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<v Speaker 1>What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the

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<v Speaker 1>Epstein Chronicles. Tom Tillis and John Cornyn want everybody to

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<v Speaker 1>believe that they're big, swinging senators, hard men who make

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<v Speaker 1>hard choices in the marble halls of power. Yo, cut

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<v Speaker 1>the shit when Todd Blanche's nomination landed in front of them.

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<v Speaker 1>These two had the leverage, the votes, the microphone, and

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<v Speaker 1>the whole damn country watching. They also had Epstein's survivors

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<v Speaker 1>telling them plainly and directly not to rubber stamp another

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<v Speaker 1>powerful insider who had failed to earn their trust. That

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<v Speaker 1>was the moment to plant their feet, square their shoulders,

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<v Speaker 1>and tell the machine to go screw itself. Instead, they

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<v Speaker 1>got weak in the knees. They talked tough for five minutes,

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<v Speaker 1>checked which way the political wind was blowing, and folded

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<v Speaker 1>like a couple of busted card tables outside of a

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<v Speaker 1>neighborhood social club. All that senate swagger turned into nervous

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<v Speaker 1>throat clearing the second there was a price attached to courage.

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<v Speaker 1>Tillis and Cornin didn't get out, maneuvered, trapped, or confused.

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<v Speaker 1>They got scared, kissed the ring, and sold out the

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<v Speaker 1>survivors because protecting their own asses mattered more than doing

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<v Speaker 1>the right thing. Yo. Let's start with Tom Tillis because

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<v Speaker 1>his little performance was especially grimy. Tillis made a big

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<v Speaker 1>show of insisting that Blanche meet with Epstein's survivors before

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<v Speaker 1>he would support moving the nomination forward. He wanted everybody

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<v Speaker 1>to see him laying down the law like he was

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<v Speaker 1>some tough neighborhood boss, telling Blanche that nothing happened until

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<v Speaker 1>the women were heard. When Blanche met with them, the

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<v Speaker 1>survivors remained opposed, and Tillis voted for him anyway. So

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<v Speaker 1>what the hell was the meeting for? Tom? Was it

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<v Speaker 1>a listening session or was it a political car wash

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<v Speaker 1>where you ran your conscience through the brushes and hoped

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<v Speaker 1>the dirt would come off. You made those women open

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<v Speaker 1>the vault, drag out the worst moments of their lives,

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<v Speaker 1>and put their pain on the table. Then you scooped

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<v Speaker 1>up your talking points, pushed your chair back, and walked out.

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<v Speaker 1>Their words were yesterday's garbage. So what the hell was that, Tom?

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<v Speaker 1>It sure wasn't leadership, It wasn't compassion. What it was

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<v Speaker 1>was a con job pulled by a man who wanted

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<v Speaker 1>credit for listening without ever intending to hear a damned thing.

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<v Speaker 1>And John Cornyn's act was the same cheap hustle with

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<v Speaker 1>a little more old man Senate Varnish slapped on it.

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<v Speaker 1>Cornyn strutted around talking about concerns, safeguards, stonewalling, weaponization and

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<v Speaker 1>the sacred integrity of the Justice Department. Bro sounded like

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<v Speaker 1>a guy banging his fist on the bar, telling everybody

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<v Speaker 1>the next round would be different because this time he

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<v Speaker 1>meant business. Then Blanche handed him a concession, and Cornyn

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<v Speaker 1>softened up faster than butter on a dashboard in Las

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<v Speaker 1>Vegas in August. Suddenly the hard questions were not so hard.

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<v Speaker 1>Suddenly the grave concerns had a nice little escape patch.

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<v Speaker 1>Suddenly Blanche was being talked about like some stabilizing force

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<v Speaker 1>who deserved the chance give me a break. Cornin was

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<v Speaker 1>not persuaded by principle. He was rescued by paperwork. He

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<v Speaker 1>needed one lousy piece of cover so he could crawl

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<v Speaker 1>back into line without admitting that all his tough talk

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<v Speaker 1>had been nothing but a load of hot air. Yo.

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<v Speaker 1>These men were not powerless, and that's what makes the

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<v Speaker 1>whole thing stink worse. They sat on the Senate Judiciary

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<v Speaker 1>Committee with votes that actually mattered. They had enough leverage

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<v Speaker 1>to delay Blanche, damage Blanche, or stop Blanche from gliding

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<v Speaker 1>through Like another protected suit with friends in the right places.

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<v Speaker 1>For once, the survivors were not asking some junior staffer

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<v Speaker 1>to pass a note up the chain. They were speaking

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<v Speaker 1>to the men holding the chain in their own hands

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<v Speaker 1>to listen. Cornyn could have wrapped that chain around the

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<v Speaker 1>nomination and yanked the whole operation to a dead stop. Instead,

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<v Speaker 1>they used their leverage to negotiate themselves a softer landing.

