From prodigy to power broker to pariah, Larry Summers’ downfall exposes the fatal arrogance of a public figure who believed he was too brilliant to be held accountable.
For a man who built his public reputation on intellectual superiority, Larry Summers’ collapse seems almost Shakespearean in its inevitability—and in its hubris.
Just months ago, Summers lectured the Trump administration about economic policy, quipping in the New York Times that “the first rule of holes is to stop digging.” The irony now rings deafeningly: Summers stopped digging only when he sent his final email to Jeffrey Epstein on July 5, 2019—one day before Epstein’s final arrest.
The story of how one of America’s most decorated economists destroyed his own credibility is not merely a scandal. It is a portrait of ego, entitlement, and astonishingly poor judgment from a man accustomed to operating above accountability.
From childhood, Summers was marked for greatness. He could recite JFK’s Cabinet at age seven. He dazzled quiz shows. His father, mother, and two uncles—Paul Samuelson and Ken Arrow—were academic royalty. Summers seemed destined to join them.
He did not disappoint. A Harvard Ph.D., tenured at 28, a John Bates Clark Medal winner, a Treasury secretary, Harvard’s president, and ultimately one of the most influential economic voices of the last quarter-century. His ascent appeared unstoppable.
But even early admirers noted an unsettling pattern: Summers was breathtakingly smart, but also breathtakingly dismissive. He bulldozed colleagues, belittled opponents, and radiated arrogance even by Washington standards.
That arrogance would later prove fatal.
