Luke Thomas: The Epstein files expose a deeper story about elite impunity, and why accountability keeps stalling even when the evidence is ugly.

The bigger question is not only who did what, but why so many powerful people stayed tolerant of Epstein’s orbit long after his crimes were known, and what that says about how “respectable” institutions protect their own.

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Listen to the full conversation over on Luke’s Substack: https://lthomas.substack.com/

Chapters

00:00 Russiagate comparison question

00:00 UK consequences mentioned

00:00 US failure to punish elites

00:01 Files unvetted, thread pulling

00:02 Private consequences vs prosecutions

00:03 Minimization and backlash reactions

00:03 Shadow world beyond sex crimes

00:05 Morality question and impunity culture

00:06 Virtue, integrity, and power

00:07 Peter Attia example discussed

00:09 Participation vs tolerance debate

00:10 “Rich dონს” and scapegoats

Valentina Gomez is what happens when “own the libs” becomes a full-time campaign strategy, and the results are as ugly as they are predictable. From performative outrage to targeting powerless groups for clout, this conversation breaks down why that style of politics spreads, who it rewards, and why even other conservatives sometimes flinch at how far it goes.

From there, the focus shifts to the Washington Post’s unraveling, what the layoffs signal about billionaire ownership, and why “appeasing bad faith bias complaints” is not a business plan. The discussion digs into the broader reality of media consolidation and how shrinking choices makes meaningful consumer resistance harder, not easier.

The last stretch turns personal and local: what federal cuts and political theater are doing to Washington, DC’s economy and reputation, how public narratives can damage real communities, and why watching a city get scapegoated can be radicalizing.

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Chapters

00:00 Valentina Gomez explained

00:32 “Own the libs” politics

01:18 Stripes reference and escalation

02:11 Deepak Chopra and Epstein files

02:40 Washington Post layoffs fallout

03:58 Why Bezos let it decay

06:24 Doge cuts and DC damage

08:37 Congress punishing DC budget

Luke Thomas: Trump’s vision of “real policing” helps explain the ICE brutality, surveillance dragnet, and the escalating talk around the Insurrection Act and elections. The throughline is not just immigration enforcement. It is power, force, and setting new norms for what the executive branch can do to people in public.

This breaks down how years of pro violence policing rhetoric turns into a federal paramilitary posture through DHS, where aggressive tactics are treated as identity, not exception. It also digs into the modern toolkit behind the crackdown: biometric readers, license plate scans, bulk data, and the growing ability to route around traditional safeguards. The broader concern is that today’s targets are a test of capability and tolerance, and that the scope can widen quickly when institutions normalize overwhelming force.

The conversation also pivots to cultural deterioration and low information politics, including how distraction, anti learning sentiment, and screen habits shape public vulnerability to manipulation. Finally, it touches on historical immigration restriction and the costs of shutting doors, including how policy choices can backfire economically and socially.

Listen to the full conversation over on Luke’s Substack: https://lthomas.substack.com/

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Chapters

00:00 Trump remarks and ICE violence

01:00 Policing as violence ideology

02:00 DHS force and weak constraints

03:00 Surveillance dragnet and data tools

04:00 Insurrection Act and election fears

05:00 Reading decline and phone culture

06:00 Low info outrage politics

07:00 Incentives and online pile ons

08:00 Immigration restriction history

09:00 1924 Act and economic damage

10:00 The open door myth

Luke Thomas: Trump’s “staged assault” jab at Ilhan Omar is used as a jumping off point for a blunt argument about what MAGA actually wants: not restraint, not unity, not a statesman, but retribution politics and a leader who enjoys conflict.

From there, the discussion pivots into how hard it is to get high confidence information out of Iran in real time, why competing death toll claims spread so quickly, and what standards should apply before repeating numbers as fact.

It also addresses the broader problem of media credibility after Gaza coverage, and why “wait for better verification” does not equal sympathy for abusive regimes.

The back half tackles immigration narratives head on: the difference between moral outrage and smart policy, the claim that immigrants commit more crime, and the political conspiracy theory that Democrats “import” undocumented people to rig elections.

