It Started with Trump's Tax Returns

[DonViejo]

March 22, 2018 at 11:22 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

Thomas Friedman: “During the campaign he promised to release them after the I.R.S. finished auditing him. Then, after he was elected, Trump said, sorry, not going to release them ever. And nothing happened. Trump, I am reliably told, has actually said to people close to him, ‘Can you believe I got away with that?'”

“Once Trump saw that he could get away with not disclosing his tax returns, he knew he could get away with anything. He knew that once he compromised the G.O.P., even its evangelical wing, into giving him a pass on his taxes, they’d roll over for anything — sex with porn stars, endless lying, trashing the F.B.I., coddling Putin. Once you erase a big red line, it’s hard to start enforcing others.”

“Get me Trump’s tax returns. Because there must be something very important in them that he wants to keep hidden. Maybe it’s just the embarrassment that he is not as rich as he claims, or, maybe, it’s something more fundamental — like how dependent he is on Russian oligarchs for financing, so much so that Putin has leverage on him. Whatever the reason, though, when Trump saw he could get away with hiding them, he knew he could break any rule, tell any lie and violate any presidential norm — and he’s done just that.”

###

https://politicalwire.com/2018/03/22/it-started-with-trumps-tax-returns/

[kentuck]

1. That was the original sin...

No problem...right after the audit....

[Angry Dragon]

2. +50,000

[marylandblue]

3. once again Friedman displays his psuedo-profundity

It started with the birther conspiracy. Once he saw that rubes will believe anything, he knew it didn't matter what he said or did as long as he told them what they wanted to hear.

[dbackjon]

9. Both are correct

1) Birtherism - Trump knew the deplorables would believe anything
2) Tax Return - Trump knew the GOP would turn turtle for him.

[MFM008]

4. I bet Mueller has seen them

...........

[Cha]

20. Does Mueller have that power to get them?

I don't even know what it takes.

I hope so!

[BSdetect]

5. And there probably was no audit and that would not have stopped releasing the returns

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. Wrong and right.

1. There was an audit. Trump is audited every year.

2. The IRS issued a statement that an audit never prevents anyone from releasing tax returns.

[world wide wally]

6. He's probably loading up to shoot someone on 5th Ave right now

[ollie10]

8. Trump shot America on Fifth Avenue

We are trying to recover from the wounds

[PatSeg]

7. I'm quite sure he frequently said,

"Can you believe I got away with that?" Each time he did or said something outrageous, he became more confident and emboldened to take it another step further into politically forbidden territory. Many are to blame, starting with the mainstream media who treated him more as a ratings oddity, not a viable candidate. I'm sure he also said, "Can you believe the media is giving me all this free publicity?"

[hibbing]

10. Friedman unit n/t

[fescuerescue]

11. I would be shocked if Mueller did have them

Clearly he has probably cause and has used to lots and lots of purposed already.

It's one thing to stone wall what are essentially private requests.

You cant stonewall the FBI on a government document.

[PJMcK]

13. Robert Mueller most certainly has Trump's tax returns

In fact, he could subpoena them and review them and Trump would never know. The IRS is not required to inform a tax filer if their returns have been subpoenaed.

[fescuerescue]

16. yea I think you are right. (nt)

[gratuitous]

14. Click through to the original Friedman column in the NYT at the link

A bigger steaming, heaping load of self-absolution you may never see. According to Friedman, it's all . . . well, somebody's fault that Trump was never held accountable for his lies, his backtracks, his broken promises and so forth. Friedman isn't sure whose fault it might be, but the Times and other popular media outlets can hardly be blamed for failing to follow through on any of these stories. They were too busy elsewhere*.

Friedman is determined that it's the American voters who are the last, best hope for America. Apparently holding this administration accountable is beyond the reach of mere mortals or even the masters of the universe who control our political discourse. They are powerless against the industrial scale lying of Donald J. Trump. Sure, voters are having to battle against an array of forces, seen and unseen, just to get to the polls to cast a ballot that may or may not be counted or corrupted, but it's all on us. Millionaire media figures can't really be called on to defend the integrity of our elections, because both sides. Or something.

Now, if you'll excuse him, Mr. Friedman has to deposit his hefty paycheck and go on a talk show to intone "Suck. On. This."

*But her e-mails!

[dalton99a]

17. +1

[RandomAccess]

15. There's a lesson here for everyone --

and not just about Trump.

It's about boundaries: once you let someone get away with trashing or violating your boundaries (or our boundaries, or anyone's boundaries), they WILL continue to try and too often get away with it because it's so much harder to define and defend your boundaries after that.

That's true of Trump's many sins; it's true of sexual harassers; it's true for child molesters; it's true just for people you let borrow your stuff without your permission.

DEFINE and DEFEND YOUR BOUNDARIES, people!

[Mike Nelson]

18. Don't agree...

...from the beginning, he "got away" with the most outrageous behavior. That's a well-written thesis, but it's not really correct... The "Deplorables" loved him and he had his base. he said and did many outrageous things. He bragged about the size of his penis in a nationally televised debate. He revealed his bigotry. They never cared about his tax returns because they're against taxes. They would cheat, if they could... He survived the "Access Hollywood" tape more pointedly. It's the same as his treatment of women; they're okay with it, and they would do the same if they were rich.

[JI7]

19. the Birther Stuff also. Lawrence O'Donnell regularly brings this up. how the media just lets it go

huge contrast to the way they treated the email bs with clinton .

[Orsino]

21. He's been a complete fake for longer than he's been filing tax returns. n/t