From the Great Gatsby to Jeffrey Epstein

By: Beatrice E. Rangel - 25/02/2026

Changes in the driving forces of the global economy bring with them processes of elite replacement due to a loss of legitimacy. Legitimacy is lost when elites cease to consider the needs of the people and instead indulge in intellectual, economic, and social self-indulgence. They thus lose touch with the minds and souls of the people, who then decide to replace them.

These degenerative processes were brilliantly and astutely captured by Scott Fitzgerald in his novel *The Great Gatsby*. It chronicles the final days of a super-rich man, unknown to the established society of the Northeastern United States, whose wealth was inherited and a product of the shift from a rural to an urban economy. Thanks to Fitzgerald's brilliant prose, we see how the traditional society that despises Gatsby for being a nouveau riche attends and enjoys his lavish parties, even though it is known that Gatsby's fortune originated from an illicit activity: bootlegging. With the Great Depression as a backdrop, the novel reveals the plight of 40 million Americans plunged into poverty. In this atmosphere of profound hardship and desolation, the excesses of the ruling elites were laid bare, and American society began to construct a regulatory framework that would prevent a repeat of that bitter experience. And so, the New Deal society was built under the fresh and vibrant leadership of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Today we are witnessing a spectacle just as repugnant and disheartening as that described by Fitzgerald, as the United States Department of Justice, compelled by Congress, has begun opening the correspondence of Jeffrey Epstein, a notorious and convicted pedophile whose social and financial tentacles penetrated the entire spectrum of North American, European, and Latin American elites. Figures from banking, technology companies that have changed the rules of the game in the global economy, academia, and politics parade through Epstein's reams of emails, displaying an irresponsibility, lack of tact, and superficiality that are incompatible with their positions of leadership. Reading them, it seems as if they all strived to stand out for their lack of consideration, responsibility, and solidarity with a society under exceptional pressure. Because today, Americans are facing the effects of job losses due to automation and the depletion of their savings from the combined impact of the financial crises of 2000, when the technology investment bubble burst, and 2008, when the mortgage bubble burst, condemning 30% of the population to poverty. It is incomprehensible to them that their leaders indulge in lavish lifestyles while they cannot meet their basic needs for housing, education, and healthcare. And the more revelations emerge from the Epstein files, the greater the American people's disillusionment with their leaders, leading some to elect disastrous figures, as in the case of the mayor of New York City.

Resentment and a lack of direction worsen as responsible leaders emerge, such as King Charles III of England, who has chosen to bring the full force of the law down on his brother Andrew for his relationship with Epstein. This fuels the resentment of the American people, who to date have not seen a single person indicted by their authorities in the Epstein affair. This undermines institutional trust and encourages a rejection of the authority of the elites. Thus arises the question of whether this popular distrust in the land of Washington will translate into a renewal of leadership and a strengthening of the republican structures that are about to celebrate their 250th anniversary.

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