#lukethomas #imarICE #lukethomaspolitics

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Listen to the full conversation over on Luke’s Substack: https://lthomas.substack.com/

Chapters

00:00 Trump and Ilhan Omar claim

01:00 Why MAGA rejects statesmanship

02:00 Retribution politics explained

02:20 Iran death toll dispute

03:00 Limits of reliable sourcing

04:00 Protests and regime change timelines

05:00 Media credibility and verification

06:00 Immigration crime narrative check

08:00 “Imported votes” conspiracy rebuttal

Luke Thomas: Joe Rogan’s reaction to the Alex Pretti killing becomes a jumping off point for a wider argument about ICE, detention expansion, and the surveillance state, with the war on terror as the through-line. The discussion challenges the idea that public outrage is just “chaos,” and instead frames it as a predictable response to an executive branch force operating with perceived impunity, from aggressive tactics in communities to behavior that appears indifferent to court constraints.

#lukethomas #joerogan #donaldtrump

Listen to the full conversation over on Luke’s Substack: https://lthomas.substack.com/

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Chapters:

00:00 Joe Rogan’s stupid take

01:00 ICE detention network expansion

03:00 Courts defied and consequences

04:00 Immigration as broader target

08:00 What if protesters were armed

09:00 Alex Pretti video and risks

10:00 Why prior acts do not matter

Luke Thomas explains why Andrew Schulz having second thoughts about the Trump administration's behavior as it relates to the ICE killing of Alex Pretti or their heavy-handed immigration enforcement means nothing unless Schultz is willing to publicly acknowledge his failures that helped create this moment.

#andrewschulz #donaldtrump #flagrant

Luke Thomas digs into the question of where all of the previous supporters are of the Second Amendment or those who fly Don't Tread On Me flags in the wake of ICE killing U.S. citizens and federal officials saying Alex Pretti shouldn't have had a gun on him.

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#lukethomas #secondamendment #alexpretti

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is wrecking havoc on the streets of ordinary Americans. As part of a broader Department of Homeland Security (DHS) project, ICE is acting like a paramilitary force hell bent on a project of enforced ethnonationalism. While engaged in nominally in enforcement of immigration laws, the agency is also expanding the government’s surveillance state, routinely ignoring court orders

Some are now arguing what ICE is doing our inheritance from the war on terror. With ICE’s uses of detention centers as quasi-black sites, the creation of extra-legal justification and more, the argument is that what ICE is doing cannot be understood without realizing it’s the U.S. War on Terror brought home.

My conversation today is with Spencer Ackerman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning national security author and journalist. He has reported from Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. He shared in the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service Journalism for Edward Snowden’s NSA leaks to The Guardian.

In this interview, we discuss the depths of the core thesis, the racialzed component of ICE’s mission, why the agency cannot be reformed, how the media should cover this moment and more.

00:00 Intro

00:57 Reaction to ICE’s escalating operations

03:53 The War of Terror as a governing to paradigm explained

07:24 Was War of Terror tactics borne of desire to create parallel system?

09:44 ‘Demand’ for the war in Iraq

13:07 Was there 9/11 Response that wouldn’t have created the War on Terror?

17:20 Did the War on Terror create or merely enable Trumpism?

20:24 ICE’s evil just Stephen Miller or the Trumpist project?

23:46 Does ‘boomerang theory’ explain ICE?

#donaldtrump #waronterror #lukethomas

27:09 ICE operates from a place of legal exception

31:32 How America’s response to Timothy McVeigh explains how we prosecute state violence

35:26 How does race factor into the War on Terror and ICE?

41:00 The absence of “Don’t Tread On Me’ acolytes amidst ICE terror

43:20 Confederate social forces becoming ‘authentic’ American identity

47:58 Spencer Ackerman on his newsletter

48:41 Why ICE cannot be reformed

54:02 Understanding the Democratic party’s role in the War on Terror

58:30 What the media gets wrong about ICE coverage

Luke Thomas explains why political commentator Tim Pool tries to claim it's his "boot" that is doing the work of ICE in immigration enforcement.

#timpool #immigration #lukethomas

Luke Thomas explains how ICE's immunity and impunity to do whatever they want has lead to disastrous consequences in Minneapolis in yet another ICE shooting of an American.

#ice #trump #lukethomas