 "Elite decadence documented in Epstein files marks the final stages of the decline of American empire")
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”, said Marcellus in Hamlet. It indicated the collapse of Denmark’s social and moral order. Sounds familiar?
But first, Silence of the Lambs.
“A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”
When Hannibal Lecter uttered the line that has since gained cinematic immortality, the audience would have broken into a cold sweat and felt a chill trickling down their spines. Thankfully, you are unlikely to encounter the cannibalistic serial killer, who lacked any shred of remorse or guilt for his action, beyond the pages of a book, media device or celluloid. Or are you?
It is difficult to imagine the sadistic, almost theatrical depravity that has spilled onto the public domain following the Trump administration’s release of more than three million pages of documents as part of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, including more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. The sick perversions of the western elite, who preyed upon young defenceless minor girls (and even unborn foetuses, if some allegations are to be believed) may discomfit even Hannibal Lecter.
I was researching a different topic for my column when the US Department of Justice happened to drop the latest cache of Epstein files. For the next couple of days, as the morbid details slowly unfolded, it was difficult to come to terms with reality. The toe-curling, stomach churning accounts of rape, sexual violence and sadistic torture, ripping off babies from mothers’ wombs, were enough to drive one’s sleep away for weeks.
We were aware of the rapes, paedophilia and sadism. But one is admittedly unprepared to encounter accounts of demonic sacrifice, chopping off feet with a scimitar, dismembered babies with their intestines ripped off and faeces from the offal being consumed.
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View AllWe read documented allegations of confinement and dehumanization. One victim’s statement describes being blindfolded and taken to an underground site where girls were held in “horse-stall-like cells” to be “viewed” by Epstein and groups of men.
The victim, an underage girl, recounts being abused for her appearance, forced to perform sexual acts for approval, raped, and told she was “evil” for supposedly enjoying it.
During the sentencing of Ghislaine Maxwell, partner in crime of Epstein who died in prison under mysterious circumstances, survivor Sarah Ransome recounted the horrific suffering she was subjected to – being raped multiple times a day, kept starved of food and pumped with drugs.
In her statement, she testified, “Soon after arriving (in New York), I met an Epstein/Maxwell recruiter named Natalya Malyshev in a club. She befriended me and, soon after that, arranged for me to meet Jeffery. She described him as a kind philanthropist who could help me get into FIT and provide much-needed support, something which was alien to me.
“Over the next seven to eight months, I became, against my will, nothing more than a human sex toy with a heartbeat and soul for the entertainment of Epstein, Maxwell and others. Sometimes I was subjected to sexual predation multiple times per day, both in his New York mansion and on his private island St. Little James in the US Virgin Islands.
“On one visit to the island, the sexual demands, degradation and humiliation became so horrific that I tried to escape by attempting to jump off a cliff into shark-infested waters, but was caught by Maxwell and company moments before jumping. At the time, the extremely risky escape seemed more appealing than being raped one more time.”
What was even more shocking, if such a thing is possible, is that not only some of the planet’s most powerful, wealthy and influential men and women took part in ritualistic debauchery and all shades of sexual degeneracy sponsored and arranged by a paedophile who ran the world’s biggest child sex trafficking racket, not a single of his ‘clients’ so far has been prosecuted.
To be clear, not all the names revealed to have a connection with Epstein were involved (or alleged to have been involved) in the sordid crimes or illegal actions, but the fact that a man of Epstein’s ‘reputation’ was chummy with some of the most illustrious names from almost every walk of life who literally run the world – the who’s who of western power elite from billionaires, politicians, British or Norwegian royalty to filmmakers, celebrities, philanthropists and even scientist, thinkers and academicians – tells us of the moral rot that afflicts the western, specifically American body politic.
It exposes an interconnected network of the most influential people who operated within a shared ecosystem of back-scratching familiarity or predatory indulgence, shielded by wealth and the subversion of the rule of law. Some names are hard to believe.
Elon Musk, it was revealed in the cache of documents released Friday, was in correspondence with the convicted sex offender more times than was publicly known.
