Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, and the Sideshow of Bathroom Politics

0:00You're listening to Newsweek Radio. Irreverent news talk and opinion without agenda. From the 72nd floor of One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. This is Newsweek Radio with your host, Jesse Edwards.

0:40Remember that this entire Epstein fire started all when Trump and Musk got into a big fight and Musk accused Trump of being on the list. It's important to remember this fact as it's the Energizer bunny of news stories and it's easily become the biggest thorn in Trump's side from either of his administrations. I don't think he's going to survive this politically because the damage has already largely been done by losing the hearts and minds of the Alex Jones faction of the GOP, which in my best guess is up to about one third of them. At least one out of four. I'm willing to bet that Trump is simply thrilled that none of this came out while he was running against Kamala Harris.

1:14Maybe that's why he was keeping Elon Musk so close to his campaign for all those months. Kind of a genius move, if it's true. Democratic Representative Roe Kahana of California and Republican Representative Thomas Massey of Kentucky said in a media advisory this week that the survivors would join them at a news conference on September 3rd. Yeah, I'm suddenly becoming a big fan of Thomas Massey for sticking to his guns on this, even though Trump is sure to retaliate sooner or later. What's that? Oh, Trump has threatened to find a Republican to challenge Massey in the 26th primary. Got it. I think the point is that it should not matter if your favorite president was involved with Epstein.

1:48The people are demanding the truth, and if Trump was involved, we deserve to know exactly what happened. And if it turns out that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton were both involved, we also deserve to know exactly what happened. And if it turns out that one or both of them were part of the problem here, they must be held accountable, even more so than just a private citizen would be under the same circumstances. Something that should be true for anyone in a position of leadership, mind you. Yeah, life in prison for insider trading, life in prison for human trafficking, and life in prison for looking directly into the camera and lying to the American people.

2:18I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again. I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky. I said it before, and I get the feeling that I'm going to be saying this a lot over the coming weeks and months, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton are cut from the same stained blue dress. Just my opinion, obviously. But both of them are ladies' men who never stopped acting single. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Whatever you want. Grab them by the pussy. I can do anything. I mean, between Bill's White House fling with an intern to Trump's porn star payoff, same playbook, different decades.

2:55They were both impeached, twice if you count the spirit of it. Yes, different charges, but same political witch hunt speech afterward. Both of them treat the law like it doesn't apply to them. Bill phrasing the meaning of is. It depends upon what the meaning of the word is. And Trump claiming immunity from everything short of murder. I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters, okay? And both of these men are absolute horndogs when it comes to the ladies. It's not even an opinion, it's public knowledge. The only difference between Donald Trump and Bill Clinton is about$6 billion.

3:27Spray paint Bill Clinton orange and I wouldn't be able to tell them apart. Next headline, Hillary Clinton explains how she could nominate Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize. What? No, that doesn't sound like she's brown-nosing Donald Trump to get him to back off on Bill Clinton over the Epstein mess, is it? Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that she would consider nominating President Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize if he successfully negotiated a peace deal with Russia that was favorable to Ukraine and didn't capitulate to Vladimir Putin. Speaking on the Raging Moderates podcast, that's a cool title, I like that, I got to check that podcast out.

3:59Hillary Clinton had this to say. Take a listen. Maybe this is the opportunity to make it clear that there must be a ceasefire. There will be no exchange of territory and that over a period of time, Putin should be actually withdrawing from the territory he seized in order to demonstrate his good faith efforts, let us say, not to threaten European security. You know, look, if we could pull that off, if President Trump were the architect of that, I'd nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize. No, she's clearly not sucking up to Donald Trump here, because what she's suggesting is never going to happen.

4:39And as of this recording, I think Trump is meeting with Putin right now as I speak. But if I were to guess, I'd say these two are kissing and making up right now after Trump lets Putin keep the land that he has illegitimately stolen by murdering civilians of Ukraine. Next headline in Newsweek. Does Melania Trump's$1 billion lawsuit threat against Hunter Biden have merit? Legal analysts weighed in on how Melania Trump's lawsuit threats may play out. Well, here's my analysis. No, her case has absolutely no merit whatsoever. Look, Hunter Biden is an idiot, but he was only repeating something that journalist Michael Wolf said.

5:12So if Melania wants to sue somebody, she should sue Michael Wolf. It's a really strange flex considering the optics here with the fact that they know where this apparent rumor started. So why not just laugh it off when a crackhead like Hunter Biden shares an unoriginal thought? Why not go after the source? Now, I've never understood the right-wing obsession with Hunter Biden, other than the fact that he looks and sounds almost exactly like Joe Biden. Maybe they subconsciously know that Joe Biden's too old to pick on, so they instinctively attack his offspring. Maybe so they don't feel so bad about themselves?

5:40That's a bit of a stretch. I've got no idea. Here's the next headline at Newsweek.com. Teen says she was forced to prove her gender in bathroom. An advocacy group filed a charge of discrimination on behalf of 18-year-old Girka Mudra after a Buffalo Wild Wings server allegedly followed her into a woman's restroom in Minnesota and accused her of being a male. How rude. Buffalo Wild Wings is a pretty great bar, though, isn't it? I mean, for a chain restaurant. Those boneless mango habanero wings are pretty badass, with some fried pickles and a few pints. This idiot server only laughed after the poor girl showed that she had breasts, according to advocacy group Gender Justice.

