Why $750 Is a Satisfyingly Specific, Enraging Rallying Call - shorthand for Trump corruption

[Demovictory9]

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/09/why-750-is-a-satisfyingly-specific-enraging-rallying-call/

Why $750 Is a Satisfyingly Specific, Enraging Rallying Call
The figure has gained special power as a convenient shorthand for exactly how corrupt Trump is.

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While a number like zero—the amount Trump paid in federal income taxes for a decade—risks sagging into sheer incomprehensibility, $750 is familiar and enraging. It also encapsulates the hypocrisy of a political ideology that demeans low-income Americans as the perpetrators of institutional theft, when in fact, it’s the Republican president that appears to bilk the system, through his personal finances and the implementation of a self-serving tax reform plan. Meanwhile, the Trump administration cavalierly issues dramatic cuts to SNAP, the critical food assistance program where the average beneficiary receives about $125 a month to afford meals priced at $1.39.

Such comparisons, which have flooded social media, all illustrate varying degrees of injustice. But they also point to a potentially powerful rallying call as the country careens toward the likely nightmare of a chaotic November election. Democrats have already pounced on the $750 figure—Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed the president as a “walking scam—and the Times report is all but certain to play a prominent role during the first presidential debate on Tuesday.

Teachers paid $7,239
Firefighters paid $5,283
Nurses paid $10,216

Donald Trump paid $750 pic.twitter.com/5YE1cbYsBN

— Team Joe (Text JOE to 30330) (@TeamJoe) September 28, 2020

But some have questioned whether the new findings, as damning and reprehensible as they are, will make a dent with voters. After all, abundant evidence of Trump’s relentless corruption already existed. That cynicism may risk ignoring a significant portion of the electorate—as much as 11 percent of eligible voters—who remain undecided less than 40 days till an election that could very well “break America.” As Trump and his Republican allies rely on a conservative Supreme Court, virulent conspiracy theories, and ballot obstacles to deliver his victory, what better way to cut through that toxic morass than a clear cut shorthand that sums up nearly everything wrong with him? At the very least, Trump’s apparent tax scam is an explosion more than a crack to eviscerate the narrative that our president is a self-made man—if, that is, you still believe that sort of thing.

[lapfog_1]

1. he paid $750 so that he could say "I paid taxes"

and sort of not lie.

Could have paid 0... but he figured "oh wait, I'm president now, 0 would really look bad...but I'm broke so I can't send over a thousand... hmmmm.. .ok $750!"

[BigmanPigman]

2. This seems like a 6 year old was trying to be clever.

Why exactly $750? And that exact same amount two years in a row...gee, that seems somewhat suspicious and highly unlikely. One of my first grade students would have been more cunning than to do that.

[genxlib]

3. Yes the same amount 2 years in a row

That jumped out at me as well. When dealing with figures that large, coming in at exactly the same small number seems statistically improbable.

[llmart]

4. But, but, but, he told us he was a stable jeeneus.

Now I'm just disappointed in finding out he isn't even smart enough to make his fraud believable.

Once again I ask, who at the IRS let this "slip" unnoticed?

[fescuerescue]

5. It's probably filing fees of some sort

I'll still owe $200 in filing fees to NC.

That's true whether I earn a million or lose a million, or make exactly $0.