Conservative Bill Kristol writes in The Bulwark that President Donald Trump cares very much about the scandal surrounding him and late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, but that his recent change of tune is a temporary reaction to Trump recognizing his defeat. However, as "House Republicans prepared to desert en masse" and vote to release the files, on Sunday night "Trump acknowledged defeat," Kristol says. It is merely the end of the beginning of the fight for full release of the Epstein files." "The chances of an intensification of the Trump administration’s authoritarianism at home and abroad may have increased because of Trump’s forced retreat on the Epstein files," Kristol says. But, "ten months into Trump’s second term, we are nowhere near turning the corner in the fight against Trump and Trumpism.