6:14The group said that she is a biracial lesbian teenager and is not transgender. You see, this is where I think the whole gender topic falls flat on its ass for both sides with the argument every single time. Generally speaking, in this case, the server is clearly in the wrong. But on one side, you've got a bunch of liberals who act like restrooms should function as a free-for-all. And on the other side, we've got conservatives who act like they want genital inspections at every restroom doorway in America. Yeah, the inspector genital. Or is it inspector's genital? Why can't people just mind their own damn business and report suspicious behavior when it's called for?

6:48Because the problem here is that we've always, throughout the history of time, with all form of politics or agenda removed, had feminine men and masculine women around. Take away the identity politics, strip away the scientific data, and look at this from the human perspective. Absolutely none of us are qualified to determine somebody's gender based on their looks. If you don't want to share a public bathroom with the public, then I suggest you keep your happy ass safely planted on a familiar commode at home. Because public is clearly not your thing. I suppose this all ties into the gay cakes debate.

7:23Even though I'm thoroughly disgusted by the identity politics of gender and race, when you're dealing with the public, you don't get to pick and choose who does and doesn't get access to your services based on discrimination. Because in this little fantasy post-identity politics world that I keep imagining, there's still a zero-tolerance policy for actual discrimination, the real kind, not the made-up microaggressions that only serve to distract us from moving forward together as human beings first. If you're having a really hard time with the idea that there's a man wearing a dress in the bathroom that your daughter is using, that's completely legitimate, actually.

7:56So keep a close eye on your kids in public restrooms, because they've never been safe from weirdos in public bathrooms of either of the sexes. Alternatively, if you're having a really hard time with the idea that half the country isn't ready for dudes wearing dresses in the girls bathroom, maybe you should check your privilege at the door for a change and be a little more inclusive and open-minded enough to realize that not everyone needs to vibe with your world view. Am I getting through to anybody out there? Some unfortunate women are always going to be mistaken for men and some unfortunate men are always going to be mistaken for women too.

8:29So don't be the jerk that calls one of these people out and puts them on the spot to prove their gender because that actually makes you the pervert. And maybe if you spend less time eyeballing people in the bathroom to determine their gender, maybe you could focus more of your attention on the objective at hand, which should be to relieve yourself. And on the other hand, don't be one of these jerks who intentionally goes into the bathrooms dressed in drag just to freak out the normies in the squares trying to shake them down with a lawsuit either. Yeah, we could see you too. How did we get locked into these stupid kind of culture wars to begin with?

8:58It's a lot of shame to go around. Shame on left-wingers for shaming right-wingers who don't understand the complex spectrum of human sexuality. And shame on the right-wingers for shaming left-wingers who don't understand why you might feel a little uncomfortable with your kids using a restroom next to a linebacker wearing lipstick and a miniskirt. I don't even think it's really about bathrooms at all. It's more about how easy it is to keep us at each other's throats over the smallest, stupidest things. You pit Americans against each other over who pees where. And while we're bickering in the stalls, the people who actually run things are lifting our wallets.

9:28Because bathroom politics is a sideshow. The distraction, the smoke machine, they roll out so we won't notice when the real money and power change hands. It's all the same playbook. Pit us against each other over the smallest differences so we never notice the biggest ones. We can do better than this. We're smarter than this, I hope. And if we're not, then it's time to grow up and realize that while these things might matter to you on the surface, there's a much bigger world out there just waiting for you to advance to the next level of discourse. A next level where people are secure enough in their own belief systems that they don't find the need to impose them on others.

10:03Is that too much to ask for? A next level that identifies as human regardless of gender, race, religion, or any superficial trait that has no bearing on our shared humanity whatsoever? If you really want to celebrate your sexuality or race, go ahead. Nobody's stopping you. Do your thing. Just don't expect anybody else to fully understand what you need to be you. And at the same note, presume that you don't understand what's required for them to be them. We don't need to understand each other all the time, but if we can't agree to disagree a little more often, I don't know if we can keep calling ourselves the United States of America.

10:35But not all hope is lost. I'm encouraged by the fact that you're still here listening to me up on this soapbox here at Newsweek as I share my opinions every other day. The show's doing better than ever, so I must be doing something right, and I think it's because of this idea I've been growing towards of transcending our own political bullshit and getting back to the fundamentals of asking ourselves who we are as human beings first, free of the labels of superficiality that many of us adorn ourselves with like badges of honor. This past year, I've really started to find my voice after years of being the behind-the-scenes guy in talk radio.

11:05And a big part of that voice that's emerging is my belief that there are a lot of you out there who are tired of these games, the games that are only serving to stir the pot, but never bring any real progress when it comes to bringing people together. So I'm going to take this up as one of my core beliefs, and I'm going to start looking for others who subscribe to this colorblind post-identity politics dialogue, because it's one that's open to anyone willing to try it on just to see how it fits. And until we can do it again, it's Newsweek Radio. I'm Jesse Edwards. Catch you next time. Bye. And we say bye-bye.

11:36Newsweek Radio is a member of the Trust Project. I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, okay?