2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWaPo Editorial: Voters are still waiting on your tax returns, Mr. Trump
By Editorial Board July 19 at 8:32 PM
MELANIA TRUMPS Monday night speech to the Republican National Convention was so platitudinous a gauzy collection of assurances that her husband, Donald Trump, is kind and fair and caring and will never, ever, let you down it could have been delivered by any spouse about any candidate. In fact, as has been widely reported, some of it had been delivered by a different spouse about a different candidate.
No matter. The information Americans lack about Mr. Trump concerns not his personality, which is all too evident, but his lifes work before entering politics his business record and tax history. Mr. Trump constantly assures Americans that he built a great company and is worth $10 billion. He promises to bring his no-nonsense business sense to government, renegotiating trade deals, striking bargains with drug companies and streamlining the federal government. His gilded private jet has been a campaign prop. Yet his company, the Trump Organization, is a closely held private enterprise, with many of its dealings hidden from public view. Bits of information that have emerged suggest Mr. Trump has had some success licensing his name and starring on reality TV. But a variety of Mr. Trumps business ventures, such as Trump University, appear to have been unethical, unprofitable or both. The story of his professional life is unacceptably incomplete.
Mr. Trump released a candidate financial disclosure form months ago. But it was thin on detail and, possibly, long on exaggerations of his wealth. He still has not released his beautiful tax returns despite promising to do so. Breaking a public commitment would be unsurprising for Mr. Trump. But refusing to release his tax returns would also break a long-standing bipartisan tradition. Every major-party presidential nominee submits to thorough public vetting, including of their private business dealings. This is even more important in Mr. Trumps case because he has no record in public office on which voters can judge his suitability for higher office.
Mr. Trump has offered various excuses for breaking his promise of disclosure, often citing an ongoing Internal Revenue Service audit of his returns. But that does not prevent him from releasing those returns, which he swore to the government were accurate when he submitted them. Nor would it prevent him from releasing past returns.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/voters-are-still-waiting-on-your-tax-returns-mr-trump/2016/07/19/c87c4054-4de1-11e6-a7d8-13d06b37f256_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1
Her Sister
(6,444 posts)Was thinking of exactly that last night while sleeping & waking! What about this sleazy TRUMP'S TAXES!???
RELEASE YOUR TAXES TRUMP!
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)it is beyond insanity.
FUCK THE GOP FOR NOMINATING THIS MONSTER!!!
PJMcK
(22,074 posts)The GOP deserves scorn for far more than just nominating Donald Trump.
For the past seven and a half years, Republicans have done everything they could to prevent President Obama from accomplishing his goals. The successes Mr. Obama has had are even more remarkable because of GOP obstructionism.
So, let me amend your sentence:
FUCK THE GOP.
And if you get the chance, check out this post from babylonsister:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028030001
Republicans are un-American scum.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)they really need to go away for good...
and then I see polls with Trump and Hillary tied and it drives me insane that people support this party and their latest monster.
PJMcK
(22,074 posts)Don't let the MSM fool you. And don't let "concerned" posters get you worried. The polls are almost entirely random at this point because there is too much noise. Wait until after Labor Day. Then the polls will start to make sense and a clearer picture will emerge.
Optimism!
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Note that although the gap between the two widens and narrows, Hillary has been ahead on every important indicator from the beginning. It would take a political earthquake for Trump to win, and the faults are all under his feet.
REGARDING TAX RETURNS, if he doesn't produce them before the election (and he probably won't since so much support is based on his supposed great business success), Cohen v Trump begins November 28 (after the election), and he will be required to reveal his net worth during that trial.
Btw, SIX of Trump's enterprises have ended in bankruptcy, not just four. The other two disasters Trump created were bought out by others, who put them into bankruptcy. Maybe make your conservative friends aware of your "concern"...?
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)just still I know too many Trump supporters and Hillary haters.
Ilsa
(61,717 posts)The meeting the gop had on Inauguration Day evening where they all swore that taking down the new president was more important than healing an economy with one foot in the grave, stopping an endless, deadly, expensive war, and healing a nation that was fearful and convulsing with hatred for people who are different.
Johnny2X2X
(19,286 posts)I still don't think most people understand the gravity of the situation. This guy is a monster who would fundamentally change America and the World.
We're facing the rise of a dictatorship in the most powerful country in the world and most Americans are sitting on the sidelines like this is not real.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)and could not get back to sleep.
jalan48
(13,916 posts)It doesn't bode well for the future.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)dangerous than Trump himself, are the dark money anti-government forces who want Mike Pence in power. The social con mob are merely being used by these people to gain power.
The dark money forces may or may not have maneuvered Pence forward, but the choice of him for VP has to be extremely satisfactory to them. Pence exemplifies the moral marriage of conservative religion and business power. Pence was slightly ahead in his governor's race when he abandoned it to try for a highly unlikely win for what traditionally in GOP administrations is a powerless position. He was not quite a nothing-to-lose candidate like the others.
Btw, note that Don Jr. is a genuine strong conservative and presumably one of "the children" who pushed Sr. into a VP choice he didn't want.
jalan48
(13,916 posts)What are our future elections going to look like? I have a feeling Trump is just the beginning.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)to be of good use to the powers pulling strings on the right. Once he's lost, yet another GOP "autopsy" will take place, yada-yada.
jalan48
(13,916 posts)I look for more in the future.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)many people like the Kochs claim to espouse. Koch insists he wants to dissolve the American state to almost nothing, but most wealthy conservatives would not agree. A fascistic democracy, with more power in the hands of the wealthy, would protect their money, position and power far more securely, and of course a business oriented and controlled fascistic government wouldn't be bothering them overly with regulation.
bucolic_frolic
(43,511 posts)does deserve some scrutiny
tonyt53
(5,737 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)It is a real scandal. The what does he have to hide thing should be coming out of all of them.
lonestarnot
(77,097 posts)Orsino
(37,428 posts)...and for Clinton's transcripts. Clearly, transparency and I can go piss up a rope.
Trump's going to get away with this, too.
SheriffBob
(552 posts)The democrats take control of both houses and impeach him and the vice prez. the democrat speaker of the house becomes president. Hillary winds up as a supreme court justice.