Originally published Feb 27, 2026 for our weekly Issue of Mindful Intelligence Advisor. Subscribe to get weekly issues.
By Bill Collier, Publisher
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” – Romans 12:2
“… but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.” – 2 Kings 16:3
“I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” – John 17:14-16
ED. NOTE: In the beginning of this month, we did a Bellwether DeepDive on the Epstein Files data dump from the Department of Justice. This story is also our Bellwether story of the month. Our Publisher, Bill Collier, did a Bellwether DeepDive on the Epstein Files that challenges the Trump Administration’s current approach to this real scandal and provides a personally-experienced behind-the-curtains view at the backroom reality of the bloody winner-take-all “sport” of American politics. That view might dictate what we might see next in the Epstein Files saga.
In light of the recent wanna-be Trump assassin’s alleged motivation coming from Trump’s handling of the Epstein Files, this Bellwether Deepdive is even more timely.
An emerging Bellwether story is SCOTUS’ Tariff rulings and the fallout from that. Expect an analysis of that fallout in an upcoming issue of MIA.
INTRODUCTION
Regardless of being guilty of crimes or not, the utter degeneracy of the “ruling class” in the US and the UK as revealed in the “Epstein files” is being exposed.
The depths of the cover-up are not a surprise to me. What is a surprise is how much has been revealed despite what appears to be a continuous effort to block the total truth from seeing the light of day.
If you think YOUR favorite leaders or your Party is innocent and only “they” are guilty, then you are part of the cover-up.
I do not expect justice. I am not sure this will bring anyone down because both sides are at once weaponizing this to take down the OTHERS while claiming virtue for themselves. If the masses on a non-partisan basis were to unite around accountability for all and transparency, then I would say we may see some kind of justice.
As it is, unless someone is easy prey for political gain to take them down by one side or the other, nobody will face justice.
The corruption may even include partisanship on the part of some of these victims who are decrying the current administration without decrying the previous one, aiming their anger only at the Republicans, while refusing to name any names. In other words, even the public known victims are refusing to reveal the truth they know.
If the victims actually drop the politics and just name names, regardless of whose ox gets gored, that could be substantive in regard to getting some justice.
It does appear that a significant portion of Epstein’s friends and co-conspirators in his many schemes (many of which would be considered legal but unethical, outside of the sex stuff) are Democratic party big shots and Uber rich leftists.
But who knows what tomorrow brings in terms of revelations, because Epstein was “smart” and seemed to maintain relationships with people on the right, also, including Steve Bannon, who, full disclosure, I know and have worked for and with, including when he was in the White House. I am not going to dish on Steve (or attempt to defend him), as it is not at all relevant to this mess he seems to be in with the public.
This connection, however, gives me a perspective that is relevant to what I see in the Epstein Files themselves.
A. THE HALLS OF POWER
My intention here is to show you how easy it is to become connected to evil without ever knowing it. It is also to show you, in part, how the most powerful operate, and what those who want some of that power have to do to share in some of that power.
My work in consultation, digital promotions/marketing, and research puts me in the company of MANY such persons as Bannon, who I always got along with. I am not their colleague, I’m not even their “ally.” I am just a bit player and a workhorse to them, nothing or no-one of consequence.
Some of the people I have also known or worked with or for are in those files behaving in ways that were certainly not known to me and, near as I can tell, my name never came up with anyone in an email.
As for Epstein, I would have avoided him like the plague if I had been offered a chance to meet him. I have on many occasions refused to meet with or be introduced to certain people I find detestable. But the nature of my work puts me within the orbit of a lot of people, some of whom turn out to be bad people.
In my own experiences being sort of like a fly on the wall barely being noticed while still needing to be in the room to do my job, I have never been “trusted” enough to be privy to any secret goings on connected to Jeffrey Epstein. In other words, just because I am sometimes “in the room” as an occasional bit player in a drama that has little to do with me, doesn’t mean I know much of anything about these people beyond the project I am working on. This is probably the case of MOST of the people mentioned in the Epstein Files (though this is speculation).
