The latest batch of the Epstein files released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Dec. 23 has set the internet ablaze as a legion of sleuths sort through the salacious and sleazy secrets detailed in those documents.

But just as interesting to me has been the contrasting reactions to those disclosures.

President Donald Trump seemed as peevish as ever when asked on Dec. 22 about the documents, thousands and thousands of pages and pictures about the life and death of his former friend, the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Deploying standard Trump tactics, the president has tried to create an alternate reality as the Epstein scandal creeps closer to his world.

"I thought that was finished," Trump said while complaining that the intense focus on Epstein distracts from attention he might get for things he's trying to accomplish in his second term.

"There's tremendous backlash," Trump continued. "A lot of people are very angry that pictures are being released of other people that really had nothing to do with Epstein."

Trump was right that the Epstein files have prompted a backlash. But that anger is directed at the Department of Justice for not obeying the law passed in November to force the release of the Epstein files.

That

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