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<v Speaker 1>They didn't squeeze Blanche for real accountability, real transparency, or

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<v Speaker 1>real commitments to the people who had been burned by

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<v Speaker 1>the Epstein machine. They squeezed them for enough cover to

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<v Speaker 1>save face at the country club. Then they slapped each

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<v Speaker 1>other on the back like they just robbed Fort Knox,

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<v Speaker 1>instead of pawning their integrity for some pocket change. The

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<v Speaker 1>Epstein survivors have been dealing with this same rotten hustle

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<v Speaker 1>for years. Powerful men call them brave, courageous, inspiring, and

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<v Speaker 1>every other pretty word that costs absolutely nothing. Then the

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<v Speaker 1>minute those survivors asks for something real, the room gets quiet.

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<v Speaker 1>And everybody starts staring at their shoes. Prosecutors praise them

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<v Speaker 1>while cutting deals behind closed doors. Banks issue apologies while

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<v Speaker 1>lining up an army of lawyers. Politicians invite them to meetings,

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<v Speaker 1>nod like dashboard dogs, and then vote whichever way keeps

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<v Speaker 1>the money flowing and the party bosses happy. Tillis and

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<v Speaker 1>Cornyn slid right into that sewer like they've been looking

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<v Speaker 1>for the entrance. They didn't break the cycle of institutional betrayal.

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<v Speaker 1>They greased it, fueled it, and waved it through the checkpoint.

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<v Speaker 1>They proved once again that Washington loves survivors as symbols

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<v Speaker 1>and treats them like a pain in the ass when

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<v Speaker 1>they demand power to answer for itself. Listen, don't insult

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<v Speaker 1>anybody's intelligence by calling this a difficult balancing act. There

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<v Speaker 1>was nothing complicated about the moral math. Survivors had already

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<v Speaker 1>been ignored, doubted, smeared, and discarded, and they were telling

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<v Speaker 1>two senators not to reward Todd Blanche with more power.

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<v Speaker 1>Those senators had the ability to listen and act. Instead,

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<v Speaker 1>they treated the survivors like a couple of inconvenient witnesses

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<v Speaker 1>who had stayed too long at the table, Tillis and

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<v Speaker 1>Cornin balance nothing except their own ambition against the risk

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<v Speaker 1>of angering party leadership. They weighed conscience against career and

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<v Speaker 1>tossed conscience off the back of the truck. They looked

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<v Speaker 1>at the survivor's warnings, looked at the political consequences, and

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<v Speaker 1>decided the women could take one more hit. Yo, that's

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<v Speaker 1>not statesmanship. What we have here are two cowards doing

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<v Speaker 1>business with power and leaving the victims to clean up

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<v Speaker 1>the blood. Tillis especially pulled one of the oldest scams

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<v Speaker 1>in politics. He created a condition that sounded serious but

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<v Speaker 1>was built to collapse the second it became inconvenient. Blanche

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<v Speaker 1>had to meet with the survivors. Tillis said, as though

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<v Speaker 1>the meeting was some sacred threshold. Fine. The meeting happened,

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<v Speaker 1>the survivors still did not trust Blanche, still didn't support them,

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<v Speaker 1>and still urged Tillis not to confirm them. At that point,

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<v Speaker 1>Tillis had two choices, and neither one was complicated. He

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<v Speaker 1>could honor the spirit of his own demand, or he

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<v Speaker 1>could play dumb and pretend the meeting itself was all

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<v Speaker 1>that mattered. He chose the weasel route. He treated the survivors,

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<v Speaker 1>like a parking ticket that had been paid, stamped and

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<v Speaker 1>tossed into a drawer. And that's the move of a

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<v Speaker 1>slick operator who thinks everybody else in the room is

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<v Speaker 1>too stupid to notice the hustle. Cornan's move was just

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<v Speaker 1>as gutless, only colder. He raised objections, made noises, and

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<v Speaker 1>let the press write stories about how he might stand

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<v Speaker 1>in Blanche's way. That gave him a nice image of

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<v Speaker 1>a seasoned senator holding the line. Then, when holding the

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<v Speaker 1>line required actually holding the damn line, he backed away

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<v Speaker 1>like the sidewalk had caught fire. Blanche gave him something

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<v Speaker 1>he could sell as a win, and Cornyn grabbed it

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<v Speaker 1>like a drowning man grabbing a pool noodle. After that,

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<v Speaker 1>all the barking stopped. The watchdog turned into a lapdog,

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<v Speaker 1>curled up under the table and waited for somebody to

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<v Speaker 1>scratch him behind the ears. Cornin didn't beat the system.

