How Clinton, Trump, and Epstein Rewired America’s Moral Compass

Breaking History

The Free Press

History

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We revisit the scandal-soaked 1990s—Packwood, Thomas, Clinton—and explore how failing to enforce norms around abuse of power helped create the world in which the Epstein scandal could flourish. This episode traces the unraveling of political accountability from the Clinton impeachment to the Trump Access Hollywood moment, and finally the global Epstein reckoning. We show how feminists in the ’90s and evangelicals in the 2010s made parallel bargains—each excusing their champion’s abuses for political gain. The result is a culture that normalized impunity for the powerful, and primed America for a populist revolt against a ruling class that protects its own. ----- CREDITS Executive Producer: Poppy Damon Associate Producer: Adam Feldman Sound Designer and Composer: Tony Peer Original theme songs by Eli Lake Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:12.1	Hello, listeners. I want to thank you again for all of your five-star reviews. Keep it coming,
1:18.4	by the way, because it does make a huge difference in terms of getting it out. Well,
1:22.0	anyway, we've got a good episode for you because in this episode, we examine the defining
1:26.5	scandal of our populist era, Jeffrey Epstein.
1:30.9	Unlike most lurid sex affairs, the target is not a single public figure. Epstein indites
1:37.9	the entire ruling class. So how did America get here? Well, the story starts with one of Epstein's former pals, Bill Clinton.
1:47.8	What the naughty 90s tell us about the Epstein Scandalabra next.
1:54.1	Sayy to fall and back, loud, babel,
1:58.4	the part you got this next year's model,
	...

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