You see, just when you thought the national political discourse couldn’t sink any lower—or darker—we pause our usual programming of curfews, city violence, and political dysfunction to talk about something that makes all that look tame: Jeffrey Epstein.

Tonight (Thurday), Indiana Congresswoman Erin Houchin put out a press release announcing a resolution demanding the Department of Justice release the Epstein files within 30 days. It calls for transparency, accountability, and protections for victims.

All good things. All necessary. All perfectly reasonable.

And all incredibly well-timed.

Because just a few days ago, Houchin voted against a Democratic-led effort to do essentially the same thing. Her excuse? The proposal was a political stunt and didn’t include protections for victims.

Fast forward 72 hours, and now she’s out with her own version—planted firmly under the Trump banner—touting how she’s always been for full transparency. Like we wouldn’t notice.

But here’s where it gets really cynical.

She dropped her press release at 10 p.m. 

That’s not just a coincidence. That’s crisis communications 101. If you want to bury a story, you release either release it late on a Friday or minimize the damage as its a weekend story. Most folks are either checking out for the weekend, reporters are starting to wind down, and no one’s watching the wire.

And I’d know. I was flipping between Gladiator and Naked Gun 33 1/3 when it hit my inbox—one about honor and empire, the other about chaos and absurdity. Somehow, this managed to be both.

Maybe it was just bad timing. Or maybe, just maybe, someone showed her the numbers.

Because the polling is brutal.

According to Quinnipiac, 63% of Americans disapprove of how the Trump administration is handling the Epstein files—including 71% of independents. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 69% of Americans think the government is hiding something. And only 3% say they’re satisfied with the information that’s been made public.

Those numbers don’t just cross party lines. They blow right through them.

So, Houchin pivoted. Not out of courage. Not out of leadership. But out of necessity. She’s banking on voters forgetting how she voted earlier in the week and only remembering the resolution with her name on it.

And to make sure the story got buried even deeper, The New York Times lit up shortly after with another update on Trump’s legal saga—pushing her late-night file dump even further out of view.

And we wonder why the public can’t stand politicians.

They say one thing when they think no one’s watching, then scramble to rewrite the record the moment people start paying attention. And instead of owning the flip-flop, they package it as moral clarity, as if the rest of us forgot how calendars work.

To be fair, Houchin’s background in child protective services is commendable. But using it to retroactively justify a political reversal? That’s not leadership. That’s message discipline dressed up as virtue.

The Epstein scandal isn’t about partisanship. It’s about power, abuse, and the machinery that protected it. And when nearly 80% of the country is demanding transparency, the only real “stunt” is blocking it—then pretending you never did.

So yes, we’re interrupting your regularly scheduled coverage of local nonsense to shine a light on something bigger—and uglier.

Because this isn’t just about one member of Congress. It’s about the broader political instinct to avoid accountability unless polling, outrage, or headlines make it unavoidable.

You can’t say you’re for the truth if you only show up once the focus group approves.

And you definitely don’t get to hit send on a 10 p.m. Friday press release and call that bravery.

This wasn’t leadership. It was political cleanup.

And the voters? They’re not as blind—or as forgetful—as some folks in Washington still seem to think.

Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is the editor and publisher of Indy Politics.  He is also an attorney licensed in Indiana and Illinois.