I was reluctant to write about this since there's been so much coverage, but I couldn't resist.
Yes, I refer to the BREAKING NEWS!!!!!! about Trump's tax returns! The intrepid Rachel Maddow of MSNBC announced via Twitter that she had the elusive returns! The returns that Trump has refused to divulge! The very ones! Well, of course, as the 9 o'clock hour drew nigh, she gradually modified her claim and clarified that she had just part of his 2005 federal return, but, hey, it was still a scoop. It came to her by way of a NYT reporter who "mysteriously" found it in his "box." (Who has a "box" these days?) At the appointed hour of 9 pm east coast time, she would reveal it.
I gave up listening to her go on and on for some twenty minutes laying out all sorts of weird conspiracy theories. My son told me, "Something's up. She must have nothing." He was right.
When she finally got around to her great "reveal," the return showed that Trump had a taxable income of some $152 million in 2005--after legally allowed deductions of some $103 million. On that income he paid $38 million.
I don't know what world you live in, but in mine, $38 million is still a lot money. He paid, in other words, nearly 25% of his taxable income to the IRS. That does not include what he paid in income tax and other taxes to the state and city of New York and to other states and cities where he owns property. That doesn't include, of course, all the taxes paid by his businesses around the country and the world.
I am old enough to remember the Hillary campaign speculating that Trump had paid no taxes.
I heard a woman at the gym loudly saying that the returns do show that Trump is not as rich as he claims since $152 million is not a billion and Trump claims to be a billionaire. I guess progs don't know how an INCOME tax works. Math is hard for them.
Anyhow, all this goes to show that you should not bet against Trump.
You will lose.
Laugh, yes, laugh without mercy at Rachel Maddow and the absurd class she represents. I certainly am.
This Maddow incident sure would be good grist for a Tonight Show or SNL mocking skit .... But will it? (Rhetorical question.)
ReplyDeleteWrong again Potts! ... see: "http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/stephen-colbert-mocks-rachel-maddows-trump-tax-tease-986628"
DeleteMaddow is lead Ass in a Class of Asses.
ReplyDeleteShe is a clown show all right. The main show, however, is the Obama run shadow government just behind the scenes.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to know that the Trumpster was a wry sense of humour. In his "box" indeed. Heh, heh.
ReplyDeleteOccam's Razor:
DeleteTrump and his people leaked the return themselves (honestly, probably because 2005 was the year most flattering to him by the MSM's lights).
They probably hoped to burn the Times itself, but Maddow was a perfectly adequate substitute.
The big tell was the fact that poor Rachel vamped for 20 minutes or so before spilling the details. There was no there there. If there had been a bombshell, she would have led with it in the first minute.
I watched several hours worth of teasers about Rachel Maddow's giant "reveal," but I decided not to watch. I didn't want to give her any more viewer points than I knew she would get, and I figured the other cables and nets would get the news out quickly.
ReplyDeleteSure enough, Tucker Carlson's regular news referred to Maddow's much-ballyhooed production twice, the first time pointing out she was twenty minutes into her program and still only making promises, the second time pointing out she had produced pages one and two of a 2005 return and reporting his income and the tax he paid.
Fox was not scornful, but they did report the scorn that was raining down on Maddow via twitter.
Reviewing the mighty effort and small result, one is tempted to think Maddow got scammed. It is time for some Nigerian prince to send Maddow an email.
Hah hah.. Indeed.
Delete"Dear Mr Maddow, I have the return taxes much for you but two thousand dollars to accounts in Lagos because finance minister is trapped with the money. Send to xxxxxxxxx."
Doggy news.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4N7G29GWQI
H/T Illusion of Prosperity blog.
What I find disquieting is that the left justify committing felonies to bring down a political enemy.
ReplyDeleteNo matter that releasing unauthorized tax returns is a federal felony, they're publicly offering $5 million http://www.dailywire.com/news/14439/friend-clinton-ill-give-5-million-trumps-complete-james-barrett
What I find interesting, is that Maddow nor her producers apparently had seen the tax returns prior to launching the hype. Because what kind of fool is going to act like it is a big reveal when the document shows no such thing. It appears like the reporter from the NY Times played her, and she allowed her emotions to lead her into the trap. She should have asked herself, "Hey this guy works for the Times, and they hate Trump, why didn't they publish?".
