I’m Starting My Second Read
Pour yourself an adult beverage, find a comfortable place to sit, grab some paper and a pencil to take notes and head on over to the New York Times.
This is what your subscription fee buys for America —
The Times obtained Donald Trump’s tax information extending over more than two decades, revealing struggling properties, vast write-offs, an audit battle and hundreds of millions in debt coming due.
Donald J. Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency. In his first year in the White House, he paid another $750.
He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years — largely because he reported losing much more money than he made.
And then it gets worse.
It’s a long read. It’s well researched and clearly written. The key take away is that Trump is basically broke. He is responsible for loans of $421 million coming due within 4 years. If he is reelected, his creditors will foreclose on a sitting president.
$70,000 for hair stylist? JJ I must be in the wrong profession. /s/
1Meanwhile, in Twitter:
2“Excessive debt is viewed as a national security vulnerability and generally means no security clearance allowed. Why? Not only because a debt ridden person is desperate, but because the entity loaning has undue influence over the person.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-tax-return-twitter-reaction_n_5f710c8fc5b6cdc24c1ad4c8
The October surprise that is really no surprise. Ok, so in 17 years he paid $1500 total, and he’s running our economy. Of course he thinks that shows how smart he is (at cheating). He paid more for his hairdos on the apprentice than I guess he made in 17 years. A real frickin genius. No wonder his cult is so enamored.
3Now he’s calling it fake news which means he’s going to convince voters the report is false and he paid more. Can’t wait for that explanation. Tuckered Carlson has his work cut out for him (but of course the court has already stated he does not tell the truth) to come up with an explanation.
Biden- you need to practice a debate statement to get under Trumpfs skin because he’s already going to be preoccupied. How much did Hunter Biden make at Burisma and pay taxes on??
Ain’t it grand having a pResident personally beholden to China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and others, as well as Deutsche Bank and other money laundering institutions?
No collusion? Fine. How about asset forfeiture of every leveraged morsel associated with Donnie, then a bullet between his lying eyes for the kompromat and treason along with the same for his fluffers and enablers in Congress and the maladministration?
4This is getting downright interesting.
5The biggest surprise is the sheer number of tactics he used to screw the US government. The consultants and legal fees which he paid to create tax deductions almost from thin air, could then be used as future tax deductions! He invented a perpetual tax avoidance machine.
The $747,422 he paid Ivanka as a consultant was a nice touch though. It shows he got away with so much for so long, he didn’t even bother to hide the grift anymore.
6Adult beverage, check.
Way to go, New York Times!
Another adult beverage, check.
7If we could post pictures here I’d put up one of a guy wrestling a bag about as big as he is, captioned, “Sorry I’m late– had to get enough popcorn for all of us.”
Nothing about Trump’s finances would surprise me unless he were solvent, not in debt to Russia, and not clinging to the WH to keep his ugly butt out of prison.
8Meanwhile, Kamerad Trump’s former top henchman Brad Parscale has been detained in a FL medical facility by police, after apparently wigging out and threatening his wife and family with a firearm [or several].
WTF?
9Cynical me suspects there may be more to this, perhaps an interesting backstory… Russian psycho-poisoners, a political diversion? An assassination attempt gone bad for someone who knows too much?
The average household earnings $20-$25K in 2017 paid $1,148 I’m income taxes. Trump paid $750.
In 2018, the average American household made approximately $75,000 and paid $8,000 in taxes – so over 10 times what Trump paid in 2016.
Also in 2016, Trump paid $129,250 more to Stormy Daniels than he did in taxes to the US government.
Millions of Americans are out of work, lines at food banks stretch for miles, 204,000 Americans dead of COVID, all this suffering and he paid $750 in taxes.
As the wonderful Jason Kander said, “He’s broke, he lives in our house, and he’s stealing from us.
10One more thing before I get some much needed shut eye, in 2017 Trump paid
$750 to the US.
$15,598 to Panama
$145,400 to India
$156,824 to the Philippines
There is no “America First” there’s only Trump First, Last and Always.
11OK, I’ve been holding back on this, but the pieces are starting to fit.
This ‘editorial’ just ran in the local RW rag.The author, the paper’s editor/publisher, is one of the best RW propagandists around.
I had been very curious about the timing and subject matter, all is clear now [she obviously had a pre-pub headsup on the NYT article well covered today by JJ].
GOTMFV!!
Here are just a few bits selected from this paean to the —incredible business acumen— of DJT [below hilites ‘—‘ by me].
I urge y’all to read the whole turgid editorial, and keep in mind that about 42% of ‘Murikans just lap this shit up and beg for more.:
“Understanding the man who is America’s 45th president
About politics and other things
September 22, 2020
By Elaine K–
—-or@wcn-online.com”
“Before Donald J. Trump entered the White House, business was his life — and it was quite a comfortable life.
Part of the difficulty in understanding this man is that his political opponents have little or no appreciation for business.
—Unlike Trump, many in politics have no experience with a for-profit business.— They actually think “profit” is a dirty word, because they are products of government-run bureaucracies…
Over the years, Trump became disillusioned and, in fact, was deeply disturbed by the increased government controls. He experienced the difficulties first-hand as he ran his own businesses…. [DJT would have sunk like a stone without the protection of government financial regulation] …
Instead of polls, he uses life experiences as a businessman to make his decisions even if he has to go against “experts,”…
Again, unlike politicians, Trump is an open book…
Trump lived his early life strictly as a businessman. Now his business is America, and he acts accordingly. He believes in capitalism, in the Constitution, and in freedom…
If anyone can get us through this latest crisis, though, he can. Pray for America. Pray that people will understand.”