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<v Speaker 1>The system tossed him a biscuit, and he rolled over.

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<v Speaker 1>The man wants respect for surviving confrontation. He never had

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<v Speaker 1>the stomach to finish. Yo. The United States Senate has

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<v Speaker 1>enough polished phonies, back room merchants, and professional ass coverers

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<v Speaker 1>to fill every steakhouse in DC. What it does not

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<v Speaker 1>need is Tom Tillis and John Cornyn pretending that cowardice

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<v Speaker 1>becomes courage when you deliver it in a calm voice.

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<v Speaker 1>These dudes had every chance to show that survivor testimony

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<v Speaker 1>carried more weight then party pressure. They had a chance

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<v Speaker 1>to tell the Justice Department that epstein matter would not

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<v Speaker 1>be swept aside with another meeting, another letter, or another

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<v Speaker 1>pile of bureaucratic mush. They had the chance to make

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<v Speaker 1>Blanche earn every inch of the confirmation ground. Instead, they

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<v Speaker 1>threw the fight and then pose for pictures with their

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<v Speaker 1>participation trophy. They want credit for asking questions, but questions

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<v Speaker 1>mean jack shit when you ignore the answers. They want

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<v Speaker 1>credit for extracting concessions, but concessions mean jack shit when

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<v Speaker 1>their survivors are still standing outside the door. They want

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<v Speaker 1>to be treated like men of principle while behaving like

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<v Speaker 1>two neighborhood punks who talk big until the real muscle

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<v Speaker 1>walks into the room. So let the record show exactly

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<v Speaker 1>what happened when the heat got turned up. Tom Tillis

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<v Speaker 1>and John Cornyn were warned by Epstein's survivors. They were

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<v Speaker 1>handed leverage. They were given a clean shot to stand

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<v Speaker 1>up to Todd Blanche and tell the power structure that

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<v Speaker 1>the usual game was over. Then they choked. They tucked

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<v Speaker 1>their tails, found themselves a fig leaf, and ran back

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<v Speaker 1>to the safest corner of the room. They chose party

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<v Speaker 1>loyalty over survivors, political comfort over moral duty, and career

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<v Speaker 1>protection over the truth staring them in the face. No speech, statement,

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<v Speaker 1>memo or Senate floor routine can polish that turd. Their

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<v Speaker 1>brand of cowardice is greasy, cheap, and familiar, the kind

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<v Speaker 1>of back alley betrayal Washington cells as responsible governance. Tom

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<v Speaker 1>Tillis and John Cornyn did not stand with the Epstein

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<v Speaker 1>survivors when it mattered, And every time they talk about

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<v Speaker 1>courage from this point forward, somebody ought to laugh right

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<v Speaker 1>in their faces and understand this, Tom Tillis and John Cornyn,

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<v Speaker 1>because no amount of Senate bullshit is going to bury it.

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<v Speaker 1>You were not bystanderds to this betrayal. You were the

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<v Speaker 1>men who signed the fucking receipt. You stood at the

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<v Speaker 1>counter while Epstein's survivors once again got short changed, and

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<v Speaker 1>instead of flipping the tab, you counted the change and

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<v Speaker 1>told everybody that the deal was fair. You had the

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<v Speaker 1>power to make Washington feel pain, and you used it

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<v Speaker 1>to protect yourself from discomfort. You had the chance to

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<v Speaker 1>be feared by the people who treat accountability like a disease,

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<v Speaker 1>but you chose to be useful to them instead. That's

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<v Speaker 1>why nobody should buy the tough guy routine ever again,

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<v Speaker 1>because the whole act is cheaper than a bootleg watch

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<v Speaker 1>sold out of a car trunk. When the room got

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<v Speaker 1>too hot, you sweated, stammered, and looked around for the

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<v Speaker 1>nearest door marked political survival. You left survivors standing in

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<v Speaker 1>the wreckage while you walked away, congratulating yourselves for keeping

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<v Speaker 1>your suits clean. But the stink is on you now,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's not coming off with a press release, a

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<v Speaker 1>committee statement, or another round of grave senate mumbling. You

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<v Speaker 1>showed the country exactly what you are when power leans

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<v Speaker 1>in close and tells you to bend, and though both

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<v Speaker 1>of you bent so fast you damn near kiss the floor.

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<v Speaker 1>So save the speeches about courage, justice and public service.

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<v Speaker 1>Because Tom Tillis and John Cornyn had their moment, sold

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<v Speaker 1>it for cover, and proved themselves to be nothing more

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<v Speaker 1>than to loudmouthed cowards wear in the United States Senate

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<v Speaker 1>like a stolen fucking suit. All the information that goes

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<v Speaker 1>with this episode can be found in the description box.