All of Trump's new scandals share 'common theme' with Epstein: analysis

Donald Trump's ICE onslaught against Minnesota and threats to forcibly seize Greenland by military force have dominated headlines for the last few weeks, but according to an analysis from Salon's Amanda Marcotte, these stories share a "common theme" with one of the president's biggest scandals, one he has been trying to keep out of the headlines: the Epstein files.

According to Marcotte, Trump's actions related to Minnesota and Greenland have "successfully knocked the Epstein files out of the headlines — for now." Many Democratic lawmakers and strategists have accused nearly everything the president has done since the height of the Epstein disclosure story of being a "distraction" from it. Marcotte argued that, despite his best efforts, the story will not go away, and furthermore, she argued that simply dismissing things as a distraction "misses the larger story" about Trump.

Taken as a whole, Marcotte argued, the Epstein scandal "continues to explain everything about Trump."

"All these issues are tied together under one common theme: Trump is the worst kind of bully, a cowardly one," Marcotte wrote. "Like his friend Epstein — who enjoyed targeting small, helpless teenage girls — the most important thread throughout Trump’s life is that he tries to feel big by harassing those who he feels can’t fight back."

Marcotte noted that, as of now, Trump has not been accused of taking part in deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's crimes directly. Nevertheless, she countered, "there’s overwhelming evidence the president shared Epstein’s view that what makes one powerful is avoiding conflict with those who can truly challenge you, and instead preying on the young, the small and the disadvantaged."

"Greenland is clearly in his sights because Trump and his team see it in the same way a predator eyeballs a 14-year-old girl: as an easy target," Marcotte wrote, later adding, "Trump’s invasion of Venezuela to seize the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, was similar in its cowardice. Rather than risk a military confrontation, they forced American troops to play the role of the sleazy kidnapper sneaking in windows. The president and his aides all talk like tough guys, but they repeatedly reveal that the only fights they like are the easy ones."

This same idea also permeates the tactics deployed by ICE in Minnesota, as despite Trump's earlier claims about using immigration enforcement to target hardened criminals, the surge in Minneapolis and beyond has largely focused on easy targets, like "teenage Target employees" and "an old man in his underwear." Even Renee Nicole Good, whose death after being shot by an ICE officer, fits the mold, as "she and her wife lightly taunted him for playing dress-up in his camo."

"No one in good faith could see these victims — all citizens, by the way — as a legitimate challenge, much less a threat, to anyone, especially to armed ICE agents," Marcotte argued.