Opinion: The sleaze goes on – And on, and on

This undated and unlocated handout image released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on December 18, 2025 shows late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein (R) speaking to US professor and political activist Noam Chomsky – Copyright House Oversight Democrats/AFP

This is an incredibly distasteful subject. Therefore, it’s unavoidable. The release of so many photos from the House Committee subpoena is starting to look more like a name-dropping exercise than a pursuit of justice. There are so many people, so many big names.  There are 95,000 photos.

There’s a semblance of decency. Photos of the women involved have been redacted. The overall tone of the releases, however, is unambiguous.

“Here are all these rich guys, add your own sleaze,” is the message. It’s not hard to do. Politicians, businesspeople, actors, meandering Middle Easterners, a sprinkle of scientists, text messages, a pic of someone’s passport, and mercilessly more.

None of these very important people apparently had anything else to do than attend Epstein’s gatherings. How Epstein infiltrated this high echelon isn’t even a topic. The guy was effectively a nobody for a long time before becoming everybody’s pal. His first entry into “society” was working for Bear Stearns in the 1970s. Well, you have to have some connections, don’t you?

it seems. Some of these guys couldn’t possibly have higher profiles. They’ve been major names for decades. And here they all are.

The release of the pics even has its own related legislation, the Epstein Files Transparency Act. In hyper-dysfunctional America, obvious sleaze, like everything else, has to be political.

What’s truly mysterious about this, and god knows there’s an almost total lack of mystery, is how normal everyone seems to find it. Of course, so many VIPs hang around with a child sex offender. That’s normal.

Of course, they all mingle like wealthy battery chickens on some particularly unimpressive island or “elite gatherings” that look like any suburban car park in fancy dress. Quite normal.

As people, these guys aren’t much, if anything at all. There’s proof of that. American author Michael Wolff wrote a book called Too Famous as the Epstein revelations were hitting the fan. I’ve written about this book before in context with the files because so many people in it have been named in connection with Epstein, but there’s a further point to be made.

The overwhelming sense of mediocrity is almost unbearable as these characters talk.  It’s old-guy-barroom talk at best, and a lot of it is much less interesting. These are people you wouldn’t even consider talking to twice, or about. They have the vocabularies of the fifth beer and some greasy food. They’re rich nobodies. In the book, Epstein is sure he’ll get off the charges.

The expanded headline version of Too Famous is this unsightly, incredibly unimpressive cluster of cretins. Names keep popping up. You’ll know at least a few of them, whether you want to or not.

This is a Who’s Who of American leadership, irritatingly pitiful as it is. These are the guys who’ve been running America as it implodes for the last 30 years.

It’s like some geriatric Sesame Street for sleazebags. Too famous, too stupid, too mediocre.