Far from draining the swamp Trump has, among other things, desecrated the people’s house. (Photo credit: Boston Globe)

Nothing else comes close

Affordability. When the finalists for 2026 Word of the Year are announced, affordability should be on the list. Established politicians, as well as those seeking offices, know better than to give a speech or interview without passionately addressing the nation’s affordability crisis. Politician speech writers microscopically proof-read drafts, and the final version, to ensure affordability is prominently featured. Omitting affordability is a surefire way to end up revising one’s LinkedIn resume.

To state the obvious, economic good times come and go. Fortunes tied to available jobs, fair wages, and safe work environments rise and fall. While never a joy ride, we’ve experienced bloated gas prices and exorbitant grocery bills before. Maybe it happened gradually rather than virtually overnight, as is the case now because of the Trump administration’s unprecedented incompetence.

Of course, the granddaddy of bad economic times was the Great Depression, when financial markets and the banking industry collapsed, after investors borrowed money to buy stocks but could not repay loans. Hopefully, what happened in the 1930s will never be repeated. Long bread lines and 25% unemployment were bellwethers during the depression’s peak in 1933.

Things were shaky in the U.S. in the 1970s when stagflation (stagnant economic growth, high unemployment and sky-high inflation) resulted from several factors including the energy crisis, the cost of the Vietnam War, and funding Great Society programs. The 2007-2008 Great Recession was no picnic, either, as risky financial market speculation/infatuation caused the U.S. housing market to implode.

That is not to downplay today’s stressful economy. Clearly, plenty of Americans are hurting, barely able, or unable, to make ends meet. Many are MAGAs, who foolishly voted for unaffordable healthcare, inhumane immigration policy, and tariffs that create a higher cost-of-living. Now professing regret, MAGAs struggle to afford life while the stench of Trump’s ignorance, lies and depravity overwhelm our sensibilities.

Six MAGA justices have remade the Supreme Court into an arbiter of the Project 2025 agenda and an appendage of the Republican party. (Photo credit: The Weekly Opine)

Unchartered territory

While we’ve previously experienced trying economic times (as outlined in the previous section), what we’ve never seen, until now, is a sex offender president who appears to be a pedophile.

In the United States of America, the assumed-to-be-a-pedophile Trump is defended by virtually every Republican member of Congress. GOPers line up to curry favor with adjudicated rapist Trump like kids clamoring for treats from the neighborhood ice cream truck.

Six (you could easily replace the word “Six” with “Sick”) Supreme Court justices do the bidding of a suspected pedophile president, who is also dogged by legit concerns he is mentally ill. Elsewhere in D.C., the Department of Justice could be renamed the Department of Injustice, until such time an honorable attorney general is installed. The DOJ clears the way for the looks like, quacks like a pedophile Trump to commit acts of corruption and criminality that make Richard Nixon look like a mild-mannered choirboy.

The more likely than not pedophile president garnered 77 million votes in 2024 (many of whom still vouch for Trump, even though the Epstein files reveal Trump is almost assuredly a pedophile). Hence, America finds itself in a shocking predicament: there are undeniable, strong indicators pointing to the president of the United States being a hardcore pedophile who is being shielded by many members of Congress and the press.

Along with the Supreme Court, MAGA Republicans have ceded their equal branch authority to the most corrupt presidential administration in U.S. history. (Photo credit: The Weekly Opine)

Top campaign issue different than lead story

There is a difference between the top campaign issue and the lead story. Understandably, candidates from both parties are primarily focused on affordability. They are also concerned about the uninhibited spread of artificial intelligence and construction of resource hogging, toxic data centers. Many candidates want to reform ICE. However, quiz politicians about the number one issue and they will respond that affordability is the top campaign issue. I agree.

But despite a weak economy, war in Iran and creeping authoritarianism, the lead news story is this: a credibly suspected pedophile resides in the White House, protected by bootlicking, immoral Republicans.

Until all the perpetrators face legal accountability, the lead story remains that Donald J. Trump, a 34x felon and adjudicated rapist, sits atop the list of powerful men credibly accused of raping underage, teen girls. (Trump, who once said he could “grab ‘em by the p____,” has also been credibly accused of sexual assault by two dozen women.)

Last week, in what can be described as astonishingly sickening, congressman Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) revealed that, “Donald Trump’s name is all over these [Epstein] files… I saw a reference to a 9-year-old girl.” While we are not yet 100-percent certain Trump is a pedophile, we can say without hesitation Trump is a world-class creep.

PBS reports that, at a recent House Committee closed door deposition given by Jeffrey Epstein’s former personal assistant, Sarah Kellen, Ms. Kellen named names. According to PBS, the Miami Herald reported that, in addition to Epstein, Kellen testified that former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, celebrity hairstylist Frederic Fekkai and fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelierg sexually abused her.

Considering that waiting for DOJ and Congress to do the right thing has taken an eternity, we need other women who suffered Epstein-related abuse to drop the veil and name names.

And the media should put aside headlines about the gaudy ballroom, UFC fights, war in Iran and daily chaos. The lead story is still the Epstein files. Because the American people deserve to know if Trump is a pedophile.

THE HEADLINE STORY