Though it seems Musk never actually made it to the island, probably due to logistical incompatibilities, some of the alleged exchanges indicate that he was more than willing to pay a visit. According to the documents, Musk writes in December 2013, “Will be in the BVI/St Bart’s area over the holidays. Is there a good time to visit?”
Epstein replies: “any day 1st - 8th . play it by ear if you want. always space for you.”
That visit didn’t take place because Epstein was busy with a program in New York, and wrote to Musk, “Bad news- Unfortunately , my schedule will keep me in New York . I was really looking forward to finally spending some time together with just fun as the agenda. so i am very disappointed. Hopefully we can schedule another time in the near future”.
In an earlier exchange in 2012, Epstein wrote to Musk, asking “how many people will you be for the heli to island”.
“Probably just Talulah and me. What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?” Musk replied, in a probable reference to his former wife Talulah Riley.
The allegations involving Bill Gates are wilder. Fresh release of draft emails found in Epstein’s computer carry explosive allegations that Gates contracted a sexually transmitted disease from “Russian girls” and sought to slip antibiotics to his then-wife Melinda without her knowledge.
In a lengthy message to the Microsoft founder, Epstein wrote, “TO add insult to the injury you them (sic) implore me to please delete the emails regarding your std, your request that I provide you antibiotics that you can surreptitiously give to Melinda and the description of your penis.” Gates fervently denied the allegations.
Billionaire businessman and co-founder of Virgin Group Richard Branson’s name appeared in multiple documents Friday, including undated images with Epstein on an island. In a 2013 email exchange, Epstein mailed Branson thanking him for his hospitality. Branson replied, “Any time you’re in the area would love to see you. As long as you bring your harem!”, reports WSJ.
In the latest files released Friday, 2028 Olympic Committee Chair Casey Wasserman, in charge of the upcoming edition of Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California, is revealed to have sent a series of flirty and risqué emails to Ghislaine Maxwell at a time when Wasserman’s wife was heavily pregnant.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, known formerly as Prince Andrew before he was stripped of his title, was seen in freshly emerged images crouched on all fours over a woman lying on a floor, her face redacted. In one photo, he is seen looking directly at the camera. In another, he appears to be touching the woman’s abdomen. Some emails indicate he offered to host Epstein at Buckingham Palace.
Howard Lutnick, Trump’s commerce secretary, claimed to have cut all ties with the convicted felon in October 2005. The newly released emails show Lutnick planned a visit to Epstein’s island with his family in 2012, years after Lutnick claimed he “will never be in the same room with the disgusting person ever again.” One email dated 24 December, 2012, confirms that he visited and met Epstein at least once.
The man whose name appears over three thousand times in the released documents – and bear in mind that the Trump administration has refused to release nearly 50% of the files that remain either heavily redacted or entirely withheld purportedly for ‘national security interests’ – the man whose close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein is a matter of public record, is the president of the United States.
A civil lawsuit from 2016, found in the Epstein files, accuses Trump of sexually assaulting and raping a 13-year-old girl at parties hosted by Epstein in New York. She was also raped by Epstein.
Statement from a Department of Justice document related to the case brought against Trump and Epstein by the victim states, “Plaintiff was subject to acts of rape, sexual misconduct, criminal sexual acts, sexual abuse, forcible touching, assault, battery, intentional and reckless infliction of emotional distress, duress, false imprisonment. and threats of death and/or serious bodily injury by the Defendants that took place at several parties during the summer months of 1994.”
The statement further adds, “Defendant Trump initiated sexual contact with Plaintiff at four different parties. On the fourth and final sexual encounter with Defendant Trump, Defendant Trump tied Plaintiff to a bed, exposed himself to Plaintiff, and then proceeded to forcibly rape Plaintiff. During the course of this savage sexual attack, Plaintiff loudly pleaded with Defendant Trump to stop but with no effect. Defendant Trump responded to Plaintiff’s pleas by violently striking Plaintiff in the face with his open hand and screaming that he would do whatever he wanted. Exhs. A and B.”
It appears from the statement that Trump issued death threats to the victim if she divulged details.