ReplyDeleteI'd be very interested in your take on the State Department "holdovers" and their role.
ReplyDeleteAm not qualified, ignorant basically admitting, of how Diplomad might respond to your query but - *interesting events* very recently might have some bearing on your query.
DeleteCaution on this first link - The site itself tilts Prog and oh, 90+% of the commentors are of the same persuasion.
http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2017/03/15/arkansas-native-dropped-for-defense-post-over-politics-tom-cotton-part-of-the-blame
But now for the refresher, and the guy has been seen commenting around these here Diplomad 2.0 parts.
http://malcolmpollack.com/2012/09/13/a-glaspie-moment/
JK
Those holdovers should go and I suspect they will. I also suspect, however, that Tillerson will go the Secretary Baker route. He will have a small group around him and basically ignore the bulk of the bureaucracy.
DeleteBarack Obama's grades are still hidden. Imagine that say Hannity or Dobbs or Diplomad had announced with great fan fare that he had Obama's grades! And then the "big announcement" was just one Obama grade and it was an A. Would there be enough eggs in the world?
ReplyDeleteI was watching The Factor and Bernard Goldberg, not a fan of Trump, said Trump should release his tax records. I think that would cause more craziness. I don't about Trump taxes, I care about my own and paying as less as possible.
ReplyDeleteThis whole "show us your taxes" shtick was bad political theatre when Nixon used it to portray his rival as a "rich out of touch guy" and its been going downhill ever since.
DeleteIf their were ANYTHING wrong with Trumps taxes, anything illegal...even a misspelled deduction, Obama's IRS cronies would have leaked that months ago during the Campaigns.
These people have lost their minds. As much I dislike Maddow and her smirking face intensely, I have never thought she was stupid. At least not until now.
ReplyDeleteRecent statements give me a new guess as to what the spying was all about, what besides Obama crookedness, would get Intel agencies deeply involved, and what they are trying to hide: That is our ultimate foreign policy toward Russia and what we are doing in Ukraine to achieve it.
ReplyDeleteOur ultimate foreign policy goal for Russia seems to be to isolate it: by 1) breaking Bush 41's promise to Gorbachev to not expand NATO, and 2) meddling heavily in politics/elections of Ukraine (and other Eastern European countries) to drive it/them away from Russia and into the bosom of NATO and the EU. That is certainly the policy McCain publicly pushes. I believe our (and the EU's) meddling are extensive and would be shocking if known to the public. (Ukrainian executive pulled off plane somewhere in Europe and extradited to US supposedly because of a bribe to an Indian official that was, horrors, sent from somewhere through a U.S bank. Was this extraordinary extra-judicial reach really because of said Ukranian's proposed gas deal with Putin? Wait, it gets worse. Meddling in elections.)
How about this supposition: spying was about Russia, Russia itself and Ukraine? Intel community feared Trump a threat to our foreign policy. Flynn had undisclosed ties to Russia (and Turkey???) and was talking about sanctions with the Russians. That of normal and legitimate interest to our intel community (but leaks weren't) The illegitimate part was the spying re Ukraine. Manafort and others had - disclosed - ties to the " disgraced" former PRO-RUSSIAN PM of Ukraine, Yanukovych, who was overthrown by "pro-Western protesters." Yeah, with a lot of money and help from the EU and CIA. Today's papers allege Manafort was doing illegal money laundering for Yanukovych. I have no idea whether Yanukovych is corrupt or not but I know he was PRO-RUSSIAN and we and EU support (and arm) pro-West/EU factions.
Cameron was aboard the meddling policy toward Ukraine; he wanted an EU that "stretched from the Atlantic to the Urals." He would have been willing if requested to spy on those in Trump's circle with ties to either Russia or Ukraine. Is all the stuff about Russian meddling making Trump's election illegitimate a windfall., and what it started as is surveillance on those with ties to Ukraine? And that and the British involvement (5 Eyes arrangements) are really what needs to be covered up? I am very sure our (and the EU's) meddling in Ukraine, publicly labelled a "expanding democracy" campaign, would not withstand public scrutiny.