Explainer: What the Epstein files really expose, untouchable power

A February 2000 photograph shows Donald Trump, then-girlfriend Melania Knauss, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. (Credit: Davidoff Studios/ Getty Images)

Content Warning: This story contains mentions of rape or sexual assault that may be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.

The newest release of documents tied to Jeffrey Epstein did what every release seems to do: it made everyone pause, scroll, argue and repost. Names resurfaced and old photos re-circulated. 

But for Thomas Hamilton, a fourth-year human rights and philosophy student at St. Thomas University, the story has never been just about one man.

“It’s been incremental,” said Hamilton. “We keep getting some stuff … it’s not like, ‘Oh, this is everything here.’ We build up to knowing more.”

“Because it’s the people in power releasing it, they also have control of how it’s released,” he said. “We’re only seeing what they want us to see.”

Jeffrey Epstein and Miroslav Lajcak, a Slovak politician and former president of the United Nations General Assembly. (Credit: via House Oversight Committee Democrats)

Even though transparency is essential in democracy, Hamilton suggests it can become curated exposure in practice.  

“If I show up five minutes late to my job, I can get fired,” he said. “But if I’m a multi-billionaire and I go to an island and do inappropriate things with children, people care, but nothing’s going to happen to me.”

For Hamilton, the Epstein files expose what he calls a “separation.” A gap between elites and ordinary people that goes beyond wealth.

“They’ve cemented themselves as more than us, different from us, untouchable,” he said.

Although equality before the law is foundational in human rights doctrine, Hamilton questions whether it exists in practice. 

“Money goes a long way. Funding goes a long way. Connections go a long way,” he said.

On Feb. 19, royal authorities arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, becoming the first senior British royal arrested in nearly four centuries.

He is now under investigation for misconduct in public office during his time as the United Kingdom’s trade representative between 2001 and 2011.

“How many people offhand do you know in the files that got arrested or stepped down?” Hamilton said. “It’s so little.”

One arrest does not equal systemic change. In his view, it may signal reputational containment more than structural reform.

“It’s everyone in [a] position of power.”

Noam Chomsky and Jeffrey Epstein. (Credit: via House Oversight Committee Democrats)

At one point, Hamilton referenced Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky, a book that critiques how media and power shape public perception. He admitted that it is ironic that even figures long positioned as critics of power have appeared in Epstein-related contexts.

“It’s never a good idea to have a black and white us-versus-them.”

When asked how social media factors in, Hamilton paused.

“Social media is good for spreading the message,” he said. “But it cannot be the endpoint, you get desensitized really fast.”

In some corners of the internet, Epstein has become meme material.

“It shouldn’t be the only thing that is done,” Hamilton said. “Going out there and protesting is way more effective.”

“Just because an issue doesn’t impact you directly doesn’t mean it doesn’t impact you,” he said. “If it impacts someone else, it will impact you.”

For Hamilton, advocacy is not optional; it is collective survival.

“If you are distraught, make sure to make it known that you’re distraught. Hold hands and fight together.”

Whether the release of the files leads to reform or fades into another scrollable controversy may depend less on what is released next and more on who refuses to look away.