Democrats hope the files will tarnish President Trump, while Republicans will trumpet anything about Bill Clinton. But notice that so far the single most conspicuous target has been Larry Summers. Democrats took aim at Donald Trump, fired and missed, but hit the Harvard economist.
As Mr. Summers has acknowledged, his communication with the late sex offender was a monumental lapse of judgment. As a result he’s stepping back from public life, as he put it, including various roles in the media. He has also taken a leave from teaching. Harvard is nonetheless investigating his Epstein ties, the New York Timeswon’t renew his writing gig, and Mr. Summers resigned from the board of OpenAI, among other acts of public ostracism.
What’s striking about this is how severe this punishment and shunning is compared to anyone else in the Epstein orbit. Bill Gates remains an esteemed public intellectual. Mr. Clinton is feted far and wide.
Mr. Summers is taking the brunt, we suspect, because the political left has always loathed him and is using the Epstein files to banish him from Democratic debates. Sen. Elizabeth Warren could barely contain her excitement in calling for the Harvard man’s head after his emails to Epstein were released. Leftwing journalists piled on with unrestrained joy.
We’ve had our differences with Mr. Summers, mainly over his doctrinaire Keynesianism and willingness to downplay the economic damage from over-regulation. His EQ doesn’t match his IQ. But the reason he’s a target of the Democratic left is that he’s a prominent liberal economist willing to call out at least some progressive policy nonsense. In particular, he predicted that Joe Biden’s spending blowout would lead to inflation, and the left will never forgive him for being right.