Trump's Very Bad Week

Trump’s Very Bad Week

There were two very notable revelations about Donald Trump this week that should lead decent people who support him to reconsider and withdraw that support for his re-election. 

 

One came during the raucous presidential candidate debate on Tuesday night watched by over 73 million Americans. Even if you put Trump’s bullying interruptions and personal attacks aside, his repeated refusal to condemn white supremacists exposed what many have long thought. Donald Trump is a full blown racist and depends upon white nationalist racists to secure his re-election. This man clearly does not understand, much less embrace, that we are a pluralistic society with a legal commitment to racial equality that is enshrined in the constitution. 

 

Trump’s refusal to condemn white supremacy was compounded by his instructions to the fascist and violent Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” Proud Boy leadership immediately seized upon Trump’s instructions vowing to mobilize and to wait for further instruction from their leader. Reports following the debate show Proud Boy membership increasing as more flock to their banners of hate and violent extremism. Trump’s words were almost immediately turned into a shoulder patch for their body armor.

 

Trump tried to deflect the discussion about violence to “Antifa” as he repeated unfounded claims that those who identify as anti-fascist are more violent than alt-right white supremacists. Trump does not understand that we fought a world war against fascism where many of our relatives paid the ultimate price to secure our liberty. We, as a nation, are committed anti-fascists and will go to war again should it become more than a fringe element of our society. People of good conscience are anti-fascist. 

 

Trump’s reliance on this large part of his political base is even causing staunch congressional GOP supporters to distance themselves from Trump. Perhaps they are beginning to see that after the upcoming election what remains of the Republican party will be blowing tattered in the wind and they need to create some plausible deniability if they want to survive politically.

 

The other revelation that should give those pause who continue supporting Trump is the reporting by the New York Times about their review of Trump’s federal income tax data. The review finally exposes Trump for the con man he is. For many years, his businesses lost substantial amounts of money and he was only rescued by his earnings from the unreality TV show, The Apprentice, and loans which he personally guaranteed. His casinos, golf courses, office buildings and many other endeavors are a falling house of cards. Instead of the successful billionaire business tycoon he claims to be, we now know Trump is hanging on by a thread supported by what amounts to taxpayer bailouts as the secret service follows him to Trump owned properties, renting space and golf carts to protect him.

 

The disclosure of outstanding loans of more than $400 million dollars that Trump personally guaranteed raise serious national security concerns. It appears that most of those loans will come due while Trump is president should he be re-elected to a second four-year term. It is suspected, given the bragging by his sons Eric and Don Jr., that much of that debt is held by Russian banks or individuals. Should that be the case, Trump will be very vulnerable to conditions on deferred repayment agreements by a hostile foreign government. 

 

The tax data exposed many questionable, if not outright illegal, tax avoidance schemes such as his payments to his daughter, Ivanka, of over $600,000 for consulting services all while she was also his employee. The Times reported that the IRS is looking into a multi-million-dollar refund Trump received by advancing claims of business losses. For many of the years covered by the tax data, Trump paid not one cent in federal income taxes through his creative accounting. In 2016 and 2017, he paid just $750 in each of those years in federal income taxes. Those reading this probably paid significantly more than Trump did in federal taxes. I know I did.

 

Trump denies the Times’ reporting, claiming it is just more “fake news.” He claims to have paid millions in federal taxes. All he has to do to show the Times was wrong is to disclose the signature pages of his Forms 1040 that show the amounts of taxes paid in each of the years he filed. I bet he will not produce even those single pages to prove the Times wrong.

 

Nobody likes paying taxes. We do so to support government services determined by our elected representatives to be in the overall public interest. We know that the tax code is weighted in favor of the wealthy and Trump’s tax cuts have put the thumb on that scale pushing it even further in that direction. Even with its imperfections, most of us want a tax code where everyone pays their fair share of the tax burden. Trump’s tax revelations show he took tax avoidance to a whole new level. He has played us all for suckers and losers. There will be some to come to his defense, praising his business acumen in avoiding taxes, but that will not include millions who pay their taxes because it is the right thing to do.

 

I hope that the Commission on Presidential Debates modifies its rules to give the next moderator a mute button so we can have a serious discussion of each candidate’s vision for the future of America without bullying and interruptions. Maybe then Donald Trump will be fully exposed as the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain who just blows smoke.