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Alan Dershowitz’s appearance on Newsmax’s Wake Up America was a breath of common sense in a season of sensationalism, as the Harvard emeritus once again pushed back against the idea that some secret “Epstein client list” will bring the entire establishment to its knees. Dershowitz made it plain that no such compiled list ever existed and that much of what people call evidence are redactions in court files, not a smoking-gun ledger printed by Epstein himself. Americans tired of political theater should listen when a long-practicing lawyer warns us to separate facts from talk-show frenzy.
He drilled down on a dangerous trend: accusations floated without context can ruin reputations and careers long before any fair process occurs, and redacted documents do not equal proof. Dershowitz noted that judges—not pundits or politicians—handled redactions and that guessing names from context is an exercise in rumor, not justice. If conservatives care about rule of law as much as we claim, we should oppose every form of guilt-by-accusation, even when the accused are powerful or scandalous.
Yet the political class has predictably turned the document fight into a partisan weapon, with legislation and executive maneuvers promising releases while building in obvious escape hatches for selective disclosure. Even after votes and headlines, the Department of Justice still has discretion to withhold material citing investigations and victim privacy, which is the same playbook that breeds suspicion and infuriates ordinary Americans. The promise of transparency must not be swapped for grandstanding that lets agencies pick whose names see the light of day.
President Trump’s recent move to sign bills and direct reports into the public sphere has been framed as a victory for openness, but smart patriots know that the real fight is over implementation, not press releases. Laws that require disclosure but allow redactions and delays can become a tool of political theater, especially when the administrative state controls what’s released and when. The public deserves full, timely transparency that protects victims without enabling secretive bureaucrats to shield their allies.
Dershowitz was also right to demand that releases include accusers’ statements where appropriate so the public can judge credibility; selective snippets feed narratives and allow the modern-day McCarthyites to paint with the broadest possible brush. We must be wary of a new McCarthyism that weaponizes every allegation for partisan advantage, a system in which cash settlements and media hysteria substitute for evidence and due process. Conservatives should lead the cry for evidence-based disclosure that respects both victims and the accused, not the opposite.
This moment is a test of conservative principles: will we howl for every headline or will we insist on sober, patriotic scrutiny that upholds the presumption of innocence and the dignity of real survivors? Demand transparency, demand accountability, and demand that those who seek to use human tragedy as a political cudgel be called out for what they are. Hardworking Americans deserve truth, not theater, and it’s on us to make sure the pursuit of justice doesn’t become another partisan lynch mob.
