Podcast Summary: After Party with Emily Jashinsky

Episode: Epstein Haunts the Elites, Mamdani to White House, with Matt Taibbi, PLUS Jasmine Crockett’s Big FAIL
Date: November 20, 2025
Guest: Matt Taibbi
Host: Emily Jashinsky

Episode Overview

Emily Jashinsky hosts journalist Matt Taibbi for an expansive, incisive discussion touching on the political and cultural reverberations of the latest Epstein revelations, the awkward position of elites caught in the fallout, breaking developments with New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani meeting Donald Trump, and a viral congressional blunder by Rep. Jasmine Crockett. The episode wraps with a cultural deep-dive into recent trends in country music and what they say about American life today.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Epstein Files Transparency Act & Fallout (04:07–36:25)

New Document Release & Mainstream Reactions

• Taibbi outlines the current mania around the recently-passed Epstein Files Transparency Act and a massive new document dump revealing further connections between Epstein and prominent political figures (04:55).
• Congressional carve-outs for "national security" or "personal info" already signal likely significant redactions, with Speaker Mike Johnson and others invoking standard security justifications (06:52, 07:24).
• Taibbi is skeptical of these justifications:

  “The language, ‘to the maximum extent possible’ is already ridiculous… when there's a will, there's a way. When they feel like it's in their political interest to do so. I don't think that excuse is going to hold water. …You can almost hear the sigh of relief all across Washington.” (08:38)

Congressional Corruption and the Plaskett Case

• The Stacy Plaskett Situation: Recent revelations include Plaskett texting Epstein live during congressional hearings.
  • Emily: “It's just incredible that Lee [Fang] reported this in 2023 and it takes some of these really salacious emails for anyone to care about it, seemingly at least.” (14:13)
  • Taibbi: “She did work for the firm that represented Epstein… she's intimately involved with Jeffrey Epstein.” (12:27)
• Plaskett’s defense ("Epstein was my constituent") is widely panned for hypocrisy, highlighted by her previous denials and slow return of Epstein donations to charity (12:16-14:13).
• Broader Corruption: Numerous Virgin Islands officials implicated, exemplifying “ordinary, common-run corruption and the buying of access.” Epstein’s ability to manipulate local power via donations is emphasized (15:10).

The Larry Summers Angle

• Footage plays of Summers addressing his Harvard class in the wake of emails showing him confiding regularly in Epstein and allegedly courting the daughter of a Chinese Belt and Road official (20:24).
• Taibbi delivers a brutal assessment:

  “He's a rare like 10 out of 10 on the celebrity repugnance scale… He personifies the habit of this class of people to shower and lavish awards on intellectual mediocrity and give it exalted academic titles.” (21:33)

  • On the Summers-Epstein relationship: “It's embarrassing… These are people, one guy is worth $600 million and the other is the president of Harvard, and they have these terrible insecurities. It's really kind of sad to read.” (23:13)

Epstein: Conspiracies, Fact & Media Narratives

• “Is Epstein ‘like Russiagate’?” Taibbi draws a parallel to the media's speculative excess around Russiagate, cautioning against jumping to maximalist conclusions:

  “Everybody assumes that it's an intelligence conspiracy that involves sexual blackmail, but the evidence for that is lacking… the news is sort of ahead of its skis on this in the same way it was with Russiagate.” (27:44)

• While there’s “meat on the bone” regarding Epstein’s direct abuse, there’s a lack of direct documentation for the much-assumed intelligence/blackmail operation (30:46).

Reflection on Elite Corruption

• Emily probes the link between elites’ messy personal and political lives.
  • Taibbi: “There’s increasingly an assumption among voters… that people don’t tend to rise in politics unless they're compromised in some way… it speaks to their arrogance—they obviously assume they would get away with misbehavior without consequence.” (34:00-34:23)

2. AI Bubble, OpenAI, and the Institutional Arrogance of Elites (36:25–40:50)

• Emily raises concerns over “circular funding” in AI (OpenAI, Nvidia), drawing parallels with the pre-2008 financial bubble.
• Taibbi: “That's certainly the lesson after 2008… they know that even if they just experience a downturn they're going to be propped up. There's an implied backstop to everything they do.” (37:23)
• On a coming AI crash?

  “Some of my old friends from like the finance days have been calling up and saying that the rug is going to come out from under this AI bubble sooner rather than later.” (38:16)

• Wall Street’s perspective is “incredibly off-putting,” and if the AI bubble bursts, ordinary people will pay the price as always, even if society gets some progress from it (39:39).

3. Senator Slotkin’s Military Message: The New Insubordination? (43:29–49:07)

• The pair react to a viral video montage of Democratic lawmakers, led by Alyssa Slotkin, encouraging military/intelligence officers to not obey “illegal orders.”
• Taibbi compares the video to Starship Troopers-style propaganda:

  “This whole idea of ‘you can refuse to obey illegal orders,’ well, that's always been true… For former CIA members to suddenly be piping up about illegal activities—I’m sorry, that's just laughable.” (45:37, 48:06)

• They muse on hypocrisy: such messaging would be scandalous if it came from Republicans, and wonder if Slotkin has any real principles behind the gesture.