“Immediately following this rape, Defendant Trump threatened Plaintiff that, were she ever to reveal any of the details of the sexual and physical abuse of her by Defendant Trump, Plaintiff and her family would be physically harmed if not killed.”
The latest batch of documents reveal even more repugnant allegations against the American president. One contention, containing an uncorroborated tip made to the federal investigative agency FBI with references to Trump, states that “(Redacted) reported an unidentified female friend who was forced to perform oral sex on President Trump approximately 35 years ago in NJ. The friend told Alexis that she was approximately 13-14 years old when this occurred, and the friend allegedly bit President Trump while performing oral sex. The friend was allegedly hit in the face after she laughed about biting president Trump.”
Friday’s cache of documents includes a six-page-long email exchange dating back to August 6-7, 2025, between an unknown contact and the FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force in New York that includes several sexual assault and rape allegations against president Trump, reports The Mirror.
One specific allegation, apart from the one already mentioned, claimed Trump held ‘calendar girls’ parties at his club Mar-a-Lago and these girls were “auctioned off.” Trump, it is claimed, “penetrated the girls with his finger” and “rated the minors for tightness”. The White House has denied all claims as baseless.
I have cited enough incidents. An extensive coterie of extremely powerful individuals not only belonged to a noted sex offender’s social and sexual orbit, but actively overlooked the antecedents of the man, downplayed the severity of his crimes and some even took part in the debauchery involving minor girls, apparently secure in the belief that they are above the rule of law. Some decided to head off to an island to commit guilt-free offences that would land an ordinary individual in jail for the rest of his life.
It speaks of the breakdown of a social contract where the state overlooks its primary obligation. In 2007, Epstein, despite a mountain of evidence against him, entered into a controversial non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with federal prosecutors in Florida that effectively granted him immunity from federal sex trafficking charges. The deal was brokered by then-US attorney Alexander Acosta, who later became the secretary of labour under the first Trump administration.
Beyond this moral degeneracy that speaks of a two-tier justice system where powerful figures connected to Epstein face minimal or no consequences for their illegal actions, the Epstein saga offers another terrifying insight into the state of America, the superpower caught in the vortex of an inevitable decline. The Epstein scandal is a focal point for the argument that American imperial influence is facing an inevitable downturn owing to internal ethical decay.
We should, in fact, thank Trump for ripping off the mask of morality that shaped America’s soft power for generations. The entire degenerate Epstein ecosystem is either in power or proximate to power right now in the US – a country that has long positioned itself as a champion of human rights, women’s rights, the ‘protector’ of rule of law and international ‘rules-based order’.
As the files tumble out of the closet, the people who symbolised the supremacy, sway and moral grandstanding of the world’s most powerful nation are being shown for what they truly are, and the profound disconnect between America’s public proclamations and elite private behavior is revealed.
While writing this column, I stumbled onto an image of Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted felon who’s spending her time in jail, attending a ‘Calvin Klein Human Rights Campaign’ event on April 17, 2013, in New York City.
The woman who symbolizes the gangrene infesting the heart and lungs of American power elite is a fit candidate for such a campaign.
The Epstein files, however, don’t simply reveal individual misconduct. The documents expose systemic rot in the institutions that underwrite America’s soft power and geopolitical pull. The files are the primary indicator of the moral decay within the American empire – the subversion of institutional integrity to protect elite interests. This fundamentally undermines the liberal internationalist project that has defined American foreign policy since World War Two.
In The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 18th century British historian and scholar Edward Gibbon argued that Rome succumbed not merely to marauding ‘barbarian’ pressure but to the slow and secret poison of internal decay. This decay was characterized by the loss of civic values among the citizenry and, more importantly, the “decadence of the elite culture”.
As Gibbon pointed out, empires do not fall to external enemies until they have first been hollowed out from within by a parasitic elite. The Epstein files confirm that America’s decadent aristocracy is focused on its own survival and the protection of its lifestyle, and while America still remains the world’s most powerful nation, its soft power is eroding faster than Emperor Trump’s falling favourability at home.
(The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.)
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