Go offline with the Player FM app!
How Clinton, Trump, and Epstein Rewired America’s Moral Compass
Manage episode 521289209 series 3638264
We revisit the scandal-soaked 1990s—Packwood, Thomas, Clinton—and explore how failing to enforce norms around abuse of power helped create the world in which the Epstein scandal could flourish. This episode traces the unraveling of political accountability from the Clinton impeachment to the Trump Access Hollywood moment, and finally the global Epstein reckoning. We show how feminists in the ’90s and evangelicals in the 2010s made parallel bargains—each excusing their champion’s abuses for political gain. The result is a culture that normalized impunity for the powerful, and primed America for a populist revolt against a ruling class that protects its own.
-----
CREDITS
Executive Producer: Poppy Damon
Associate Producer: Adam Feldman
Sound Designer and Composer: Tony Peer
Original theme songs by Eli Lake
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
36 episodes
Manage episode 521289209 series 3638264
We revisit the scandal-soaked 1990s—Packwood, Thomas, Clinton—and explore how failing to enforce norms around abuse of power helped create the world in which the Epstein scandal could flourish. This episode traces the unraveling of political accountability from the Clinton impeachment to the Trump Access Hollywood moment, and finally the global Epstein reckoning. We show how feminists in the ’90s and evangelicals in the 2010s made parallel bargains—each excusing their champion’s abuses for political gain. The result is a culture that normalized impunity for the powerful, and primed America for a populist revolt against a ruling class that protects its own.
-----
CREDITS
Executive Producer: Poppy Damon
Associate Producer: Adam Feldman
Sound Designer and Composer: Tony Peer
Original theme songs by Eli Lake
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
36 episodes
All episodes
×Welcome to Player FM!
Player FM is scanning the web for high-quality podcasts for you to enjoy right now. It's the best podcast app and works on Android, iPhone, and the web. Signup to sync subscriptions across devices.