The Disgrace of Noam Chomsky
For a very long time, Noam Chomsky was held out by many as being an icon of leftist thinking. In his followers’ eyes, he was a pure, uncompromising champion of the underclass, violently opposed to the brutality of the economic oligarchy that rules America. Through outlets like Pacifica, Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now, Z magazine, Verso Books, and Penguin Random House, Chomsky managed to get his opinions and writings to a relatively large audience. Unlike many dissidents, he did not have to self-publish. And his target audience accepted his musings and ruminations just about en toto, with hardly any reservations and/or objections. In fact, a significant number of his more recent books are not really books at all. They are collections of interviews and /or talks the man gave. Thus was his position amid what I call the doctrinaire left.
For someone like me, a historian who did not accept anyone—left, right, or center—at face value, Chomsky was quite problematic. Although he has always denied being a communist, it was stunning the way he tried to make excuses for what was going on in Cambodia during the early days of the genocide by Pol Pot. (The Nation, June 6, 1977, article co-authored by Edward S. Herman) Then there was his association with Serge Thion and Robert Faurisson in France. Thion was also a denier of the Pol Pot genocide and a defender of Faurisson, a notorious Holocaust denier. (New Statesman, July 17 and August 14, 1981)
More recently, Chomsky has argued that people who did not want to take the CV-19 vaccine should be isolated from others so they would not become “a danger to the community”. (The Independent, 10/26/21, story by Oliver Browning) As podcaster Aaron Good pointed out to me, for all his rages against the American system, Chomsky would usually end up telling his listeners to vote Democratic in a presidential election. Which, of course, would at least theoretically hinder the development of a viable third-party alternative. (Politico, 1/25/16, story by Nolan McCaskill)
Then, of course, there was his mystifying transformation on the assassination of President Kennedy. As Ray Marcus revealed in Martin Schotz’s book, History Will Not Absolve Us, Chomsky was very interested in the evidence for conspiracy that Marcus showed him when he visited Chomsky at MIT in the sixties. What was originally scheduled as a 45-minute meeting stretched into something like three hours. In the next decade, he signed a petition to form the House Select Committee on Assassinations to reinvestigate the JFK murder.
But something happened to Chomsky. David Barsamian began to promote him for the Pacifica network, which then had a much larger following than it does now. From there, he became the official banner carrier for the left. He was actually recognized as such by no less than the New York Times, which once called him ”…arguably the most important intellectual alive today.” (2/25/79, article by Paul Robinson). One does not get those kinds of accolades by making the JFK assassination a major talking point.
Chomsky now not only ignored the JFK case, but he also began to attack those who did substantial work in that field. In a conversation he had with Robert Buzzanco on his Green and Red podcast, he compared the presidency of John Kennedy to those of Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump, which is a bit shocking. In a conversation he had with researchers Steve Jones and Bob Dean in the nineties in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he said that he had read the whole historical record and there was nothing in there about an assassination. I expressed my disbelief that he could make such a ridiculous comment. They assured me he had.
When the latest revelations about Chomsky and his association with Jeffrey Epstein recently broke, the woman who sent me the news said words to the effect, “Now you know why he said what he did about Kennedy.” Incredibly, the man who made his reputation in railing against the denizens of the Establishment had actually been associating with them, and in a very chummy way. There are pictures to prove it. And it was not just Jeffrey Epstein. There was also Steve Bannon. Bannon was once President Trump’s chief strategist and has been caricatured on Saturday Night Live as the Darth Vader against progressives. There is also Ehud Barak, a former general and prime minister of Israel, who has been accused of being a war criminal by some. (Yale Daily News, 10/8/02, letter from Rod Swenson) In an email over pictures of him laughing with Bannon and Barak, Chomsky typed the words “Good Times”. Considering what Chomsky has written about Israel, this is literally inexplicable.
But it’s the closeness of his relationship with Epstein that has been the subject of much written and oral criticism, particularly on the left, e.g., Chris Hedges, Sabby Salvati, and Vijay Prashad. Prashad wrote two books with Chomsky. Nevertheless, he said he was disgusted by Chomsky’s friendship with Epstein and that there was no defense for it. (The Guardian, 2/4/26, story by Sara Braun)
When the first news of this long and close relationship broke, the excuse given was that Chomsky primarily had financial dealings with Epstein. That has not turned out to be the bottom line. For instance, Epstein gave Chomsky Bannon’s contact info. The professor messaged Trump’s former advisor, requesting an introductory meeting, since they had missed a chance to meet previously. Chomsky wrote, “Hope we can arrange something else before too long. Lots to talk about.” (The Guardian, 2/3/26, story by Ramon Vargas).