4. Trump Meets NYC’s Neo-Socialist Mayor Zoran Mamdani: Left Populism and American Memory (49:07–58:35)

• Trump gloats online about an upcoming White House meeting with NYC mayor Zoran Mamdani, whom he dubs the “Communist mayor.”
• Emily prompts Taibbi to reflect on American left-populism:

  “Young people… holding hammers and sickles… They didn't know any of the history. They're no longer taught about the gulags… horrifying to me.” (52:02)

• Noting a shift from Bernie Sanders’ principled social democracy to Mamdani’s more radical, performatively cynical “DSA socialism,” Taibbi expresses concern at a new left with little knowledge of Soviet atrocities.
  • “The Bolsheviks were originally called the Democratic Socialists… there's an extraordinary cynicism in that [Mamdani’s rhetoric]… it makes it a little chilling for people who are students of history.” (56:33-57:58)
• On the Mamdani/Trump “WWE” dynamic:

  “He absolutely 100% [shares instincts with Trump]… He has a lot of the same instincts that Trump has in terms of PR.” (55:15)

• Taibbi is skeptical that real populist reform is possible from either current populist “wing” (Mamdani’s or Trump’s), as both are products of a broken status quo and are hindered by big money and extreme rhetoric (58:35).

5. Jasmine Crockett’s Big FAIL: Congressional Oppo Research Gone Wrong (63:15)

• Rep. Jasmine Crockett went viral for accusing Republicans of taking money from “somebody named Jeffrey Epstein,” but failed to distinguish the now-notorious deceased financier from unrelated Epstein donors in FEC filings.
  • “Crockett getting this so badly wrong is, I guess, why politicians usually outsource their oppo research to the professionals… But you would also expect a member of Congress to know more about FEC filings.” (63:15)
• Emily skewers the blunder, noting the irony of Crockett defending Plaskett, who has real Epstein ties, while making a basic research error—“10 out of 10, no notes, Jasmine Crockett.” (63:15)

6. Culture Shift: Country Music’s Yearning for Roots (70:12–End)

• Emily explores a trend in contemporary country music (e.g., Kelsea Ballerini’s “I Sit in Parks”) where artists now express nostalgia or longing for small-town, familial life and regret over chasing big city careers.
  • Sample lyrics:

    “I sit in parks, it breaks my heart because I see just how far I am from the things that I want...” (70:12)

• She observes this is a cultural reversal from the genre’s historic escapism toward city life—today, “there’s more focus on pining to go back to your hometown” and a recognition that “some of our highest ambitions can come from anywhere.” (~74:00)
• Emily suggests social media and post-pandemic remote work have fueled this shift, and interprets it as a healthy, stabilizing cultural move.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Taibbi on the Epstein Dump:

  “The number of people involved, that's another one of the details that's staggering… It's really a story so far just about kind of ordinary, common-run corruption and the buying of access.” (15:10)

• On Plaskett’s defense:

  “She didn't even need an intern to go through the constituent mail. That's how responsive she is.” (10:36, Emily)

• Taibbi on Summers:

  “He's a rare like 10 out of 10 on the celebrity repugnance scale. He's everything you can't stand about elites in our society.” (21:33)

• Summers to his Harvard class:

  “Some of you will have seen my statement of regret expressing my shame…” (20:24, Summers)

• On the elite’s arrogance:

  “I am shocked that any modern public figure would talk about anything that's damaging on email or even do anything that's damaging, frankly… it speaks to the arrogance of these people.” (34:00, Taibbi)

• On country music’s “roots” trend:

  “There's been a shift… away from pining to escape your hometown to a shift where there's more focus on pining to go back…” (~74:00, Emily)

• On left populism and memory:

  “Americans tend to be very well informed about the history of the Nazi party, but we don't know a whole lot about the Stalinist period or it's been forgotten. And that's what I worry about.” (52:02, Taibbi)

Segment Timestamps

• Epstein Document Fallout: 04:07–36:25
• AI Bubble/Elite Arrogance: 36:25–40:50
• Slotkin/“Don’t Give Up the Ship”: 43:29–49:07
• Mamdani Visits Trump/Left Populism: 49:07–58:35
• Jasmine Crockett’s Blunder: 63:15–70:12
• Country Music & Cultural Trends: 70:12–End

Summary Takeaway

This episode delivers a sharp, often humorous, but ultimately sobering look at how elite corruption, cultural change, and political cynicism intersect in today’s America—from the banality and brazenness of the Epstein orbit, to the performative politics of both the left and right, to a deeper grassroots yearning for something more grounded. Both Emily and Matt consistently return to a theme of institutional and personal arrogance at the top, and the often-unexpected ways this is now being challenged—often messily, and sometimes with genuine hope—at the bottom.