Elite Protection and State Power in American Political Crisis

Analysis of: Hillary Clinton accuses Trump administration of Epstein files cover-up – US politics live
The Guardian | February 17, 2026

TL;DR

A live blog captures U.S. political chaos: Clinton alleges Epstein cover-up, Trump pressures Ukraine, and NYC's socialist mayor faces his first test against police surveillance. These fragments reveal how capitalist states manage crises while preserving elite protection and surveillance power.

Analytical Focus:Class Analysis Contradictions Historical Context

This live blog compilation reveals the American capitalist state in multiple dimensions of crisis management. The Epstein files controversy exposes the class function of state secrecy—protecting networks of elite impunity while partisan theater between Clinton and Trump obscures the bipartisan nature of ruling-class protection. Neither faction genuinely threatens the system that enabled Epstein's crimes; instead, each weaponizes the scandal against the other while the underlying structure of elite immunity remains unchallenged. Meanwhile, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani's confrontation with NYPD surveillance technology crystallizes a fundamental contradiction facing left-reformist politicians within capitalist state structures. As an assemblyman, Mamdani opposed police surveillance; as mayor, he inherits the coercive apparatus necessary to govern a city serving capital's interests. The article's framing—asking whether he'll 'risk alienating police'—naturalizes the assumption that elected officials must accommodate rather than transform state power. This illustrates how electoral politics absorbs and neutralizes challenges to the security state. The international context—Ukraine-Russia negotiations, Iran tensions, and Rubio's embrace of Orbán—demonstrates how the Trump administration openly advances authoritarian models while using diplomatic chaos as leverage. The removal and court-ordered restoration of Philadelphia's slavery exhibit reveals ideological struggle over historical memory, with the judiciary temporarily checking executive attempts to erase uncomfortable truths about American capitalism's foundation in enslaved labor. These disparate stories share a common thread: the ongoing negotiation between democratic forms and the authoritarian tendencies inherent in protecting capitalist class interests.

Class Dynamics

Actors: Political elites (Clinton, Trump), Financial oligarchy (Epstein network, hedge fund managers), State security apparatus (NYPD, federal agencies), Working class (Ohio plant workers), Left-reformist politicians (Mamdani), Surveillance technology corporations (Ntrepid), Civil liberties advocates (STOP)

Beneficiaries: Political elites benefiting from controlled disclosure of Epstein files, Surveillance technology contractors receiving government contracts, Capital owners relocating production to lower-wage regions, Authoritarian-aligned political figures (Orbán) receiving U.S. backing

Harmed Parties: Workers facing plant relocation to China, Populations subject to expanded surveillance, Victims of elite trafficking networks denied full accountability, Communities whose historical memory is being erased

The articles reveal a consistent pattern: state power operates to protect elite networks while expanding surveillance over the general population. The Epstein controversy demonstrates how partisan conflict between ruling-class factions distracts from their shared interest in limiting accountability. Mamdani's predicament shows how elected officials, regardless of ideology, become dependent on coercive state institutions. The hedge fund billionaire's plant relocation exposes the contradiction between nationalist rhetoric and capital's actual mobility—even Trump's 'earliest Wall Street backers' prioritize profit over domestic workers.

Material Conditions

Economic Factors: Global labor arbitrage driving manufacturing relocation, Surveillance technology as profitable commodity, Financial sector's political influence through campaign backing, Geopolitical competition over energy resources (Strait of Hormuz)

The Paulson story most directly illustrates production relations: a hedge fund billionaire who publicly championed domestic manufacturing relocates an Ohio plant to China when profit demands it. Workers describe this as 'a slap in our face'—their labor created the value that Paulson now moves elsewhere. The surveillance technology sector represents a growing convergence between state coercive functions and private capital accumulation, with companies like Ntrepid profiting from providing tools of social control.

