On this day in 2021, the US Senate began the impeachment trial against then former President Donald Trump…only to end up acquitting him and giving rise to yet another Trump presidency, even after inciting an insurrection. Gotta love accountability in government!

Happy Monday. It’s Swin, again, and I – like some of you reading ‘First Draft’ this morning – am busy working off my Super Bowl hangover. We’ll have more to say on the big game in a moment, but first, I want to alert you all to a three-word term that political operatives kept blowing up my phone with this weekend: “The Epstein Class.”

Senator Jon Ossoff used it in a Saturday speech – during which he compared Donald Trump to a klansman – to describe the ruling party and its ultra-wealthy enablers. (Rep. Ro Khanna has previously used the term.) Several longtime Dem operatives messaged me how much they wanted their party to discover message discipline and relentlessly brand President Trump and the GOP “The Epstein Class.” Seasoned Republican consultants tried to convince me, for instance, that it was too “cute” to resonate. We’ll see how much it catches on between now and November, and which party dominates in the midterms!

In today’s ‘First Draft,’ Trump’s culture war backfires, a blue wave builds, and the UK’s Keir Starmer faces pressure over an Epstein scandal, while Howard Lutnick gets a pass despite making repeated appearances in the Epstein files.

Trump Loses the Super Bowl – and His Culture War

In recent days, you may have seen viral clips of an adult man in Texas attacking a minor during a student walkout protest against Donald Trump’s ICE. Video from the scene appears to show a furious man – whose car apparently got kicked by a teen – starting to savagely beat a young girl, only to have a swarm of teens and students get him off the girl and fight him until he flees, looking exactly as dignified as you might imagine a grown-ass man might look in this situation. It was a local story in the Lone Star State, but it was also the perfect national metaphor.

The president of the United States is That Guy – except instead