Epstein, Power and the Price of America’s Sexual “Freedom”

By Mohammad Hamoud

How Elite Privilege and Cultural Blind Spots Enabled a Predator

Newly released emails from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate have sent shockwaves through American politics, revealing the audacity of a predator who moved freely among presidents, billionaires and diplomats. The Daily Beast reported Epstein teasing a journalist with “photos of Donald and underage girls in bikinis in my kitchen,” a line that dripped both menace and entitlement. Congressional disclosures reviewed by Reuters and the Financial Times show Epstein claiming that Donald Trump “spent hours” at his home with a woman later identified as a trafficking victim, asserting that Trump “knew about the girls.” These were not rumors—they were Epstein’s own words, circulated among the powerful, exposing the fragile boundary between influence and impunity.

The Barrack Correspondence: Hypocrisy in Action

Emails involving Tom Barrack reveal a striking and disturbing hypocrisy. Barrack, Trump’s longtime ally and the US envoy to Lebanon, publicly told Lebanese reporters to be “civilized” during a tense press encounter, presenting himself as a voice of decorum and diplomacy. Yet The Daily Beast reported Epstein writing to Barrack, “Send photos of you and child — make me smile.” Investigators described the message as chilling. Barrack, who cultivated an image of moral authority, was privately enmeshed in Epstein’s predatory network. The contrast is stark: a man lecturing others on civility while participating in profoundly uncivilized acts, exposing a culture in which reputation shields the powerful while victims remain voiceless.

A Culture Without Boundaries

The emails reveal more than Epstein’s crimes—they expose a society that tolerated and enabled exploitation. Western culture, especially in the United States, has long celebrated sexual liberation and the dismantling of traditional taboos. Yet analysts told CNN and the BBC that freedom without oversight becomes a playground for predators. Epstein did not succeed through brilliance alone; he thrived by exploiting a system in which wealth and connections shielded wrongdoing and in which young women were treated as disposable tools for social and political leverage.

Global Exploitation, Not an Anomaly

Child exploitation extends far beyond Epstein and his network. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reports that children now account for a growing share of detected trafficking victims worldwide, most of them trapped in sexual exploitation. Investigators say the number of identified victims climbs every year, revealing systemic vulnerabilities driven by poverty, conflict, and weak oversight. Epstein did not create this system; he merely maneuvered through it, exploiting the elite’s permissiveness and indifference as a shield for abuse.

The US Crisis in Numbers

The United States mirrors the global problem in stark detail. According to the CDC, nearly one in five American women reports having been raped in their lifetime, and roughly 44 percent have experienced some form of unwanted sexual contact. Campus surveys reviewed by the Association of American Universities found that over 23 percent of female undergraduates reported nonconsensual sexual contact involving force or incapacitation. Yet, only a small fraction of these cases were reported. Advocates told The Guardian and Reuters that most perpetrators evade accountability. Federal records show prosecutions for child pornography offenses are rising, but experts warn that the majority of offenders remain hidden. Epstein’s empire thrived in precisely this environment, exploiting silence, inaction, and institutional blind spots that leave countless victims without justice.

Espionage Allegations and the Shadow of Mossad

Allegations have long suggested Epstein acted as a “honey-trap” operative, targeting powerful men for leverage. Investigative writers told The Guardian and Le Monde that his strategy—curating encounters, collecting secrets, cultivating dependency—resembled intelligence tradecraft. Some reports connected this pattern to Mossad, though former “Israeli” officials deny involvement. Regardless, Epstein’s tactics mirrored a system designed to entangle and control, turning secrets into currency.

The Moral Mirror

The Epstein files reveal a striking contradiction: political and financial elites who publicly lecture the world about values and accountability often operated in private spaces where abuse was routine. A European official told Der Spiegel, “Epstein was not a billionaire genius—he was a man who knew how to exploit a broken system.” Influence consistently outweighed accountability, and morality stopped at the doors of the privileged. Epstein’s correspondence demonstrates how quickly a society without oversight becomes a playground for the powerful and how easily ethical boundaries crumble when influence replaces responsibility.