Just a thought:

Most people have morals and wouldn't have sex with an underage person, nor murder someone, just because their boss told them to. They would tell their boss to go fuck himself.

Then they wouldn't get a promotion and most likely never attain any power.

Unless they learned after the first time and secretly recorded their boss trying to get them to commit crimes and use that as their blackmail...

Back in 2002 cameraphones were not as common as now, and even now it is probably acceptable to limit camera access to "massage therapy" centers. The trick with the Epstein scheme is that with the massage excuse Epstein has some plausible deniability. GP sees this: the hardest to prosecute cabals with the most dedicated will be the most evolutionarily successful. (I might argue that a religious or ethnically based cabal would be more successful.)

I don’t think this is the case at all. I’m not sure what you mean by, “the game theory works out so nice I don’t see any alternative”. Our political system was in place long before the technology was here to do this sort of thing. The alternative is that voters just aren’t educated about every detail of a candidates personal life so some sketchy candidates get through.

> Our political system was in place long before the technology was here to do this sort of thing.

People have been blackmailed for scandalous actions long before video to record the incidents. No technology is required.

I don't think it's that far-fetched.

Visiting sketchy sex-related businesses or doing drugs is pretty par for the course in both Eastern and Western business culture as a form of trust-building between parties.

I can definitely see the level of "sketchiness" increasing as you climb the power ladder.

Agreed. Why would a billionaire support a candidate he "believes in" when he can outright own the candidate? There is that saying, "a big lie is easier to sell than a little lie" -- average middle class people comprehend cheating on taxes and spouses, but they simply don't have the exposure to understand there are psychopaths in the world who have zero morals and would kill for a glass of water if they knew they could get away with it. Look at the leaders throughout almost every civilization in history, it's the NORM for those in power to have their political rivals murdered-- very often their own family members. Anyone who thinks this is crazy or surprising is woefully ignore of history and the human condition.

Ottoman Empire's practice of fratricide as a way to choose the next sultan is a good example.

>the famous article from Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror's Law of Governance states that "Any of my sons ascend the throne, it's acceptable for him to kill his brothers for the common benefit of the people (nizam-i alem). The majority of the ulama (muslim scholars) have approved this; let action be taken accordingly."

https://www.dailysabah.com/feature/2015/08/07/the-history-of...