Rachel wasn't played. All those viewers who turned in to hear about tax returns

[pnwmom]

FIRST had to hear -- many for the first time ever -- Rachel connect dozens of dots about his Russian connections, and possible bribes, and a Florida property that was mysteriously sold to a Russian crime figure for far more than he paid for it a few years earlier (yielding DT a $60 million profit at a time when the Florida market was down and he was getting pressured to pay $38 million he owed to the Deutsche bank.)

And they got to hear Rachel state how important it was to see his full tax returns, and how the 2008 return could contain very interesting information, and how she suspected more returns might be forthcoming.

And she also acknowledged that this one could have come from DT -- and pointed out that the only reason he paid a significant amount of taxes was because of the alternative minimum tax -- which he wants to end.

[oasis]

1. Yup.Hard to put one over on a wily Rhodes Scholar like Rachel. Her staff

is comprised of some of the best in the business.

[Frogg]

2. Complete Agreement

Well said!

[bettyellen]

3. So silly people think they noticed the Client Copy thing and she wouldn't?!? LOL

Someone was going to report it and she did it with the best possible framing. It was all about Russia and added to that story.

[flamingdem]

4. And, she's wiping the floor

with Fox News.

[caroldansen]

5. Of course because now that he already benefitted from it he wants to get rid of it so others cant

use it. Typical trump.

[Bonx]

6. This was abig win. Watch the ratings climb.

[bdamomma]

34. her ratings were up given before

the unveiling of the tax forms. That stupid jr. said she was desperate for ratings that's how much he knows.

[scheming daemons]

7. Take a look at twitter tonight. She's a laughingstock.

She got a record audience to tune in to find out that ........ Trump actually paid 25% in taxes.


Trump trolled her into proving that he does pay taxes. And she was the unwitting foil.

[JHan]

9. So releasing tax returns shouldn't be a problem for him then?

He should go all out and prove us all wrong then right?

[scheming daemons]

10. He is less likely to release them now than ever

All he has to do is say "Everybody saw in the one that was released that I pay my taxes. The public isn't interested in this anymore, they've moved on."

And for the 46% that voted for him, he's right. Tonight was vindication. "See!? He pays taxes!"


Rachel blew it. It's ok to admit that. 99% of the time, she's great. Tonight was part of the 1%.

[JHan]

13. who frames the narrative from here on is what determines what you described..

Many liberals have already ceded the narrative to Trump : by claiming prematurely that there's nothing there based on a summary from 2005....when the logical follow up ought to be "why not release them all?"

[leftynyc]

25. That's not how it's being

reported on CNN this morning. First they're saying he very well have released those pages himself AS A DISTRACTION. Second they're pointing out it doesn't show what part EVERYONE wants to see - where he's getting his income and what connections there are to Russia. They're not satisfied with these pages at all - especially since he may have released them himself. All they keep saying is there are more questions than answers.

[JustAnotherGen]

27. Yeppers

Comey owes us some info today - let's see if he does what he said he would.

[scheming daemons]

33. Yes.... I like the focus on CNN this morning... but the RW bubble is treating this as good for Trump

...and his minions abide.

[leftynyc]

35. I don't watch or read right

wing crap. I know it will be posted here or on my twitter feed if it's a "meme". The degenerate released them himself to distract from his russia ties, his moronic charge about pres Obama AND the fact he's at 39% on gallup's daily tracking poll.

[pnwmom]

12. Most of those Twitter idiots probably voted for DT. They clearly didn't pay attention

to her very detailed presentation about all the evidence pointing to corruption before she discussed what was in and what was not in that return.

[scheming daemons]

14. She is getting scalded by the LIBERAL media icons....

Charles Blow, Rob Reiner, Chris Cilliza, Slate, NYTimes, WashPost, etc.

The "takeaway" from her show tonight was that
A) Donald Trump made money in 2005
B) Donald Trump paid 25% taxes in 2005

*THAT'S* what was taken away by the *LIBERALS* in the media.


She hurt her credibility tonight.

[pnwmom]

17. Then they aren't thinking as clearly as she was. Maybe they weren't impressed by her long discussion

of accumulated evidence that DT is corrupt, but many average viewers were probably hearing it for the first time.

[scheming daemons]

18. What they weren't impressed with was her hyping it up 90 minutes before as some

earth-shattering bombshell.....