Barf…
12BTW– Anyone at all can check out Joe Biden’s taxes and income on his own campaign website:
https://joebiden.com/financial-disclosure/
Go Joe !
GOTMFV!!!
Biden
2020
ByeDon
.
The Daily Kos website is just —swamped— with DJT ‘financial & tax’ articles, and Parscale stories too.
It’s hardly possible to keep up with this crap anymore…
[this is a link to the ‘old format’ DK homepage, for those of you who can’t stand the DK new format]:
https://www.dailykos.com/blog/main/
.
13Holy Shit, what a clusterfuck today’s Rethug-Trumpian Party has devolved into.
Oops, RE: my comment @12– forgot the direct weblink for the editorial page itself:
https://www.wilsoncountynews.com/articles/understanding-the-man-who-is-americas-45th-president/
14Sandridge,
I like the editorial writer’s line:
“If anyone can get us through this latest crisis, though, he can.”
Well, he got us into it. And the previous crisis, and the one before that…
How much credit do you give someone for retracing his footsteps though?
15Rick @15, That editor writes pandering RW drivel like that week after week.
It is surprisingly good propaganda, and heavily influences our huge percentage of RWNJs [Do your local papers regularly and fawningly cover area Confederate groups? We have a bunch here… You should see the local Rethug candidate’s political ads.].
Check the editorials out for a while, bound to get better as the election approaches. Covering for DJT will be prominent I’m sure, especially with his tax shit hitting the fan at a most opportune time.
In a long ago telephone conversation she did her best to try and convince me over to the Rethug darkside, I politely declined.
16What does the story show? He lied/lies about how much money he has. Just like Hillary said.
@ Deb, you are invaluable. Can I steal this?
17Heh, sometimes good ol’ MeTV network has the right program timing.
On right now is an episode [2/11/39 ] of “Mission Impossible”, “The Council, Part 1”, originally aired November 19, 1967. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission:_Impossible_(season_2) ]
Onscreen program note summary :
‘A mob leader is endangering the United States economy… and it’s up to the Mission Impossible’ crew to thwart him.’
Today we have a new mob leader, DJT, head of the Trump Crime Organization…
https://www.metv.com/schedule/
“On Now
Mission: Impossible
THE COUNCIL: PART 1
Frank Wayne is the head of the syndicate, and by putting the Mob’s ill-gotten gains in a Swiss bank account, he threatens to ruin the U.S. gold reserve. The IMF must recover the funds and put Wayne away.”
18Well, Trump has been stealing enough for the past 3.5 years, he should be able to pay off those loans already. That, or ask his boss, Vlad, for an early bonus.
19It’s all yours MSB, now back to writing postcards!
20We all pretty much “knew” this; now we know that it’s a lot worse than we thought. We knew that he lied about his wealth, that he cheated on his taxes, that he racked up debt that made him (and his family) a security risk; that he knew nothing about how to run a country, that all he wanted was to make some money to keep the wolf at bay when he ran for president, and that he was totally unfit for office. And we still know that he has a fair chance at being re-elected. What are we going to do about it?
21Someday, maybe we will find out if part of those sweet government contracts he influences circle back to trump & Co.
And where his Inauguration Fund went, aka “the second passing of the hat in case you bet on the wrong candidate”.
And their huge 2020 war chest.
22I don’t know if this true, but I read somewhere that Trump was blaming Kushner for not shredding the tax documents. There are so many people close to Trump that hate him, that I wonder if Kushner just “accidentally” tossed them in the trash or left them out for the taking.
My question: Will the GOP senate or Congress do anything about this revelation? I think not.
Maybe Russia will invite him for tea.
23Ah Papa, the real question is what does Ivanka do when she has to decide between Jarred and Daddy?
Person, woman, Daddy, Jarred, Qualified Immunity!
Did I get it right? I’m not sure there may have been a perp walk in there somewhere….
24So the Trumpanzees can see he’s not the tycoon he portrayed on The Apprentice. I wonder if they care. He’s still king of the racists and that’s what counts with them.
Wall Street figured this out long ago and is betting on Biden:
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/17/902626429/wall-streets-big-money-is-betting-on-biden-and-democrats-in-2020
25And he will give those creditors every damn national park and forest in the entire country including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and any American island elsewhere. There is an exception here. Should the majority of the money he borrowed actually originate in the USSR, those guys don’t believe in getting paid in forestry. With them it actually is your money or your life, and that last one could actually include your entire family. Hey, I have no pity for this specimen. He knew what he was getting into but told himself that he was bigger than any nation (including the Hew Hess of Hay) and nobody would dare come at him for payment. Key the laugh track!
26What’s interesting to me is that people have latched onto the $750 number. Not the decade when he paid $0. You can divide 0 into how much you paid and get infinity, but divide 750 into it and you get a number that makes sense and is horrifying for those of us who pay our taxes.
But no one seems to be considering how his taxes came to exactly 750 two years in a row. It’s clearly a number picked so he could say he had paid taxes, but such a nice round and exact amount … is artificial.
What is not interesting, but is disgusting, is that the number 750 has gotten more people riled up than the number 200,000.
27read Dan Alexander’s break-down of NYTs story
https://twitter.com/DanAlexander21/status/1310633689714434055
28