The story of Larry Summers tells us a great deal about our modern, failed “leaders.”
Larry Summers has announced that he is “stepping back” from his public engagements that include teaching at Harvard and sitting on the board of ChatGPT. Why would he do something like that? He has been in the public sphere for decades, and now he wants to sit at home and talk to his cat? Well, the release of a batch of Jeffrey Epstein emails did not go well for the former president of Harvard. The fellow who ran my alma mater sounded like a veritable freshman, asking the perverted financier how to make overtures to a CCP official. As Larry Summers no doubt either had copies of those emails on his devices or at least remembered them, why didn’t he retire to the quiet life well before the emails were made public? Because he believes, as do many of his caste, that the only crime is getting caught. Had different emails been released, he would be talking tomorrow to the Norwich Rotary Club about the future of dollar-euro valuations in the age of crypto.
None of us is perfect, and each probably has some events or history that he would prefer to be kept buried until at least he’s buried. God is perfect, and man, with his foibles, has to do the best to live honestly and fix the things he has done wrong. I ask my kids how one would live ideally? My suggestion: you’re alone in your room, and then somebody bursts in. If you don’t slam the laptop shut, throw your phone out the window, or hide some item in a drawer, then you’re probably living okay. That we have tawdry revelations about politicians and other public figures during or after their lives is no great shock. That which is disappointing and potentially dangerous is how different they are in private and in public.
Nowhere is this differential more pronounced than within the orbit of Jeffrey Epstein. While we keep getting different stories of what he was up to—he was an intelligence asset, he made deals that could not be done officially, he trafficked young girls—one hears the names of those who associated with him and wants to throw up. Many of the rich and famous who flew on his plane and/or sought his counsel did so after his conviction in Florida for solicitation, including solicitation of a minor. As they say, tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are. The names that keep dripping out of people who associated with Epstein are the who’s who of politics and business—and in the case of not-so-princely Andrew, the royal family. Why would people want to be associated with such a lowlife? That’s easy: money and personal benefits.
Donald Trump can show you canceled checks that he gave to Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, and many others who have called him the worst names. When Donald Trump was not a politician but rather a world-famous businessman, nobody was embarrassed to knock on his Trump Tower door and ask for a check. That’s how politics works: you go where the money is. In the case of Epstein, they went where the money and apparently the girls were. The latter story is very hard to understand. On the one hand, there were comments about thousands of videos that needed to be redacted to protect young victims, and on the other hand, officials say that, really, there was no trafficking and that those on the “Lolita Express” went to Epstein’s island to play bridge. Again, humans are not perfect, and I imagine that many who associated with Epstein did not know about his perverted activities. But some did know and still kept his friendship. And this is the story of Larry Summers.
Summers was always considered a whiz kid. He was the chief economist of the World Bank and held several important positions in the Clinton administration. He became a very young president of Harvard, and many thought that he would be there for decades to lead the university into the future. His tenure was short, as he suggested that women do not have the aptitude to excel in advanced mathematics. Not all smart people are bright. After getting a Crimson boot on the back of his pants from the faculty senate, he went to work on Wall Street and then found himself in the Obama White House.
Summers was in touch with Epstein by email until the day before the latter was arrested. Summers has described his association with the pedophile as “a major error in judgment.” Would he have stated the same if his communication was still unknown to the public? People never admit more than they have to—any lawyer will tell you the same. When a former Oxford roommate had Bill Clinton dead to rights on having smoked marijuana with him, the candidate for president said that yes, he smoked, but he did not inhale. If the Summers emails had been lost or deleted, I doubt that he would have volunteered that he sought out Epstein’s advice on how to interact with a “mentee” for whom he had some interest. He would have simply continued teaching at Harvard and hoped that the monster never got out of the closet.
When the NFL intentionally released John Gruden’s emails in order to damage him, I was angry. People should be able to communicate privately and express themselves in manners that might be publicly embarrassing or unacceptable. Just as a guy can choose to walk around his house in his boxers and violate no law or expect no trouble from doing so, he should be able to write privately to a friend what he really thinks about that obnoxious neighbor of his. When he goes out of his house, he is dressed appropriately and, in parallel, never says a bad word about his neighbor in public. The problem with Summers is less the content of his emails than his continued association with Epstein after the latter’s legal troubles in Florida and his known association with young girls and questionable activities. Here in Israel, the people want to know what a former prime minister was doing visiting Epstein and doing business with him. Summers could have and should have walked away from a known criminal and pedophile. He chose to remain friends with him. Had he asked a former colleague at Harvard the same questions he asked Epstein, he would have been embarrassed by their discovery, but the matter would not be our business. As he worked in the White House and the World Bank, his activities concerned the people of the United States, as he had proven that he had really lousy judgment and associated with criminals. If he had walked away from Jeffrey Epstein, he would have had no one else to ask personal questions?
We know that a Democratic member of Congress was texting Epstein during a hearing. When and if the Epstein material is released, there will be dozens of Larry Summers: each will have to explain why he or she stayed associated with an unrepentant pedophile after he was prosecuted over a decade before his death. Why couldn’t they walk away? The royals have abandoned Andrew. I don’t hear Charles or Williams bleating about how Christmas will never be the same without Andrew playing the ukulele under the tree. They cut him out of their existence because continued association was radioactive. Why couldn’t powerful members of Congress and business do the same to Epstein after 2008? Don’t expect a lot of answers. Do expect a lot of people to stay at home to play with their cats.