But the much closer relationship was Chomsky with Epstein. The newly released Justice Department files contain a plethora of evidence showing that Chomsky flew on Epstein’s notorious plane, the ‘Lolita Express’, stayed at his domiciles in both Manhattan and Paris, and wanted to visit Little St. James Island, the place where, reportedly, some of Epstein’s most extreme sex crimes took place. Chomsky dined at Epstein’s huge townhouse in New York with Barak and Woody Allen. Chomsky referred to the place as “…that lovely apartment where you once put us up.” The ‘us’ apparently refers to his second wife, Valeria. In fact, when the enormous estate was raided in the summer of 2019, the authorities found a framed picture of Epstein with the Chomskys on a bedside table. (Mint Press News, 2/7/26, story by Alan MacLeod)
But this was not the first time that Chomsky had tasted the largesse of Epstein’s idea of upscale real estate. Because in 2015, Epstein had paid for Chomsky to stay at a $1400 per night suite at the Mark Hotel. (Ibid, click here for a look at this place https://www.themarkhotel.com/) Epstein was very generous in this regard and was making plans to meet with the couple in 2016. He wrote, “Come to New York or Caribbean? Enjoy the food.” To which the linguist replied, “We did very much. Valeria’s always keen on New York. I’m really fantasizing about the Caribbean island.” (Vargas)
And this relationship seems to have gone beyond layovers. Valeria arranged for an Epstein associate to mail a $20,000 dollar check to advance the Chomsky theory of linguistics, labeled “The Chomsky Challenge”. (Vargas)
One of the first inklings that there was a close relationship between Chomsky and Epstein was discovered many years ago. Surfing the web, it was discovered that there was a picture that appeared to show Chomsky walking next to Valdson Vieiea Cotrin, Epstein’s butler in Paris. It turned out this was the case. Consider the following email from Valeria:
Dear Jeffey, We had a wonderful day. Valdson took good care of us. Drove us to the Louvre, went to pick us up, brought us to your wonderful apartment for a delicious meal. We just missed your company. (MacLeod)
That apartment was Epstein’s 7400 square footer, which was pretty close to the Arc de Triomphe. And it was not just New York and Paris. Epstein offered to let them stay at his Palm Beach house, where he said they would be very well looked after.
On October 24, 2018, Noam Chomsky’s wife invited Epstein to her husband’s birthday. She said, “You are our best friend, we love you and I would like if you could come. Noam will be very happy to see you.” What is so nutty about all this chumminess is this: this is about ten years after Epstein was released after his first arrest, and about 8 months before he will be arrested a second time.
Chomsky once defended Epstein as having paid the price for his crime when he was jailed the first time. Yet everyone knows that Epstein was given a slap on the wrist due to the US attorney Alexander Acosta later saying he was told Epstein “belonged to intelligence”. (NY Observer, July 10, 2019, story by John Schindler.) Reporter Julie Brown uncovered an Epstein network of 60 girls recruited internationally, including from Jean Luc Brunel’s Paris modeling agency, which Epstein financed. (Miami Herald, 11/28/18) It’s startling that the curious intellectual Chomsky could not uncover any of this information about his friend.
It's worse than that. Chomsky offered Epstein advice in order to counter “the horrible way you are being treated in the press and public.” His advice was for Epstein to lay low because what they want is “a public response, which then provides a public opening for an onslaught of venomous attacks, many from just publicity seekers or cranks of all sorts.”
Could it get worse? Chomsky was going to appear in a documentary supporting Epstein. (MacLeod) His wife, Valeria, knew that Epstein was pals with Donald Trump. She wanted Epstein to put in a word so Chomsky could advise him. After all, Epstein had introduced Chomsky to Barak and Bannon. About the latter, the Chomskys once invited Bannon to their Arizona home: “Jeffrey is a very dear friend and we look forward to meeting you.” (ibid)
The evidence is quite convincing that Jeffrey Epstein practiced sexual blackmail and took surveillance pictures and films of the official persons for whom he procured young women. Some as young as 16. His homes were outfitted with hidden cameras for that purpose. (Palm Beach Post, 8/14/06, story by Andrew Marra) But the spotlight began to focus on Epstein even before his first arrest. It started in the autumn of 2002 when he flew Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker to Africa on his private jet. That feat of Washington to Hollywood camaraderie garnered him stories in Vanity Fair, New York magazine and the New York Post. By 2005, a parent in Palm Beach was complaining to the police that her 14-year-old daughter was being molested by a man on the island. Epstein was later identified as the man, and information was he paid these young girls. This was a matter of public record by 2006. Yet until the very end, Epstein’s death in 2019, Chomsky refused to see. Chomsky even wanted Epstein’s accountant, Richard Kahn, on the board of directors of his trust. Which led to a dispute with the children from his deceased first wife.
As late as December of 2018, Chomsky was praising his friend for the great work he had been doing, which he said spoke for itself--without defining what that work was. In one of his last interviews before he suffered a severe stroke, he was asked by the Wall Street Journal about his relationship with Epstein. He replied that it was none of their business, or anyone else’s. This is a man Chomsky was so close to that Epstein praised his wife for cooking his ‘‘favorite dessert’’. (MacLeod)
The crimes of Jeffrey Epstein are still being unearthed. It’s interesting that a friend of Donald Trump purchased his gigantic Santa Fe estate and plans on turning it into a Christian retreat. (Santa Fe New Mexican, 2/16/28, story by Clara Bates) US Representative Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico issued a statement saying that, after looking through the Department of Justice files on that Epstein property, it’s clear there were crimes committed there. And further, the FBI did not do a full forensic investigation of the property. In fact, the Epstein files include an unsubstantiated, anonymous email claiming that there may be bodies buried on the property. (Law and Crime Network, with Jesse Weber, program of February 17) Stansbury was speaking in reference to a state resolution to begin an inquiry into Epstein’s property. Which she clearly thinks is necessary.
These disclosures about Epstein and Chomsky should bring a final chapter of disgrace to the much-overpraised linguist turned political commentator. He clearly had a weakness for flattery and favors. And coming from Epstein, that brings his judgment into serious question.
I much prefer Norman Finkelstein's reaction to an attempt by Harvard professor Robert Trivers to put him in contact with Epstein. Finkelstein replied by calling Epstein a pedophile and said he should be put to death for his crimes. He told Trivers, if it were his 15-year-old daughter that Epstein was influencing, you would not claim him as a friend or describe him as a man of integrity. He then added: “In fact I would hope that you’d promptly throttle both Epstein and his lawyer Alan Dershowitz.” (MacLeod)
To his everlasting shame, that reaction apparently never crossed Chomsky’s mind.