- HOW I GOT HERE – A little background about me is necessary here.
I have been engaged this political online work ever since 2008. I did sales, ran a few little local newspapers, became an insurance agent, did market research, was a youth pastor, and even did flea markets up until 2008 when I got back more heavily into politics. It was the rise of Obama and the push for single-payer healthcare that brought me in as an activist.
I became noticed when I worked with my mentor and friend Ralph, running the then largest social conservative activist site, Team Sarah, under the aegis of the Susan B. Anthony list.
After that, I started come into the orbit of such people after being involved in the Dontgo movement and breaking news on Nancy Pelosi’s conspiracies in Texas and California to profit from wind farms and a water scheme, all with T. Boone Pickens.
In the 2008 election cycle the powers that be took notice of me. I was flown places, all expenses covered by the host, to interact and sometimes train activists and citizen journalists. A lot of the people I met back then remain friends and many have risen in the ranks, hence why I know a lot of people, on both sides of the aisle, in politics. At the time, I had absolutely no idea some of the people I was interacting with would prove to an evil most of us find hard to comprehend.
I have seen good and bad. To me, politics was basically High School on steroids, for bigger stakes if you can become a cool kid. Of course, it was much worse, only I didn’t understand that at the time. This should color your understanding of my environment. I have not seen any criminal or ethical violations that would compel me to report someone, beyond doing background vetting (where I have sometimes had to report a crime).
I have played a role in vindicating innocent people and in exposing corruption, often seeing my work used without crediting me, and being thankful for that! I often say, “please don’t publicly acknowledge me, my pay is thanks enough” (publicity would have also impeded my work).
Through this, I want to convey that I have enough insights into the power structures, popping into and out of the presence of key players as a fly on the wall, to be able to say that things are pretty gnarly in our politics, in BOTH parties.
It is only germane because I happen to have engaged personally with some of these people in these files and this gives me a different perspective than the average person. But it would still be the Epstein Files that opened my eyes to the levels of horror that was mercifully concealed from me.
- MY CONTEXT IN VIEWING THE EPSTEIN FILES – Seeing these emails closed the loop for me on some things that I thought were not as they seemed. I play small ball but sometimes must engage those who play at the top and to whom I am little more than background noise. But even with such a tenuous level of access I see the degradation of leadership and of integrity in our political institutions and I now suspect much worse is yet to be exposed by these Epstein Files.
Again, my work often puts me in the room with people from most of the existing factions from time to time. It is not unusual for me to find myself working with a major player out of the blue, and then, after doing our shared thing, never hear from that person again.
The fact Epstein has connections in all the factions and was seen as an asset or vehicle to access by many does not surprise me. He wanted his hands in everything, and his fingers in every pie, and it appears he was the consummate influence peddler for whom such access was not only a drug in and of itself but a shield of protection, probably for decades.
That some of the people I know or knew occasionally, as a background bit player, had some sort of connection to Epstein who was the ultimate access king, is not a shocking surprise in general, but it was still an unsettling surprise. That this is being exposed is the surprise (one I welcome and want more of).
- STEVEN BANNON – Steve Bannon may be one of those liminal figures. The mentions of him don’t fully condemn him, but they potentially indict him. Regardless of what you think of him, I suspect his engaging with Epstein was simply being at the table with as many people as possible. Epstein was a center of power that almost everyone seemed to be drawn to (if not almost everyone, a significant portion of powerful players).
I strongly doubt there were ever any “sex things” in Bannon’s orbit, though what’s being questioned is how much he tolerated powerful people, like Epstein, that he KNEW were engaging in child sex acts, or “sex things.”
The things Bannon said about Epstein were not good, but ingratiation for access is a common thing, and one may believe with good cause that what Bannon was doing was little more than saying what Epstein wanted to hear to gain access. The question remains, was he gaining access to take him down or gaining access to pull from his power? Unfortunately for Bannon, there is no clear answer for that outside of his denial (which isn’t sufficient in and of itself).
