama was born not in Hawaii, where official records were created and stored. It elevated Trump into a national political figure popular with Republicans.

Trump's supporters developed a taste for suspicion. Trump is now the victim of it. Why the Epstein coverup? What is the real story? That suspicion is fed by revelations of court filings by accusers naming Trump. 

The accusations are in the public record. Was the underlying conduct they describe real? Who knows? Maybe. They could be. They raise questions. So why the coverup?

The Katie Johnson filing

And this one, with accusations of vaginal and anal rape:

The Jane Doe filing

Rick Millward insists he is not conspiracy-minded himself, but he says that his social media algorithmic feed keeps sending him examples of suspicious and suggestive connections. Once a person shows an interest in a subject, the algorithm sends more of it. If a Democrat like Millward gets them, then conspiracy-minded MAGA people, with a history of believing conspiracies, must be getting even more of them.

One area of suspicion is Trump's involvement in youth beauty pageants, spa facilities staffed by young women, and Trump's ownership of modeling agencies. People in the MAGA conspiracy circle know all about it because it is popping up on their social media feeds. Rick Millward shared what he has learned. Millward is a musician and songwriter. He created music in Silicon Valley and Nashville before coming to Southern Oregon. His music is available on Spotify and other streaming platforms.

Millward

Guest Post by Rick Millward

Models and Millionaires

Trump and Epstein’s friendship has an aspect that isn’t widely known. They both owned modeling agencies. These agencies recruit young girls with the promise of money and fame, and many of the most well known “supermodels” come from this system. It’s a $13 billion industry that runs the gamut from high fashion to a darker underside that includes sex trafficking and pornography. One of the things sex traffickers do is front their operations with modeling or photography agencies. Ads on Craigslist seeking aspiring models are seen as recruitment tools for pornographers. Of course no reputable company would advertise this way, but gullible young girls see them as an opportunity.

Epstein was financially involved with MC2 Management, whose founder Jean-Luc Brunel committed suicide in a cell in France while facing rape charges. Trump partnered with John Casablancas of Elite Model Management for his “Look of the Year” competition which he judged and hosted at his Plaza Hotel. Another player was Paolo Zampolli of ID Models who managed Melania Trump. Trump himself owned beauty pageants and ran Trump Model Management.

All these men and their businesses have been widely reported on by various sources, and Google searches will bring up these stories. I’m not repeating them here, but simply pointing out that this industry is in the business of recruiting and promoting teenage girls. It’s a world unto itself, populated by the rich and powerful, businessmen, financiers, and politicians who socialize together, often at events where these girls and their managers are in attendance as well.

Epstein’s parties in New York, Florida and at his private island hosted celebrities and the wealthy. The details of these events are likely part of the suppressed documents at the U.S. Department of Justice. The MAGA conspiracy theorists see this as a vast hidden pedophile network and given the history of these companies it’s easy to understand how it might prompt a troubled young man to take a gun to a pizzeria to rescue children he believed were being held there. Wealth, power and sex are intertwined in our media and imaginations, giving us the impression there are rich, debauched men and women who engage in activities that flaunt our social norms and laws. The popular series “Law and Order: SVU” has run for 26 seasons; just one example of our fascination with these deviations, and also why the Epstein story and its secrets demand to be repealed.

I’d also like to point out the courage of the victims. They are survivors who have been silent for years about their abuse. I don’t blame them for this. The price they will pay for speaking out is to live through their trauma again, but now as adults. They are facing unwanted public scrutiny that may well make their coming forward futile. We should believe them and protect them.

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