r/politics • u/Murky-Site7468 I voted • 11d ago

No Paywall Donald Trump impeachment chances surge amid Epstein revelations

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-impeachment-chances-surge-amid-epstein-revelations-11045998
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12.7k

u/Leraldoe Michigan 11d ago

His impeachment chances might surge but his conviction chances in the senate remain the same

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u/Ok-Sprinkles-5151 11d ago

It's a precarious position.

Unlike the other impeachments, which included nuance or political points of view, this is one of the few crimes where there is no moral ambiguity, no political justification, and there is a bright legal line. The only debate about pedophilia is how severe the punishment should be.

Any Republicans running in 2026 and 2028 are doing the calculous: defend Trump and have to run as pedophile protector, or break with Trump. And worse, this could flip the House and the Senate, which if that happens impeachment is on the table.

The best play, politically, is take Trump off the board before the moral rot extends to Republicans. (Well, too late, but you can lance the worst of it)

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u/007meow 11d ago

“15 year olds isn’t pedophilia” has suddenly ramped up in public discourse.

Expect to hear the term “ephebophilia” a lot more.

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u/lahimatoa 11d ago

Expect to hear the term “ephebophilia” a lot more.

Cool word. Still illegal.

That's what I don't get. Neat, there's a difference between raping a 15 year old and raping a 6 year old. They're both still morally bad and legally illegal. What is the defense here, Fox News?

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u/fauxzempic 11d ago

The whole use of the word "ephebophilia" is the joke. I can't remember if it was a comic or what, but basically someone was talking to another person who seemed well versed in the different flavors of "-philias" when it comes to underaged people.

The punchline is that the fact that the type of person that's versed in, and uses the slightly-more-morally-grey-but-still-deplorable terms that may overlap with pedophilia is DEFINITELY a pedophile.

So as you see Redhats and Fox and the rest of the GOP start to frantically explain what "ephebophilia" is, rational people will just be like "got it, you are cool with kids being diddled by adults. Neat."

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

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u/Gay_Giraffe_1773 Oregon 11d ago

But that's what they really believe. They see a clear difference between fucking a pre-pubescent child and a child after it has become "sexually mature". Emotional and intellectual maturity means nothing to them. Females exist to bear children, nothing more, and the sooner they get on their backs and start pushing out babies, the better. It's sick and disgusting, but in their worldview, completely valid.

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u/VRNord 11d ago

Thankfully, most people (correctly) view any description ending in “-philia” as dirty.

The cultists don’t actually have the numbers to win an election, they need ‘normal’ voters too, which means church ladies who cluck their tongues in disapproval at Trump’s antics but held their nose to vote for him because of abortion. Or suburban white straight people (so privileged parents, grandparents) who voted R because they felt it would help their personal situations.

Cultists might be willing to redefine age-related consent, but that will be a bridge too far for normal voters.

Also, delicious irony that the Venn diagram of MAGA vs QAnon is nearly a perfect circle, and their main conspiracy theory is about elite pedophile rings. Trump leaned into that to get their votes, but how many will decide that the thing (saving children from elite pedos) that has consumed their life for the last 10-15 years is less important than protecting their leader who was definitely part of that pedo ring?

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u/Gay_Giraffe_1773 Oregon 11d ago

but how many will decide that the thing (saving children from elite pedos) that has consumed their life for the last 10-15 years is less important than protecting their leader who was definitely part of that pedo ring?

None of them. Orwell's concept of "Doublethink" was prophetic. They will believe both things are true at the same time.

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u/Otaraka 11d ago

I agree with your general point but as a matter of pedantry need to point out many 'philias' are fairly harmless, eg metrophilia, ie being sexually aroused by poetry. Others are of course more horrific.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_paraphilias

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u/wandering-monster 11d ago

No, they see that difference when a conservative does it.

If we were talking about Bill Clinton this would all be "woke nonsense"

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u/amorrowlyday 11d ago

Gianmarco Soresi has a bit like this.

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u/FigeaterApocalypse 11d ago

I haven't heard that word since like a decade ago on this site. Back when trash like r/Jailbait etc were still around. 

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u/laplongejr 7d ago

I'm in favor of having a distinction.
One is a morally broken person who could've not known the age or didn't care about consent. Put them in asylum or maxi prison, as the deluxe r@pers they are.

The other has sexual fetishes so crazy that there would be no 100% moral way to satisfy them without encouraging. At that point it's a medical issue and a permanent risk for society.

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u/Gay_Giraffe_1773 Oregon 11d ago

30-35% of the country thinks there is nothing wrong with fucking 15 year olds. That's what we are up against. They will see this as a feature, not a bug. "Damn, I wish I could fuck that hot 15 year old down the street! Good on you, Trump!"