This is not to suggest Bannon was acting in evil, but no evidence clearly exonerates him or indicts him. As I know him personally, it is naturally for me to NOT WANT to believe he was acting in a spirit of enabling evil. I would still be shocked if it were affirmed that he was acting in a spirit of enabling evil rather than deception to get in to destroy Epstein. For now, I assume he was acting with good intentions but reserve the possibility he wasn’t.
One may also come to other conclusions and take every word at face value but having been privy to how the influence and access game is played, I doubt Bannon was communicating truthfully. Nothing in my interactions with him would suggest otherwise, but anecdotal evidence is not objective evidence.
Bannon is a case study of either how merely rising in power in America will get you inadvertently connected to dark forces whether you want to or not, or how men of integrity starting out can make small compromises that end up leading to essentially enabling child rape and murder.
Suspecting the systemic evil in the halls of power causes one to question whether one should ever enter it. I believe, though, good men and women should be compelled to enter it, but not without understanding the cost of engagement, potentially being confronted with a choice between power (and maybe just self-preservation) and defying evil.
B. BEING IN THE EARTH BUT NOT OF IT
Politics is access and influence. If you can access the true shot-callers, you can influence them, and that is the path to becoming a player yourself. It is a game I understand but do not choose to play beyond doing my job and promoting my services on their merit.
If you work in politics long enough you will live to see people you worked with (including people you’ve worked with for years) be exposed for things you were certainly not privy to. This is probably why in all these things I have never ever been investigated for anything related to anyone I have worked with or for who was investigated.
Despite knowing the reality I live in, the nature of the people I deal with (which, when it comes to degeneracy, is rarely detected before the exposure), I, of course, have no intention to stop my work as I can still do GOOD things for the cause of liberty and sometimes even nudge things a bit here and there.
I have always seen my work as sort of trying to slow the flood so the people can get to safety. At the same time, I preach self-sufficiency and self-reliance with local family and friends and independence from the influence and control of the existing power structures as much as possible.
The truth may never be known by any of us, unless and until we all agree to drop the weaponizing of this mess to game elections and advance our party or our team. There are good and bad people in this system, but we must seek the exposure of the bad people no matter who they are or how much our side might be hurt if they are exposed.
When I do candidate and client vetting, I often say that if I find a crime or severely unethical things and must report them by law, I will not hesitate, so “before I hit the big red button and start vetting you, do you want to reconsider?”
A few have had to change their plans after I discovered something unethical but not illegal, but at least once legal action followed.
I’ll probably be doing research projects for the midterms, including vetting and opposition or corporate research projects. I believe if in 2007 I had been asked to vet or do opposition or corporate research on Epstein, I would probably have found enough to justify an investigation. I have found things that have sunk major candidates, which I cannot disclose. This fact alone causes me pause when I learn of the depth of the relations had with men and women who regularly investigate potential allies and enemies.
Because I understand the political game of influence and access, I can find the connections people don’t want found. So, it seems to me that Epstein and his orbiters were never seriously looked into by anyone like me and/or things were suppressed and covered up, things that might have alerted someone to investigate them for crimes.
Epstein could not have operated his access influence schemes, which enabled the deeper sex crimes against women and children, WITHOUT some form of protection from on high.
Against this backdrop, knowing what I knew, Donald Trump has more than once suggested the Epstein Files were nothing but a hoax, but I can clearly see now the systemic abuse and coverup that occurred thanks to BOTH political parties (let the historians determine which party enabled and protected Epstein the both).
C. DONALD TRUMP’S VIETNAM?
The Epstein Files are becoming an albatross about President Trump’s neck in the same way that the War in Vietnam became a cancer on Lyndon Johnson’s Presidency. Johnson never made it out of the Presidential primary.
Right now, the Trump administration has, to put it mildly, royally screwed the pooch on this whole thing, which is becoming a debacle and is tainting Trump’s reputation for “draining the swamp.” No prosecutions, arrests, or justice, have come, despite Kash Patel’s early promise. At this point, this has become, to many, a slap in the face. Whether or not the base will become demoralized or even turn on Trump in the polls remains to be seen, but it is an increasing possibility.
