Normalize This

Feb 08, 2026

By Lorraine Evanoff – 460 Words

One thing has perplexed me. Why did republicans embrace the insane QAnon deep state child sex trafficking ring propaganda and campaign on the promise to release the Epstein files if Trump were re-elected? Trump was already widely known to be deeply involved with convicted child sex traffickers Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, so the files would be devastating to him. But then it occurred to me, it was Putin’s playbook.

“One image circulating appears to be a photograph taken by Epstein himself and sent to his own email. It shows a dinner in 2015 attended by Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Records indicate Epstein had planned a dinner that same year with Musk, Zuckerberg, and Peter Thiel.”

I’m not an expert. I have only written four historic novels about the Russian mafiya’s influence in international finance. Heidi Siegmund Cuda is an expert, and she agrees, Epstein, Trump, and Russia are all connected.

Russian PsyOps rely on overwhelming the public with misinformation aka flooding the zone, gaslighting, distractions, and denial. It also relies on falsely accusing one’s enemies of their own crimes, aka projection. The goal is incremental normalization of corruption, from breaking laws like emoluments, to illegal entry without a warrant, murder in broad daylight, and now child sex trafficking.

Putin does nothing by accident. He plays the long game. First, have QAnon spread massive lies to get Trump re-elected. Next, have the DOJ slow walk release the files in violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Now, slowly release the files to normalize the crimes.

Each new release brings shocking revelations, then nothing for a while, letting it sink in. Then suddenly three million new pages of appalling abuses released, with three million more to come. Shock the public, then let the information get assimilated.

But, why campaign on releasing the files, at the risk of having loyalists like Marjorie Taylor Green turn on you when you don’t, only to release them too late anyway? Because Putin no longer wants to be a pariah. He wants corruption to be normal, so that he and his craven circle can openly operate on a global scale. That’s why Trump wants us to “move on.”

One silver lining in this Republican gambit, the world is fighting back, with even Hakeem Jeffries and Gavin Newsom normalizing the F-Bomb (my favorite) and JD Vance loudly booed at the Milan Winter Olympics.

Putin’s miscalculation? We are not servile Russians bowing to autocracy. America, France, and others were built on defiance of corrupt autocracies, royals, and oligarchs. It’s in our DNA. The release of the Epstein files, whether intended for normalization purposes, or just clumsy politics, has caused huge backlash.

And Trump, the Republicans, and Putin are panicking. Putin is desperately threatening to prematurely invade Europe despite losing in Ukraine. Republicans rushed to gerrymander Texas, but California and Virginia countered, possibly netting four additional Democratic House seats.

Trump is a cornered animal with lots of power who won’t hesitate to take us down with him. But with Trump’s and Republicans’ dismal polling and Democratic leaders like Ruben Gallego calling for a national strike should Republicans try to steal the midterms, they have no idea what they are up against.