.....only to end up providing nothing of real value.


She artificially built up her audience tonight... .she'll have HUGE ratings for tonight's show..... by falsely making everyone think she was about to drop a HUGE hammer on Trump.


She hurt her credibility badly with the twitter stunt beforehand.

[pnwmom]

20. All that hype brought many more people to a show in which she provided a detailed overview

of all the reasons for suspecting corruption in DT's relations with Russians.

Good for her.

[OnDoutside]

24. Chris Cilliza - Liberal media ? Ha ! The leaked recording of Scarborough, Mika and Trump showed

Scarborough saying that Cilliza was "on board" with Trump. He's a snake.

[uponit7771]

22. bots

[Pachamama]

8. Rachel Maddow doesn't get played....she has been connecting the dots and will continue to show us

...where it leads.

The suggesting she is getting played made me laugh out loud. In fact, I actually started sleeping well since for first time since election after the show a few weeks ago when she showed "the Russian Fertilizer King's" plane M-KATE being mysteriously at the same locations as Trumps, the $50 Million bonus in Trumps pocket, the Deutsche Bank and Bank of Cyprus connections and Wilbur Ross, and then I watched the video that was on her blog about Medvedev and I knew that smart people behind the scenes were working really really hard connecting the dots and Rachel was going to make sure we know.

This 2005 tax return is meaningless and probably the only one that doesn't show when the big dirty Russian money started flowing.

[scheming daemons]

11. "This 2005 tax return is meaningless" you say.

I agree.

That makes the fact that she spent an hour on it... and Lawrence spent another hour on it... and Brian spent a half hour on it.... all the more ridiculous.

MSNBC spent 2.5 hours of prime-time news on a story that at BEST is meaningless, and at WORST is a positive for Trump.

[Pachamama]

15. It's meaningless because it's before the dirty Russian Money started flowing in heavy...

You left half my explanation out of why it's meaningless....but its significance is that it isn't representative of what is to come and tax returns that have not been seen.

Nice try.

[scheming daemons]

16. We're never going to see those tax returns, unfortunately

We saw THESE ones because Trump wanted us to see THESE ones. That's why he leaked them.

The ones that come after.... we'll never get to see.

[uponit7771]

23. +1, seems some people don't like TRMS

[brettdale]

19. How the hell did she do that?

All the talk is, is of how Trump paid a shitload of Tax. This story has been great for him.

[rockfordfile]

21. No. People will be asking where are Trumpf's full tax returns? Not good for Trumpf

Most Americans are asking to see all of Trumpf's tax returns. Not good for Trumpf.

[caroldansen]

28. Exactly. Trump wants that subject to go away. But it's not going to go away. aww.

[leftynyc]

26. I'm not seeing that this morning

CNN is saying he very well may have released this himself, that it leaves far more questions than answers. AND he wants to get rid of the AMT which is the only reason he paid so much in taxes that year. It's also a very old return that doesn't show where he's getting his money or answer questions about his connections to Russia.

[Hoyt]

29. Most people, non-DUers, will say we got a tax return and it proved nothing other than he paid taxes.

Most people don't even know about the schedules that go with tax returns and his tax attorneys are smart enough not to identify a source of income as "Russian Bribes."

Maddow's show has been very good for Democrats; however, last night wasn't. Maybe people expected, or hoped for, too much, but the show didn't get us anywhere. Most people -- certainly those who voted for trump -- couldn't care less about his tax returns. They just want him to deport more Hispanics, get rid of the evil socialist healthcare programs, and make America White Again.

She's talking to the choir and the show should have been promoted as having partial tax returns for one year.

[pnwmom]

30. She explained about the schedules that would have been part of his tax returns and why they were

important to evaluating all the evidence of his corruption involving Russia.

I think it is only previously informed DUers who would react with a big ho-hum to her Russia presentation.

And it wouldn't be necessary for any attorney to list a source of income as "Russian bribes." All they'd have to do is list a Russian name or a name that could be linked to a Russian.

[Vinca]

31. That's an interesting take I hadn't thought of.

I hope you're right and this wasn't just another ploy by the Con-Man-In-Chief to distract attention away from the healthcare vote. The returns themselves show nothing at all relating to Russia and could, at the most, only generate a discussion about the Alternative Minimum Tax.

[Achilleaze]

32. more to come...