Were the left not so committed to an anti-American ethos (that places the social status of the individual above the individual’s own meritorious claims), this could have been an issue that united us. I know amongst Republicans and conservatives there is growing discontent and anger over the failure to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Claims President Trump partook directly in the evil have minimal credibility, but not none. Still, the most “credible claims” seem to be unsubstantiated anonymous claims coming from an FBI tipline. That tipline was filled with many wild, unsubstantiated accusations not just against Trump but others as well.
But this isn’t, for now, about the right’s suspicion Trump is guilty of partaking in the evil, it’s about the right’s suspicion Trump believes he must protect evil to protect American stability.
Trump should shift gears and go whole hog on this to expose whoever has dirty hands at any level, but especially to imprison those who trafficked in or utilized sex slaves, including adults but especially children, or who murdered and consumed them, as this was the alleged the fate of some of the victims.
If Trump wants to drain the swamp, now is the time; this is the smoking gun needed, and the fact he both views this as a distraction and a hoax and that his people, Bondi and Patel, continue to try to minimize exposure and redact names and details, is not helpful to the country.
Trump can do this without putting the brakes on anything else he is trying the accomplish. But Trump’s only strategy is to gain a position where success is totally guaranteed before he acts, as with Iran so with this. He is risk averse at times, especially when he may suffer loss. This delayed response and his inability to use every tool available to him comes from wanting to be almost 100% certain of success before acting. This the charitable take. The uncharitable take is he’d rather protect evil than risk destroying America’s international reputation.
Trump’s supporters may be forgiven if after years of lawfare against him they have grace over his hesitation in this matter but the time for grace is gone, in my opinion, because too much evil is being covered up.
PREDICTIVE ANALYSIS
Spiritually speaking, I see this as a warning and an opportunity. It is an opportunity to unite as one People to demand justice and to want to expose all corruption and punish or at least shun and shame the bad people. It is a warning that God will punish the land for protecting such evil because the blood of the innocent cries out to Him for justice.
I am leaning toward the latter. Trump’s base will probably stick with him and downplay things as he has, and insist he is still going to drain the swamp. The left will downplay any democrats involved while taking the slightest hint or most outlandish false accusation to engage in lawfare and insist all republicans are pedophiles and all democrats are saints. I suspect the right will do the same to the left as well.
Indeed, the behavior of the latter informs the behavior of the former! Republicans know the courts will drop the hammer on any republicans without proof and likewise protect the democrats and even refuse to allow them to be prosecuted, which is established as fact in my mind. Just look at the corruption of the courts trying to protect gang members from deportation or the bad injunctions and insane ramblings of leftist and uniparty judges.
For Trump to fully engage in exposure and prosecution entails great risk. If a democrat is exposed, the courts will most likely protect them (but not always). If a false accusation is used by some DA to nail a republican, the courts will go most likely along with the lawfare.
As a Christian I have faith in God, in His justice, and so I would take that risk and do all I could to expose everything on everyone, regardless of party, and appeal to the American people when the courts engage in one-sided lawfare against republicans and protection of democrats. I would do what is right and make my appeal to Heaven for justice, because God is going to act against uneven scales of justice only if the right thing is done in the first place.
If Trump does not take the risk and do the right thing, going whole hog against those who were part of Epstein’s grand conspiracy, then God will judge this land for protecting evil and to avenge the innocent. If Trump goes whole hog this will be an invitation and appeal to heaven for justice and God will act to avenge the innocent without judging the whole land.
It is that simple for me. I have been close enough to the “beast” to know it’s real. I will NOT be gaslight into believing otherwise. The Vietnam War is immoral, and it is lost. Face the facts. Surrender. Release the Epstein Files, unredacted where it protects the perpetrators. This is the same as saying “bring our boys home.”
FURTHER RESOURCES:
Jeffrey Epstein: Names in the Dark – Inside the Unsealed Case Files – Boris Petrovic
Filthy Rich – The Jeffrey Epstein Story – James Patterson
Dead Men Don’t Talk: The Epstein Files – Campaign Justice
