The problem with the Epstein affair is that it can send any conspiracy theorist down a variety of holes. It’s more than just Trump berating 12- and 14-year-old girls for “‘poor’ quality of the (oral) sexual performance”, it goes to systematic insinuation of the super-rich and super-shady into beauty pageants and arms dealing. Here, for example, is Adnan Khashoggi being welcomed by then Miss Europe Riitta Väisänen during his visit to Finland in August 1976.
Adnan was famous for entertaining on his yacht, including bringing in supplies of beauty contestants from Nordic countries as party favors for the attending rich. He was also uncle to Jamal Khashoggi, perhaps the world’s most famous bone-saw murder victim.
Adnan was involved in arms dealing, work that included dealings with British arms dealer Douglas Leese. When you start putting together names, it starts to look like Kubrik’s Eyes Wide Shut was a documentary film. Robert Maxwell, Stephen Hoffenberg, and many others seem to have some Venn diagram overlapping with Epstein. Money and power can enhance depravity, and many who gain wealth and power have no idea just how much temptation they’ll have to resist. And as Adnan’s brother Essam found out, even hiding out in Santa Barbara (see Prince Harry), was not enough distance. In any case, the Epstein story doesn’t just have legs, it’s the Lernaean Hydra of investigative journalism.