Exploring Survivor Narratives and Financial Incentives

What is the Jeffrey Epstein story, and what does it mean? Just asking questions.

Today's conversation is with journalist Michael Tracey, who has been picking apart what he calls the "Epstein mythology" for the past several weeks over at his Substack. In short, he thinks 90 percent of what most people believe about this case is false, and that this is mostly the fault of credulous establishment journalists who chose to uncritically publish alleged victims' narratives and ignore inconvenient facts, as well as opportunistic alternative media figures who spun the story into a sprawling conspiracy for political and personal gain. 

Tracey has been attacked and on the attack, and you'll hear him air his many grievances with other journalists, lawyers, and politicians in this conversation, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R–Ga.), whom he calls out as his "enemy" because she instructed police to remove him from an Epstein-related press conference after he asked a question about an accusers' credibility in Washington D.C. this week.  

The goal of this episode was to move beyond the personality clashes and egos and wild speculation and drill down into what it is we actually know and don't know about Jeffrey Epstein. But as we talked, it became clear that this kind of detached analysis just wasn't going to be possible, that the egos and the clashes and the agendas remain intricately tied up with how this story has unfolded. The incentives faced by establishment journalists, podcasters, accusers, and politicians have shaped this story and our understanding of it, mostly for the worse. 

But in the marketplace of ideas, there is also a countervailing incentive to move against the herd and correct the record. And maybe a turbulent and confrontational personality like Michael Tracey–who admits in this interview that he's "wired differently"–was exactly what was needed to break taboos, ask uncomfortable questions, and push for real disclosure about the nature of the story that has loomed over American politics for at least a decade.

Regardless of how one feels about Tracey's tone or the soundness of his analysis, anyone who purports to care about this story should at least engage with the questions he's asking and start asking their own questions about what the Epstein story really means.

This conversation has been edited for time and clarity.

Mentioned in the podcast:

1. U.S. v. Jeffrey Epstein
2. Epstein "provided information" to the FBI: FBI Records: The Vault — Jeffrey Epstein Part 06
3. "Jeffrey Epstein's Sick Story Played Out for Years in Plain Sight," by Vicky Ward
4. 2020 Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility Report on Epstein
5. Justice Department interview of Ghislaine Maxwell 
6. "A Look Inside Jeffrey Epstein's Manhattan Lair," by David Enrich, Matthew Goldstein, Jessica Silver-Greenberg, and Steve Eder
7. "Jeffrey Epstein Appeared to Threaten Bill Gates Over Microsoft Co-Founder's Affair With Russian Bridge Player," by Khadeeja Safdar and Emily Glazer
8. "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Maxwell Is Buried In Jerusalem," by Clyde Haberman
9. "Inside Jeffrey Epstein's Spy Industry Connections," by Matthew Petti
10. Donald Trump retweets #ClintonBodyCount conspiracy
11. Trump on Truth Social: "Nobody cares about" Jeffrey Epstein
12. Justice Department/FBI Memo on "Epstein Files," July 2025
13. Virginia Giuffre v. Ghislaine Maxwell
14. "The Billionaire's Play Club," by Virginia Roberts
15. July 24, 2025, proffer by Ghislaine Maxwell
16. Labor Secretary Alex Acosta's July 2019 press conference
17. "Prince Andrew & the Epstein Scandal: The Newsnight Interview," by BBC News
18. Security camera footage from Jeffrey Epstein's prison block
19. Michael Tracey booted from Epstein presser, September 3, 2025.

• Producer: John Osterhoudt

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