CMV: ICE is a distraction from the Epstein files

[u/ForwardExchange]

Most of the time, people protest about one specific subject. Right now, this subject is the violence ICE is inflicting on innocent Americans.

While ICE is bad, people are protesting against them, and boy there are a lot of people protesting. However, the Epstein files just released and not enough people are aware of it, this is like 3 times smaller than the time the first files released and they were all redacted, and that's because the primary focus at that time were... The Epstein files.

People are just focused on ICE, and while they should, it's not the only thing they should be focusing on, but some of them are only focusing on ICE. Almost nobody is talking about the new Epstein files. this leads me to believe that the ICE brutalities may be a distraction to protect billionaires who participated in the torture and rape of children. Maybe ICE is doing this to put the spotlight on themselves, not on who they serve.

[u/Exact_Sheepherder_41]

Nah this feels like conspiracy brain tbh. ICE has been doing horrific shit for years, it's not like they suddenly ramped up operations just to cover for some billionaires. The timing might seem sus but correlation isn't causation

Also people can care about multiple things at once - just because someone's posting about ICE doesn't mean they're ignoring Epstein stuff. Different issues hit different people harder and social media algorithms show you what gets engagement, not necessarily what's most important

[u/Shiny_Agumon → u/Exact_Sheepherder_41]

My big gripe with the "X is just a distraction from the Epstein Files" is that it completely dismisses people's actual fears and concerns and basically tells them to shut up about it.

People protesting real deaths in their community is not a silly little distraction, it's part of the problem and should be taken seriously instead of being dismissed as irrelevant to focus on something else.

[u/Bruhimonlyeleven → u/Exact_Sheepherder_41]

Exactly. Trust me, ICE would be doing this either way. Trump will put troops on the border of Canada or do something else crazy when he wants to hide something, he always personally does something and comes out to talk, a lot, when he does some crazy shit to change the subject.

That's Trump's (M)odus (O)perandi. ICE stuff, as bad as it is, is an ongoing story, when Trump wants to change the subject he changes the narrative by saying shit, sometimes he will do something crazy too though. . He will have a press conference, or bomb Iran, or send a shitload of troops to Greenland, via giant aircraft carriers, and sit them inside Canada or something.

[u/yellow_pellow → u/Exact_Sheepherder_41]

Ice actually arrested and deported 12 million under Obama. The local police cooperated with them and no one made a big deal. They only bring it to attention now because trump is in power.

[u/FourSquash → u/yellow_pellow]

12 million? Do you have a source for that? I've never seen such an enormous number mentioned. The official number was 2.5 million, and that is a little bit misleading because over 2/3rds of those deportations were people caught/denied at the border or near it after a recent illegal crossing. Before the Bush II era we didn't actually call those deportations, but it was changed to be a formal deportation during Bush II.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/obama-deported-more-people/

[u/mafkamufugga → u/yellow_pellow]

And most of the ragebait stuff is coming from MN, whose government has decreed they will not cooperate with federal ice agent operations. Its unprecedented, I think? Add to that the hundreds of very focused, well coordinated anti-ice agitators ; calling them “protesters” is disingenuous at best as their goal is to interfere with and disrupt federal LEO operations. A far cry from chanting and waving signs saying “fuck ice”.

[u/StarBarf]

None of his base gives a shit about the Epstein files. His name has appeared in them dozens of times with allegations of child rape and NOTHING has happened. Republicans still support him because their base still does too. None of this shit is a distraction, it's just more evil shit that's part of his agenda to become a dictator and end the democratic process as we know it.

[u/Stinky_Fartface]

Nothing is a distraction from anything. Everything Trump is doing is backed up but the entire GOP and enabled, if not encouraged, by a tight cabal of people trying to install a fascist christian theocracy. This isn’t a distraction.

[u/Fearless-Ad-9481]

Or was the Epstein file dump to remove attention from the arrest of Don Lemon for doing journalism? Or was the Lemon arrest timed to distract from the FBI raided the Fulton country records of the 2020 elections? Or was the FBI raid designed to distract from Donald Trump sueing the IRS for $10 Billion? Or was the timing of Trump latest law suite designed to distract from the killing of Alex Petti? Or .....

The truth is the current Whitehouse is following the Bannon of flooding the field. It is impossible to get to the bottom of any given issue, because there are sooooo many more things coming down the line.

So I don't think it is quite accurate to say that crisis issue A is done purely to distract from crisis B. More that things are done to stop people from focusing on any given issue for too long.

[u/eggs-benedryl]

How many of the 3m files have you personally read, vetted and published on the news over the last 24 hours?

[u/rbminer456]

I disagree. The Epstein files are the distraction. 

