Friends,

Today we take another deep dive into the murky world of Epstein and Trump, looking at how Trump’s consolidation of power has made it harder for him to rebut charges of a cover-up. We also look at the stories that “Epsteingate” has crowded out this week: Palestinian children starving in Gaza because of Netanyahu’s policies (backed by Trump), more than a third of all federal judges complaining that Trump is defying them, and a mind-boggling number of people being detained in ICE’s inhumane detention camps. We also look at Trump’s silencing of critics such as Stephen Colbert, Washington Post columnists, and the students and faculty of Columbia University.

Our special guest today is Elliot Kirschner, director of The Last Class film. (His latest Substack post is about the first time he and I ever met — the origin story of the film.)

Please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, take our poll, and join in the conversation.

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