I mean maybe, but he also looks to me like a clout-chasing narcissist who had absolute belief in his own intelligence, power, and influence. People like that tend to try to surround themselves with others who flatter their self-image, so they can “casually” drop stuff into conversations like, “You know, I was just talking to Steven Pinker the other day,” or, “That reminds me of something Noam Chomsky once told me…”

What’s shocking to me is just how many scientists, academics, and other allegedly smart kept asking Epstein for advice about shit, even though he was merely a lucky idiot who they knew was also a convicted sex offender.