For Trump, it was never about “protecting women and girls”
From Jeffrey Epstein to Bill Cosby to Brett Kavanaugh to Sean Combs, sexual harm seems to register less when committed by men of wealth in positions of power.
For months we've heard President Trump's call to "protect women and girls" from trans people in public spaces -- despite the fact that President Trump is himself a known sexual offender, and that trans people are by far at greater risk of assault both physical and sexual than non-trans people, by nearly all metrics.
It should come as no surprise that his administration is scuttling the release of the Epstein files that may name other offenders, and is also allegedly considering a pardon for Ghislane Maxwell, the sex trafficker who worked alongside Epstein to exploit girls and women. This shows how little this administration actually cares about the healing of those who are harmed by sexual exploitation, or accountability for those who commit it.
It’s clear: it was never about “protecting women and girls.” It’s always been about protecting himself and his cronies – which, according to the bombshell Wall Street Journal article, Epstein was certainly counted among. And this shouldn’t surprise us: from churches to prisons, institutions have always protected their own from accountability for sexual harm.
Ironically, many in Trump’s base continue to want to 'protect' the girls harmed by Epstein and Maxwell's sexual exploitation, while overlooking the circumstances that actually foster and support exploitative environments. In just six months, the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans have systematically dismantled many of the systems that were previously in place to protect people from sex trafficking. They include:
ICE raids that have separated minors from their caregivers, thus increasing the chance that those minors may end up in trafficking.
The National LGBTQ+ Youth Suicide Lifeline was defunded and closed, rolling back a crucial touchpoint for people who often are kicked out of their homes by their parents or guardians because they are gay or trans.
Funding streams for sexual and domestic violence services have been paused, rolled back, or otherwise destabilized - services that provide the backbone of anti-trafficking initiatives.
An executive order increasing penalties and decreasing services for homeless people is a specific attack on people who are often at the most risk of trafficking.
The DEI purge has specifically dismantled anti-trafficking infrastructure, and the end of foreign aid will dramatically increase trafficking abroad.
The rending of the social safety net in the Big Bad Budget will create more economic instability, which is a key driver of sexual exploitation and trafficking in the US.
While Maine's sexual and domestic violence services and homeless services are literally crying out for restoration of baseline services, this administration continues to cut away at funding - while completely overlooking accountability for those at the top.
For years we've watched this administration stoke a conspiracy theory that peddles in tired tropes of wealthy white girls being targeted for exploitation, while overlooking the real exploitation that occurs among people who are at greatest risk: LGBTQ+ youth, homeless people, poor people, those with disabilities, and BIPOC and immigrant communities.
The Epstein files are a symbol of the white supremacist and capitalist excess of this administration; a fantasy of access to sex, alongside a fantasy of 'saving' girls and women, even as the people who experience the greatest harm are left out in the cold that they created.
