There has been a flurry of activity from the White House, from the bizarre to the banal, and the scope and breadth of matters into which President Trump has poked his very small fingers is, many people say, overwhelming. There is only one thing that he hasn’t done

Unsealing the transcripts would be an exception to the secrecy of grand juries, wrote the judge supervising Ms. Maxwell’s case, Paul A. Engelmayer. Permitting such an exception “casually or promiscuously” would erode confidence in people called to testify before future panels, the judge wrote in a 31-page opinion.

This was, of course, about as easy a decision as could be, there being no exception under law to permit the unsealing of the grand jury transcripts, and there being no purpose for doing so in any event.

He said the Justice Department’s “entire premise — that the Maxwell grand jury materials would bring to light meaningful new information about Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes, or the government’s investigation into them — is demonstrably false.”

Non-lawyers tend to think that grand jury proceedings are mini-trials held under Star Chamber conditions, replete with fascinating and sordid details too lascivious for the consumption of the faint of heart. The reality, sadly, is that they’re superficial, shallow, usually hearsay and almost always unilluminating. They’re just enough to cover the legal elements for an indictment, as provided by an agent without actual knowledge of much of anything, and nothing more.

But why, you ask, did the government who wanted so very much to be fully transparent and fulfill the promise that on Day 1, Trump would release the Epstein files, seek this unsealing when it stood essentially no chance of success and, even if successful, would have added nothing to public information?

You poor fools. Weeks went by awaiting Judge Englemayer’s decision, which was always a foregone conclusion, and it gave you pause to let out your breath since Trump, and even Pamela Jo, were trying. And when the denial came, as it certainly would, they could blame the radical left judge for it, depriving you of knowing all about the nasty and horrible things Bill Clinton almost certainly did.

But the decision was released and there was barely a whimper. No defensive cries. No accusations of radical libs hating Trump. And most importantly, no cries for Trump to release the Epstein files that have his name all over them and probably include the dirty picture he drew for his best friend about their secrets.

It’s worth reminding everyone that the Epstein files, the investigatory and prosecutorial files maintained by the Department of Justice, run by Attorney General Pam “The List Is On My Desk Right Now” Bondi at the behest of her lord and savior, Donald Trump, can be released any damn time Trump pleases. Today. Tomorrow. Yesterday. That they were not released is because he does not want the files released. There is absolutely nothing preventing Trump from releasing the files. Except Trump, calling the files boring and noting anyone interested in them is a stupid weakling whom he doesn’t want as a follower.

And the silence is deafening. What happened to the years of cries about pedophilia? Where are the stentorian MAGA voices demanding that Bondi, shielding Trump, release the Epstein files?

Is it because there are so many other things, so many things that appeal to the MAGA bloodlust like disappearing “illegals,” even if some happen to be citizens, or putting National Guard boots on the ground because “no bail” has turned the District of Columbia into a Big Balls kill zone? Or has the schemer won by using the contrived claim of unsealing the grand jury transcripts to outlast the interests of the unduly passionate? By diverting their attention to a plethora of squirrels, playing on the limits of their attention span, has Trump outlived the l’affaire Epstein?

Sure, the Democrats have not forgotten, but then, they only care because of near-certainty that it will taint Trump, and that feeds into the protective instincts of those who chalk up the media pointing out every lie and deception to TDS, thus enabling them to dismiss any claim in the service of their president, as Ghislaine Maxwell basks in the soft tedium of Club Fed where no sex offender ever goes. Or as the new Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, E.J. Antoni, has figured out the secret to better monthly unemployment statistics by eliminating monthly unemployment statistics. After all, it can’t be bad news if there’s no news, right?

Trump may not be smart enough to know that Alaska is no longer Russia, or that he’s being played by the trained KGB agent Putin who has demonstrated his desire for peace by increasing the bombings and attacks in anticipation of a meeting along with Trump, who has already shown his hand by speaking approvingly of territory giveaways. But Trump is enough of a schemer to know that his MAGA faithful lack the focus to remember and care that the years-long promise of releasing the Epstein files could happen this very moment if Trump wanted it to happen. Trump doesn’t. They no longer care. He’s still their Trump.