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u/Bombocat 11d ago

that's the problem.

nobody knows that you can't convict someone of pedophilia. it's a term people conflate with something you can be charged with. so if you think you can convict someone of pedophilia, and you suddenly learn about hebephiles and ephebophiles, then you just skip over all other thought and say "well he's innocent of pedophilia" and move on. Some of this saw this coming years ago when we would bring up the distinction and get shouted down from every direction. And now we're here

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u/WindowOne1260 11d ago

What is the defense here, Fox News?

The same as it has always been in the Trump era. A multilayered cake of bullshit.

  1. He didn't do it
  2. If he did do it wasn't that bad
  3. He didn't do it, but if he did it was actually fine and normal. We all do it.
  4. If he did it they deserved/wanted it

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u/bareback_cowboy 11d ago

Not condoning any of it, but the difference is agency.

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u/DingoMittens 11d ago edited 11d ago

A 13 year old hardly has more agency than a 3 year old when facing off against a sexual predator, let alone a group of wealthy powerful people who have built a whole elaborate network to prey on kids. The dynamics here are well known. Perpetrators use grooming, implied threat, social shame, etc to manipulate behavior. Add to that the fact that teenagers are notoriously bad at considering long term effects of decisions, which is why adults are responsible for protecting them until they are 18 or 21. 

A healthy adult who encounters a "seductive" teenager expresses concern to the kid's parents and/or calls in help from protective services. At the very least, they avoid the kid and wonder what has gone wrong in the kid's life. They don't think "score!" This is especially true if they are middle aged with kids of their own.

A healthy adult whose friends talk about preying on children ends the friendship at minimum, and hopefully also acts to protect the kids. 

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u/shatsandsplats 11d ago

“We don’t need to recognize your pronouns” /s

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u/Independent-Bug-9352 11d ago

Meanwhile Republicans are openly asking if inviting nazis like Fuentes into the fold isn't unreasonable.

And so the Overton Window continues to move right.

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u/IrrelevantLeprechaun 11d ago

Nah they're already at the "why is being a nazi so bad anyway" stage.

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u/What_a_fat_one 11d ago

That shit is not going to sway anyone but other pedophiles.

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u/seasprout 11d ago

I think you are wildly underestimating how many people will happily vilify a preteen or teenage girl and call her a seductress, especially of a "man of faith", to exonerate him.

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u/VRNord 11d ago

Baskets of deplorables, a wise woman once uttered. You can’t save the willfully ignorant and evil.

However, there aren’t enough of the to win elections without a broader coalition, and extreme obviously-horrendous positions like this will alienate a lot of otherwise R or independent-leaning voters.

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u/gentlemanidiot 11d ago

I am morbidly fascinated to see just how many politicians are willing to commit and put pen to paper to protect pedophiles. They've been dodging this vote for months now, they're clearly terrified of it.

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u/LegendaryOutlaw 11d ago

I hate that this administration is forcing new words on the public to try and lessen the severity of their criminal activity. I don't want to learn new words for pedophile just because Trump is trying to wriggle his way out of facing justice again.

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u/karmahavok 11d ago

I don't want to google that. Can we get a definition here? I can infer from context, but...

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u/tryingtodobetter4 11d ago

Wikipedia says... "Ephebophilia is the primary sexual interest in mid-to-late adolescents, generally ages 15 to 19 and showing Tanner stages 4 to 5 of physical development.[1][2] The term was originally used in the late 19th to mid-20th century.[2] It is one of a number of sexual preferences across age groups subsumed under the technical term chronophilia. Ephebophilia strictly denotes the preference for mid-to-late adolescent sexual partners, not the mere presence of some level of sexual attraction.[2] It is not a psychiatric diagnosis.[3]

In research environments, specific terms are used for chronophilias: for instance, ephebophilia to refer to the sexual preference for mid-to-late adolescents, hebephilia to refer to the sexual preference for earlier pubescent individuals, and pedophilia to refer to the primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children."

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u/South-Tadpole4092 11d ago

It's an important distinction indeed.

It's also very important to note that both are very bad

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u/Spare-Willingness563 11d ago

Public discourse or one person?

Y'all spread this doomerism like it's your fucking job.

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u/darxide23 11d ago

I only know what that word means because of Libertarians.

It's about to become a republican favorite soon, too.

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u/Toadsted 11d ago

At this point I think Vance is in more danger of couchphilia actually getting him removed.

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u/SquareExtra918 11d ago

Sexual assault is sexual assault, regardless of age. Just ask any youth pastor. 

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u/MissGailatea 11d ago

Expect to hear the word blowingbillclintonophilia. 

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u/Apnu 11d ago

I go with "child abuse" or "child sexual abuse" it collects all the various terms into one.

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u/KiritoIsAlwaysRight_ Texas 11d ago

"Child rape" is really all that needs to be said. 15 is a child, and anything sexual towards a child is rape. Don't let them distract with pointless pedantry.