The Clinton spin machine is already trying to minimize the significance of the photo of Bill Clinton being massaged by one of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex slaves, which surfaced just as Clinton was about to speak at the  virtual Democratic National Convention. That spin machine is damn good—after all, it was taught by the best. The narrative, however, is the equivalent of throwing dust in the eyes of observers while they are being blasted by a fog machine.

Here is the current “it depends what the meaning of ‘is’ is” deceit from Clinton’s lackeys, which was kindly provided by a commenter:

• The woman who was giving him the massage in the photo was 22 years old at the time, not underage.
• She really was a trained massage therapist.
• The photo was taken in a public place — an airport — during a trip to Africa for a humanitarian mission, not to Jeffrey Epstein’s pedophile island.
• Clinton was in the company of several celebrities “who have never been accused of wrongdoing” who believed they were taking part in a genuine charitable event.
• According to the masseuse, Clinton was charming and sweet and did nothing inappropriate during the trip.

I wrote the following in response, which Zanshin, another veteran commenter, proprly suggests should be buried in the comments, which, sadly, a lot of readers ignore. I’ve edited it slightly:

This is the kind of spin Clinton has used for his whole career.

Facts:

1. Chauntae Davies was one of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex slaves.

2. She’s called an “alleged victim” in all accounts because the victims never had their day in court, except in an ad hoc hearing with no legal force after Epstein died under weird circumstances. But there is no question that she was a victim—not underaged, just a naive, dumb, poor young woman of the sort that rich and powerful men have groomed, corrupted and exploited for eons.

3. She was an “air hostess” on Epstein’s private jet dubbed “the Lolita Express,” by which Epstein’s pals were either taken to rendezvous with the women, often under-aged, who Epstein had pulled into prostitution, or who were on the flights to pleasure the men on the way.

3. If she was on a flight with Bill Clinton, that plane was the Lolita Express, and the photo proves she was.

4. Among Clinton’s traveling companions on that trip was Kevin Spacey. “Several celebrities who have never been accused of wrongdoing” is false, unless it is Clintonian, leaving out, “and Kevin Spacey, who has been accused of sexual assault, harassment, and rape.” Spacey is, in fact, one of the worst villains of the #MeToo revelations. His presence on the flight is hardly exculpatory evidence for Clinton.

5. Davies, discussing the flight, says the “other girls” put on uniforms—I’d love to see what those were like—for the flight. What fun!

6. Chauntae Davies was 21 and a trainee massage therapist when her “mentor”, Gypsy Gita, took her to the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills to give Ghislaine Maxwell a massage.Maxwell was Epstein’s’ procurer. She will stand trial next year on six charges, including child sex trafficking.

7. One of Ghislaine Maxwell’s jobs was to threaten Epstein’s women in order to force them to keep coming back, to make them recruit other women, and to not go to authorities.

8. After Davies massaged Maxwell, she offered to fly her to Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion in Florida and give her a “staff position” as a masseuse. At her first meeting with Epstein, he forced her to perform a sex act on him and on their third or fourth meeting he raped her. She was repeatedly abused by him for four years. He also attacked her younger sister after she had introduced them

9. Chauntae Davies has talked about the five-day trip, saying the group “started bonding” as soon as Epstein’s private jet took off from New York.

10. The fact that Clinton’s massage was public is irrelevant. Asking a woman to massage you in public under those circumstances is textbook sexual harassment, though the kind that cannot be prosecuted. She can’t say “no.”

11. That Davies says Clinton was “charming” is also irrelevant. He charmingly imposed on a sex slave to give him a massage under circumstances where she could not refuse. If he knew her situation—and it strains credulity to think he did not—he had an obligation as a citizen, a role model, a former lawyer and a human being to report to authorities. Instead, he asked for a massage.

Summary: The episode proves that Clinton participated in at least one Lolita Express excursion (the logs say over 20), which is per se more incriminating than anything Brett Kavanaugh did. The only way to mitigate  the meaning of the photos is to take on faith Clinton’s denial that he knew anything about Epstein’s habits or how Davies and other women came to be on the plane.

Anyone who believes that is too gullible to be left alone on the street.

Any young woman that gullible is a potential victim of the likes of Jeffrey Epstein.

Or Bill Clinton.