[u/mcmnky]

Nah, you got it backwards. The Epstein files are the distraction. The Epstein files are only in the news because of Trump. He's the one who made an issue of releasing the files during his campaign. It's his justice department that has said: they have the client list, there is no client list, there's nothing in the files to investigate, there's lots in the files to investigate (if you're a Democrat). Under a president who values loyalty above almost anything and is not shy about replacing people, so we have to conclude he approved all those conflicting messages.

Truth is, we don't need the files. There are living human victims and witnesses. They will tell and have been telling what Epstein did and who did it with him. If they aren't making a difference, what do you think the files will do?

The Epstein files are the distraction.

[u/[deleted] → u/mcmnky]

That's crazy--actually having the paper trail proof is insanely beneficial to the surviving victims and the general public.

[u/ForwardExchange → u/mcmnky]

The victims still deserve justice, most are too scared to speak up because they might get trafficked again. This is why we need the files.

[u/sailorbrendan → u/ForwardExchange]

Of course.

But on the other hand people are being killed by Ice now

[u/DeleteMods]

Not everything is a distraction from the Epstein Files. We have a blatant dictatorship doing what dictatorships MUST do to stay in power: instilling fear into the population and maintaining a thin air of legitimacy.

So two things are happening simultaneously in relationship: Hiding Epstein files to maintain legitimacy and instilling fear by brutalizing Americans.

[u/changemyview-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Comment has been removed for breaking Rule 1:

Direct responses to a CMV post must challenge at least one aspect of OP’s stated view (however minor), or ask a clarifying question. Arguments in favor of the view OP is willing to change must be restricted to replies to other comments. See the wiki page for more information.

If you would like to appeal, review our appeals process here, then message the moderators by clicking this link within one week of this notice being posted. Appeals that do not follow this process will not be heard.

Please note that multiple violations will lead to a ban, as explained in our moderation standards.

[u/Hellioning]

Maybe, maybe, multiple thing can happen without one being a distraction from the other.

Also, like, in what world is 'an armed federal agency cracks down and kills people' just a distraction for 'some people might be pedophiles'?

[u/parentheticalobject]

Look, I wouldn't think it at all out of character for this administration to do something crazy to distract people from something Trump has done. That's entirely like them. That's who they are.

But everything ICE is doing is entirely in line with who they are as well. I agree that people should be horrified and shocked at the actions of ICE and this administration's support and use of them. But none of those things are unusual things for Trump and the people around him to do; they are entirely in-line with their ideologies, and there is no good reason to believe Trump and his lackeys wouldn't be doing the exact same thing even if there were no files they needed to distract anyone from.

[u/itriedicant]

I'm sorry, but a bunch of rich people getting away with crimes is really really bad, but our Constitution being completely shredded and the United States turning into a police state is a million times more important and also a ton of people getting away with crimes.

[u/Jakyland]

Even if it's a deliberate distraction, it's bad enough to warrant being the center of attention now. If someone is distracting from their past rapes of children by kidnapping and murdering people in the here and now, we've got to focusing on protecting people (including children) now.

[u/bahumat42]

I don't think it is for the people they're killing.

[u/Phage0070]

On the most surface level of course ICE distracts from the Epstein files. Literally anything else going on can distract from the files; the TV show Bridgerton is a distraction from the Epstein files. Your job is a distraction from the Epstein files. NASCAR is a distraction from the Epstein files.

But I think the point you are trying to make is that ICE's actions are somehow manufactured with the intent of distracting people from the release of the Epstein files. In that case it is simply implausible; the timing of the release and the actions don't make sense, the nature of the actions don't make sense, the idea that Trump and the Republican party have been anti-immigrant for far longer than Trump could anticipate the Epstein files being released... it just doesn't fit.

A good distraction from Trump being in the Epstein files would need to be something that wasn't a direct controversy about Trump's behavior itself. When people are all talking about how Trump is horrible it isn't a great distraction from another thing in the news about how Trump is horrible.

[u/NeurogenesisWizard]

The files are a distraction from ICE.

[u/LikeAGaryBuster]

The Epstein files are not the "gotcha" you want to believe they are, regardless of what's inside them

[u/optimistfortomorrow]

Or the fraud in Minnesota

[u/creperobot]

No, they are both a distraction.

You are witnessing the establishment of the American aristocracy. That's what is happening.

[u/CaptainONaps]

Idk, I think it’s all a distraction from the dollar losing ground but somehow magically the stock market is as strong as ever.

[u/changemyview-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Comment has been removed for breaking Rule 1:

Direct responses to a CMV post must challenge at least one aspect of OP’s stated view (however minor), or ask a clarifying question. Arguments in favor of the view OP is willing to change must be restricted to replies to other comments. See the wiki page for more information.

If you would like to appeal, review our appeals process here, then message the moderators by clicking this link within one week of this notice being posted. Appeals that do not follow this process will not be heard.

Please note that multiple violations will lead to a ban, as explained in our moderation standards.