Resources at Stake: Control over information (Epstein files, historical narratives), Surveillance infrastructure and data, Manufacturing jobs and facilities, Oil transit through Strait of Hormuz, Political legitimacy of reform projects

Historical Context

Precedents: COINTELPRO and historical state surveillance of dissent, Elite impunity patterns from Panama Papers to Epstein, Deindustrialization and capital flight since 1970s, Historical erasure of slavery's role in American capitalism, Co-optation of reformist politicians by state structures

These events occur within late neoliberalism's contradictions: the gap between democratic rhetoric and oligarchic reality has become undeniable. The Epstein scandal represents what happens when elite impunity networks become visible—not fundamental change, but managed disclosure and partisan weaponization. The slavery exhibit removal echoes ongoing struggles over whose history gets told, reflecting how the superstructure (ideology, culture) must constantly reinforce or contest the legitimacy of capitalist development built on enslaved labor. Mamdani's situation repeats the historical pattern of social democrats and democratic socialists entering bourgeois state structures only to find themselves managing rather than transforming capitalist governance.

Contradictions

Primary: The fundamental contradiction is between democratic legitimacy (which requires accountability and transparency) and capitalist state function (which requires protecting elite networks and maintaining surveillance capacity). This manifests across all stories: files that must be released but slowly, surveillance that a socialist mayor must suddenly defend, history that must be told but keeps getting removed.

Secondary: Nationalist rhetoric vs. capital's actual transnational mobility (Paulson relocation), Reform politics vs. state coercive apparatus (Mamdani/NYPD), Partisan conflict vs. shared ruling-class interests (Clinton/Trump both protecting system that enabled Epstein), Democratic allies vs. authoritarian partnership (Rubio embracing Orbán)

These contradictions are unlikely to resolve within current structures. The Epstein files will continue their managed release, providing partisan ammunition without systemic accountability. Mamdani will likely accommodate police power while seeking marginal reforms, demonstrating the limits of electoral socialism. The authoritarian drift—visible in historical erasure, surveillance expansion, and Orbán embrace—represents capital's preferred resolution: maintaining accumulation through increasingly coercive means as democratic legitimacy erodes.

Global Interconnections

The domestic stories connect directly to the international context presented in the blog. Trump's pressure on Ukraine, the Iran negotiations, and Rubio's explicit support for Orbán reveal how U.S. imperialism increasingly embraces authoritarian models abroad while implementing similar tendencies domestically. The removal of slavery exhibits parallels the rewriting of history that Judge Rufe compared to Orwell's 1984—both represent ideological management necessary for maintaining capitalist legitimacy. The surveillance question links local (NYPD), national (Epstein files), and global (Iran tensions, Ukraine negotiations) dimensions. States that surveil their own populations more intensively also tend toward more aggressive imperial postures, as both require justifying expanded security apparatus. The hedge fund billionaire's China relocation reminds us that despite nationalist rhetoric, capital operates transnationally—the same class that funds Trump's campaigns moves production wherever profit dictates, demonstrating that 'national interest' rhetoric serves ideological rather than material functions for working people.

Conclusion

These fragmented news items reveal a capitalist state system under strain, managing multiple legitimacy crises simultaneously. For working-class observers, the key insight is that neither partisan faction offers genuine accountability or transformation—Clinton and Trump both operate within and benefit from the system that enabled Epstein's crimes. Mamdani's predicament shows that even sincere left-reformists face structural constraints that limit change through electoral means. The path forward requires building power outside and against these structures: workplace organization like the Ohio workers fighting their plant's relocation, surveillance accountability movements like STOP, and broader class consciousness that recognizes how elite protection, historical erasure, and surveillance expansion serve the same class interests regardless of which party holds office.

Suggested Reading

• The State and Revolution by V.I. Lenin (1917) Lenin's analysis of the capitalist state as an instrument of class rule directly illuminates Mamdani's predicament and the limits of transforming society through existing state structures.
• Prison Notebooks (Selections) by Antonio Gramsci (1935) Gramsci's concepts of hegemony and the integral state help explain how elite impunity, historical narrative control, and surveillance combine to maintain capitalist rule through consent and coercion.
• The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff (2019) Zuboff's analysis of how surveillance has become central to contemporary capitalism illuminates the NYPD's use of 'sock puppet' technology and the broader convergence of state and corporate data collection.