Dear listeners,
We finally have word that the Epstein files will be made public, but is that a mistake? Ben and Megan offer their arguments for keeping the secrets secret, and I’d note these are the usual arguments: the general reasons that we don’t splay open investigative files to share all the information that never made it to trial. Rep. Clay Higgins, the lone congressional vote against releasing the files, offered these reasons this week. But no one else agreed, and I’m not sure I agree, either. Certainly, I couldn’t advise a member of Congress to oppose the release. Donald Trump promised he would do this, the voters voted for it, and though I should probably be above this, I think Trump deserves to get what he promised good and hard.
And also, his fierce resistance to releasing the files has piqued my curiosity — what is in there? Unlike one of my co-hosts, I’m convinced Epstein really did kill himself, but I don’t have a great theory of what Trump thinks could be so damaging inside, and I would like to find out.
Also on this week’s show, we look at the effort to rehabilitate the reputation of price controls (ew), and I offer my one qualified defense of them. We celebrate the end of the penny (and congratulate journalist Caity Weaver for figuring out it would be legal to just do this), and we discuss the TikTok proposition that “the new American dream is to leave.”
We hope you enjoy the episode,
Josh
