Trump’s Forever Wars & Epstein Files: Power Over Promises. Politics As Usual.

Americans are preoccupied with Trump & the Epstein Files but serious observers look to his escalation of the ‘Forever Wars’ he promised to end.

It is said that politicians campaign in poetry and govern in prose. This necessitates making pledges and promises that appeal to the masses - many of which cannot be kept.

The road to power is paved with promises that were never set in stone.

Recent attention has turned to Donald Trump and the so-called ‘Epstein Files’, which he promised to declassify - a promise that now looks as if it will not be met.

But one that has definitely been broken is the promise to end American involvement in ‘Forever Wars’.

The former is more politically dangerous for Trump - but not just because of the allegation that he might be named in the files

The Epstein Time-bomb

Trump and his supporters, including key figures like Pam Bondi who was later appointed Attorney General, framed the Epstein files as a way to expose a corrupt elite, particularly targeting political opponents amongst the Democrats. Trump repeatedly promised during his 2024 campaign to declassify and release the files, which was aligned with his broader campaign rhetoric of dismantling a "deep state” conspiracy - and seemingly ‘anti-establishment’.

Now he’s minimising their significance, criticising journalists who ask him about them, and suggesting that the calls for declassifying them is a Democratic conspiracy - whereas the calls are actually from his MAGA support base.

It’s been suggested that the failure to declassify would mean that either the files never existed or had been grossly exaggerated by Trump’s team prior to the election - or else they do include the names of genuinely significant figures (including Trump himself, according to Elon Musk).

Regardless of the reason, any failure to publish the files in a convincing way could reinforce the impression that all governments, including this one, protect the “deep state” and alienate his own support base.

“Forever Wars”

But the more serious matter is his perpetuating military engagement around the world.

Trump consistently campaigned on ending “forever wars,” portraying them as draining U.S. resources and lives without clear benefits. In a campaign speech in September 2024 he said:

“I will end the forever wars, and we will bring our troops home. We’ve been in these wars for 20 years, spending trillions, and what do we have? Nothing but death and destruction.”

In an interview in April 2024 he said:

“The Ukraine situation is a forever war. We’re pouring billions into it, and it’s not our fight. Europe should be doing more, and I’ll stop it from dragging on.”

Yet Trump announced the resumption of military aid to Ukraine, including Patriot missiles - albeit paid for by EU countries - which will likely perpetuate the war he promised to end.

More than that, in the first six months of his presidency he has sanctioned nearly as many air strikes as ‘Genocide’ Joe Biden did in his entire presidency - in particular in Yemen and Somalia.

There have been 529 air strikes since his inauguration in January 2025, as compared with 555 over the four years of the Biden administration.

Click on the image for source data

Click on the image for source data

In addition Trump directly attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities after engaging them in back channel negotiations - and has given military aid and assistance to “Israel” totalling nearly $12 billion, whilst it continues its genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing in Palestine, as well as bombing Iran and Syria.

Breaking promises is a virtue in secular politics

Machiavelli’s advice to princes has been the creed which guides power hungry politicians. He wrote

“The princes who have accomplished great deeds are those who have cared little for keeping their promises and who have known how to manipulate the minds of men with shrewdness; and in the end they have surpassed those who laid their foundations upon honesty. … A wise ruler, therefore, cannot and should not keep his word when such an observance would be to his disadvantage, and when the reasons that made him promise are no longer valid. … But it is necessary to know how to disguise this nature well and to be a great pretender and dissembler; and men are so simple, and so obedient to present necessities, that he who deceives will always find those who let themselves be deceived.”

So breaking promises is good when it serves the ruler’s interests. Successful outcomes trump honesty and integrity.

Yet too many Muslims in the world have seen western politics as the politics of integrity to be emulated.

Look beyond the scandal

Serious observers need to look beyond the superficial issues of personal scandal. Since the 1970s, at least 25 women have publicly accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct, including accusations of rape, non-consensual kissing, groping, and inappropriate behaviour, such as entering dressing rooms of beauty pageant contestants while they were undressed.

Any association with Jefrey Epstein would hardly be a surprise from the perspective of personal morality. Of course the concerns that Epstein was a Mossad asset, and so held sensitive information on high profile individuals is a political issue - but one that so far has not been backed by solid evidence.

But the death, destruction and destabilisation by yet another politician supporting the military industrial complex is a far more important issue.

It matters to the MAGA-base for nationalistic reasons - but matters to Muslims for the ongoing damage to the Muslim world.

P.S. on 19/7/2025 - The Epstein Files furore goes on. However, unlike other political promises that are broken - like the continuation of “Forever Wars” this one played upon a fundamental mistrust of the political establishment. As a result it is potentially more dangerous. To break this promise risks alienating a host of people who saw Trump as their last best hope. If he loses that trust, it is not just him that loses as I very much doubt any future populist will be trusted for a generation.

Abdul Wahid has been active in Muslim affairs in the UK for over 25 years. He has been published on the websites of Foreign Policy, Open Democracy, the Times Higher Educational Supplement, and Prospect Magazine. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AbdulWahid_X.