Tea at Trianon: What Lies Beneath the Epstein Scandals

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, February 21, 2026

What Lies Beneath the Epstein Scandals

From TFP:

The Epstein scandal is only possible because a corrupt liberal culture already contains so much of the depravity found in the files. It is mainstream and permeates many sectors. Films and media portray and celebrate immoral relationships everywhere. Fashion and pop culture depict and even glorify the most depraved behaviors. Memes and social media stretch the limits of decency with shock content that breaks all the rules. The general public shows an appetite for the lurid details of these scandals that suggest an implicit complicity with such lewdness.

When the Epstein iceberg appeared on the horizon, the ground was prepared. People are drawn to these revelations that promote all that is irrational, corrupt and impure. The tip of an iceberg presupposes a vast ice mass beneath the freezing surface. Thus, the high-profile debauchery that fills the headlines presupposes a sinister underworld drawing from all levels of society, corrupting society as a whole. Local networks of iniquity must also exist parallel to those of Epstein. These networks must have their Epstein-like figures that facilitate the spread of vice and lewdness. They have their dark secrets. The only difference is that their characters remain hidden.

Indeed, many have tried to frame the Epstein debate as a class struggle between corrupt elites versus the uncorrupt common people. However, the truth is that the whole of society is rotten and involved in the general decadence. Any return to order must involve a general moral regeneration. (Read more.)