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The Epstein Files Could Blow Up Everything | Shield of the Republic

2026-02-16 News & Politics
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The Bulwark
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Description

Eric and Eliot begin with a buffet of administration jackassery before pivoting to a preview of the Munich Security Conference. They discuss Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Bridge Colby's remarks, as well as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's speech highlighting the importance of transatlantic ties. They also examine the New START treaty's recent lapse and the future of arms control, the prospect for additional U.S. strikes on Iran, and the apparent shutdown of Russian Starlink terminals. They conclude with a discussion of the ongoing international fallout from the Epstein affair and his many unexplained Russian connections. Eric and Frank Miller's Latest on New START: https://thedispatch.com/article/new-start-expiration-russia-united-states-nuclear-program/ Eric and Frank Miller on NATO: https://www.nationalreview.com/2026/01/natos-not-dead/ Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Become a Bulwark Youtube Plus Member here - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG4Hp1KbGw4e02N7FpPXDgQ/join Chapters: 00:00:00 Jackassery roundup 00:05:59 Diplomacy mishaps 00:11:44 What the Munich Security Conference is 00:15:48 NATO signals, Europe hedging, and nuclear umbrellas 00:23:22 START expires 00:38:43 Iran buildup 00:48:06 Starlink, Russia pressure, and shaky negotiations 00:53:08 Epstein fallout

Top Comments (10)

@DionysianMentor 2026-02-16

If the Epstein files *can* blow up everything, then they *should* blow up everything.

328 16 replies
@delta5297 2026-02-16

Trump isn't interested in national security. He's interested in regime security.

188 10 replies
@Bigfield47 2026-02-16

The entire administration and the GOP are guilty of perfidy. Call it what it is. They are faithless to their oaths. The conclusion is drawn. They would have to prove that they are not. The evidence of it is in front of us every day. 😡

160 5 replies
@4lices.R4bbit 2026-02-16

Using, abusing, graping, enslaving, torturing, recording, and unaliving vulnerable, desperate, defenseless children. These monsters need to have everything taken from them...EVERYTHING...

135 17 replies
@petermartin4142 2026-02-16

Rubio will lie as this administration always has

100 2 replies
@patriciavalerieshalapata8100 2026-02-16

Name one thing that trump has done a good job on…..anything? All that he has done is tear up your country.

95 9 replies
@philoneill9865 2026-02-16

Harvard has a lot of explaining to do. How could they graduate Jarad and Kegseth. And keep Dershowitz on salary.

67 5 replies
@AliceinWonderlandzz 2026-02-16

I'm blue in the face yelling that Trump was, is and shall be an agent of Russia. The evidence is open and public. 1) He wqas 3 billion in debt after he bankrupted his own casino. No bank would touch him. Then Deutsche Bank - a bank convicted and fined 900 million dollars for laundering Russian money, bailed him out with Russian mob guarantees. At that point he became a laundering operation for the Russian mob, his clients were largely Russian and there are 1400 documented condo sales washing Russian mobster money into the system. 2) He was such a bad businessman, the Russian mob inserted Felix Sater a convicted Russian mob boss into his business and Sater sat in sight of Trump's office across the hall and converted his business to sell his name instead of build anything and they gave him a tv show to keep him distracted. He has been obsequious to Putin, moving his agenda forward in abandoning Ukraine and breaking up NATO. It is not a coincidence that the Beyond Top Secret document they found in his desk drawer was a list of Russian spies and informants who started dying in staggering numbers. Like the Epstein files, the failure to prosecute and remove Trump from power is all the proof you need to know we already live in an autocracy run and financed by a cabal of oligarchs. 3) The choice for this country is now revealed. The midterms will force the decision whether the American people become and enslaved repressed underclass or rise up to stop a malignant dictator.

63 7 replies
@benda18 2026-02-16

Can't SOMETHING just end this nightmare

23
@Verivee5 2026-02-16

What a balm for the soul to listen to two such intelligent and calm human beings! My father, (WWII 2 vet, born 1923) would have appreciated your collaboration so much. We need more of this! 🐸🏳️‍⚧️🌈🇺🇸❤️‍🩹🦄🫡

18

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