Minnesota, Trump and Epstein: it’s a tale of two classes | Lindsey German | Counterfire | 2 FEB 2026
| Good morning. I didn’t think I could be any more shocked by revelations in the Epstein files, but the latest have proved me wrong. They show an absolutely corrupt and venal ruling class, with many prominent figures in close relationships with the billionaire convicted sex offender. Names associated with Epstein include fellow billionaires Elon Musk and Bill Gates, former president Bill Clinton, current president Donald Trump, and from Britain Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, his former wife Sarah Ferguson and one of the most influential Labour politicians for nearly 40 years, Peter Mandelson. Melania Trump sent a warm and friendly email to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s partner and fellow predator, showing that she also had more than a passing acquaintance with the couple. We should not perhaps be surprised by the actions of the super-rich. They believe that they have the right to do whatever they want. They have built their fantastic wealth on the backs of the rest of us, and they have a boundless sense of entitlement to that wealth and what goes with it. Alongside that wealth they crave constant recognition, reward, and entertainment. Whether that takes the form of peace prizes, privatised space trips, extravagant weddings and birthday celebrations, they want it all. They believe that they can buy everything that they want – including the commodity of people – for their gratification. What could possibly have attracted them to the wealthy and manipulative Epstein, with his New York mansion, his private Caribbean island, and his network of sex parties and orgies which took place in luxury surroundings? The victims of the Epstein scandal were young, working-class women, trafficked to perform sex acts across continents. Many of them were as young as 13 or 14, often coerced into doing so or subject to rape and sexual assault. According to the files, Epstein offered Mountbatten-Windsor dinner with a young Russian woman; he also allegedly helped Gates when he contracted a sexual disease from ‘Russian girls’. A second woman has said she had sex with Mountbatten-Windsor in Britain, at the official residence of Royal Lodge. Mandelson – until September the ambassador to Washington and only last month feted on BBC news programmes – has his reputation well and truly shredded by revelations in the Financial Times that Epstein paid large amounts of money to his husband and an alleged $75,000 dollars to him while he was a Labour MP in 2003 and 2004. He had by then already been sacked from the cabinet for connections with various wealthy businessmen. He doesn’t appear to have declared these donations. Trump as president is dedicated to acting on behalf of the rich and powerful, the oligarchs and billionaires. We can see this with the war on migrants carried out by ICE, the attacks on workers’ living standards, the imperialist interventions over Venezuela or the gross ‘board of peace’ in Gaza. His Make America Great Again has tapped into working-class discontent, especially in the deindustrialised areas. While the truly hideous Dorian-Gray portrait of the ruling elite was on full display in the Epstein files, a very different picture of working people could be seen on the streets of Minneapolis. There can rarely have been a wider gulf between Them and Us, between their morals and ours. Where the Epstein files uncovered greed, Minneapolis demonstrated generosity; where the Epstein files showed corruption, Minneapolis showed solidarity; where Epstein practiced exploitation, Minneapolis resisted exploitation. It is to the immense credit of the people of Minnesota, and to workers across the US, that they are frustrating Trump’s plans. The huge upsurge in opposition to the brutal ICE raids and especially the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis has pushed him back. Now he has been forced to remove the commander of ICE, the ultra hardline Greg Bovino, from Minnesota, promise that ICE operations in the state will end soon, and make placatory noises towards the Democrat governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz. Kristi Noem, head of the Department of Homeland Security, is under pressure to resign or be impeached. The Trump U-turn came after a remarkable general strike in Minneapolis ten days ago. Last weekend we saw further strike and stayaway action across the country, with mass demonstrations in the big cities across the US. This anti-ICE wave of protests is now huge across the country. The Bruce Springsteen song about the killings epitomises the sense of solidarity felt for the protests. This solidarity incorporates trade unions, communities, school and college students, and many more. It is a class-based action defending a section of the working class under attack because of their nationality, race and migration status. The fact that both those killed were white, US citizens, shows how far this sense of solidarity goes throughout the working class. It is crucial to build on it. One veteran of the 60s movements said that this reminded them of those days and the way that people generalised from one issue to many issues. On 28 March there are ‘No Kings’ demos planned across the US against Trump, which are likely to be massive. He can be pushed back and defeated, not by the feeble Democrat party mainstream but by these expressions of working-class power. That would be a victory for our side. It would be a defeat for the billionaires, the rich and powerful – and for their idea that we are just pawns in their game. The terrible revelations in the Epstein files can only feed into the mood of discontent and anger which the Minneapolis events demonstrate. And that can only hasten Trump’s demise. Here, we have to campaign for full disclosure about Mandelson. It’s a disgrace that Starmer appointed him as ambassador and that he still sits in the House of Lords as a peer. Instead of being left to resign from Labour, he should have been thrown out of the party and he should have his peerage removed. But he’s only one particularly putrid apple in the barrel. Mountbatten-Windsor encapsulates the arrogance and impunity of unelected royalty. Time for them all to go. This week: I am speaking at a Cuba Solidarity meeting against any attack on the country by the US, following Venezuela. I’m also committed to organising protests if Trump attacks Iran. And I’ll be speaking at the Latin America Adelante conference next Saturday. I’m also reading on Russian and German revolutionary women, including a newly-translated book by Alexandra Kollontai, which is so interesting. Lindsey German |
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