The biggest mistake Democrats made when they asked for Trump's taxes
Fridays release of former President Donald Trumps tax returns from his four years in the White House and two years prior is an important and long overdue public service. It ensures the continuation of the half-century-long tradition of Oval Office transparency in which Americans are able to review their commander in chiefs taxes. It also ensures that legal wrangling over more than three-and-a-half years couldnt keep the Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee from obtaining the tax documents guaranteed to them under federal law.
But the result is still unsatisfying. The returns dont go back to Trumps decades as a taxpayer before he ran for president in 2016 and won in a giant upset, even though presidents from Richard Nixon on have released returns from the years leading up to their campaigns. Its an important principle to follow as a matter of historical record. It also would have been a warning shot to any future presidents who may want to keep their tax returns private.
Trump based his run on his personal brand as a savvy business operator, which was, in fact, a myth and a legend an act of misdirection so seemingly profound it would likely make fabulist Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) blush. Full disclosure of those taxes would have meant that future voters would have at the very least, been able to see Trump wasnt the business whiz he claimed. And it might have made a difference in an election where Trump won the Electoral College over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by a combined 79,646 votes in the key swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin out of more than 136 million cast nationally. Future voters surely deserve that information given that Trump is running to reclaim the presidency, in the 2024 election.
Trump had starred in The Apprentice for over a decade, a show that resurrected a moribund career that included having his businesses declare bankruptcy multiple times. News reports also have shown Trump to have been a hugely irresponsible financial risk-taker who reportedly stiffed vendors and lawyers. Several analyses of Trumps wealth have even found hed be far richer if he had just stuck his family inheritance in an indexed fund and watched it appreciate over time. But we cant fully judge Trumps claims about his pre-presidency business acumen since the documents now public cover only calendar years 2015-20.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-biggest-mistake-democrats-made-when-they-asked-for-trump-s-taxes/ar-AA15PkWt
Hugh_Lebowski
(33,643 posts)Congressional Democrats had a lot better 'case' for asking for taxes during his candidacy/presidency than they did for the prior years.
Not a slight at you YMBL, but this is just more of the typical Democrat-bashing by the M$M in many ways.
republianmushroom
(13,803 posts)Lovie777
(12,391 posts)Dems did well.
PJMcK
(22,067 posts)The Committee had to have a legitimate legislative reason for examining Trump's taxes. They couldn't simply go on a fishing exhibition which is what this writer is suggesting.
The point is, the president needs to be transparent about his/her personal finances so the electorate can be assured that they understand the president's motives. Trump was opaque and we have no idea what is influences were. Although we can speculate based on his behavior, his finances paint a clearer picture.
Financial transparency should be a requirement for presidential eligibility in this modern world. We ain't in the 18th century anymore and an awful lot has changed in the United States since then. Let's get current with the 21st century since we're already more than a fifth of the way through it.
MichMan
(12,001 posts)That would initially seem somewhat reasonable, but I'm not sure their legal authority has those contraints, since they were ultimately released to the general public.
Any reason that the Senate couldn't now go back much further?
PJMcK
(22,067 posts)This is why the courts ruled against Trump.
brush
(53,968 posts)those few years of the crooks taxes.
czarjak
(11,316 posts)lees1975
(3,913 posts)He's a cheat and he will get away with it.
markodochartaigh
(1,166 posts)was not building a time machine so that they could go back and address all of their critics' concerns.
/s