The Epstein Class

The recent arrest in Britain of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (formerly HRH Prince Andrew, the 12th Duke of York) illustrates the increasingly serious after-effects of the international scandal surrounding the late sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein. (The charge against Andrew is "Misconduct in Public Office" and refers to alleged official misconduct while Andrew was a UK Trade Representative from 2001 to 2011, allegations based presumably on revelations derived from the recently released Epstein files.) The arrest of the former prince demonstrates how seriously Epstein-related scandalous misbehaviors are being taken in the UK and elsewhere in Europe (e.g., France, Norway).

At the same time, this event also highlights how the opposite seems to be the case in the US at present. While some public figures have suffered loss of reputation, and some have stepped back from certain public positions, this has all happened in the private sector. So far, no American (other than the late Epstein himself) has been held to account in any legal process. Indeed, no American seems to have suffered anything comparable to the  public scrutiny suffered by three British citizens (Ghislaine Maxwell, Peter Mandelson, and Andrew) implicated in various ways in this scandal. (All three, it should be noted, deny any wrongdoing. Maxwell was convicted by a US Court in 2021. Neither Peter Mandelson nor Prince Andrew has been tried for anything and so both retain a legal presumption of innocence.)

What this obviously highlights is precisely what the contemporary populist critique has long claimed - that there is, in this supposedly anti-aristocratic democratic country of ours, a largely unaccountable elite defined by wealth and cultural power, who hang out with one another, enjoying the myriad benefits that flow from such oligarchic and meritocratic connections,  and go about their amazingly privileged lives with little no public accountability. This suggests a system of shameless apparent contempt for ordinary Americans, who are typically subject to a very different set of standards when it comes to responsibility for one's behavior. It is not just that the very rich may be able to buy themselves out of legal and other troubles. That is bad enough. Rather it highlights a whole alternative culture of meritocratic oligarchy which seems literally to live in a different system from the rest of us. This is the so-called "Epstein Class."

The MAGA movement achieved prominence in part because of conspiracy theories which referenced the Epstein affair. Prior to his reelection in 2024, candidate Trump apparently expressed openness to releasing all the relevant Epstein information. Many of his supporters expected this to happen, and the reactions of the likes of congressman Thomas Massie and ex-congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene reflect their apparent disappointment with how this has been handled since. 

What this sordid affair exposes about the unaccountability of some very wealthy and powerful people is bad enough. The account also highlights how strangely vacuous the lives of many of the rich and famous now appear to be. In what kind of a world would a married Ivy League University president and former Cabinet member, pursuing a relationship with someone who considered him her mentor, seek relationship advice from the likes of Jeffrey Epstein? In what kind of a world would a future Cabinet secretary, having claimed to have previously cut off all ties with Epstein, be shown instead to have visited his private island with his wife, children, and nannies? In what kind of a world would supposedly smart, accomplished people be so attracted to - even seemingly besotted by - the likes of Jeffrey Epstein? What does that all say about the corrupting character of wealth and privilege?

In the 13th century, Saint Thomas Aquinas (1226-1274) discussing the religious practice of evangelical poverty, noted that wealth poses three obstacles to virtue. They are "the anxiety which often accompanies wealth," second, "love of wealth, which increases with the possession of wealth," and, third, "vainglory or conceit, which is a product of wealth." [Cf. Summa Theologiae II.II, q. 188, a. 7].

Along with the depravity of possibly actionable crimes and victims' damaged lives, the Epstein files have revealed a long-standing sickness which deeply infects our society, that very "vainglory," which Saint Thomas so rightly recognized as "a product of wealth."

Photo: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, younger brother of Britain’s King Charles III, leaves Aylsham Police Station on Thursday night. (Phil Noble/Reuters)