Political Scandal Double Standards, the "Epstein Class" Divide, and Trump’s Cultural Impact, with Andrew Sullivan
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How have political scandal standards changed since the Clinton era?
Welcome, Nexters. This is NextUp. I'm Mark Halpern, Editor-in-Chief of the live interactive video platform, Two-Way. And I'm your guide through all the noise, through all the mist, all the confusion. My goal here, as always, very simple, skip over the talking points, skip the fake stuff, and get you what you need to know to know what's actually happening now and what's coming up. So you're three steps ahead. I'd say at least three steps. I've got an incredible guest today, Andrew Sullivan, really one of the most impressive people I know as a thinker, as a writer. He's been doing it a very long time at a very high level. I recently was on his podcast. I enjoyed it so much and delighted that Andrew will be here with us.
We're going to talk about AI. how he uses it in his life, and how he sees it for the country. We're going to talk about this concept much discussed, the Epstein class. Who are they and what should be done about them? And then I'm going to talk to him about the future of America. He's thought a lot about what Donald Trump has done to the country from his point of view. We're going to talk about who would be his ideal to come next. Before we talk to Andrew, though, I've been doing a lot of reporting lately on what I think is one of the most undercovered stories, both now in the context of the Epstein files, but also as we think about people running for president in 2028, a topic we talk about here quite a bit, of course.
I'm going to take you inside my reporting, both that I've done this week, but also that I've been doing for a very long time around the Epstein files, and then going all the way back to the start of my career covering national politics is the shifting standards, sometimes a double standard, sometimes even a triple standard that seems to apply in different ways to different people in public life when it comes to scandal, controversy, disclosure. We've seen people commit offenses in the context of running for office or being in office that just aren't treated differently. Two people can jaywalk and one gets a death penalty and the other just keeps walking. I'm going to explain as best I can how this has worked in the past, how it's working now,
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What is the 'Epstein class' and why is it significant?
And shortly after I started covering him, two massive scandals broke. By coincidence, I was the reporter who broke them both with ABC News. I had help from my colleagues, but I was the one who asked Bill Clinton first about Jennifer Flowers after the National Enquirer ran a story alleging a relationship between Bill Clinton and her, and then about the allegations that he dodged the draft based in large part on a letter that he'd written to the head of his draft board or an official on his draft board.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How have political scandal standards changed since the Clinton era?
0:02–3:42
2
What is the 'Epstein class' and why is it significant?
3:42–12:30
3
How has Donald Trump impacted American political culture?
12:30–17:47
4
What are the implications of wealth concentration in today's economy?
17:47–26:21
5
How can political candidates navigate the current scandal landscape?
26:21–33:17
6
What challenges do Democrats face in the upcoming elections?
33:17–44:10
7
What are the potential future leaders for the Democratic Party?
44:10–51:31
8
How can society balance AI advancements with ethical considerations?
51:31–1:13:35