Trump cheats at golf - the ONE and ONLY politics thread

Bill's was a tribute to Jackie Robinson, Obama nod Ernie Davis

 

But....but....he put his office in HARLEM!!!!1!!!

 

A peek at their everyday emails is throwing your statement into question.

 

You want me to call them both racists? Fine. I have no problem with that.

You asked me why it doesn't stick with one of them. I told you why. Also, Bill is not a candidate for president in this election. Trump is. That's why "people are talking" more about Trump than Bill.

Anything more than that? How the fuck should I know?

 

Their both misogynists to boot

 

I'm also pretty sure most people who have ever run for president of the United States are/were "megalomaniacs."

That doesn't lessen the harm our country would suffer as a direct result of Trump's megalomania.

 

I disagree, although your point is nuanced.

Right-wing media has consistently, repeatedly led Americans to this poisoned well. On purpose. With calculation. To achieve an end. It generally uses facts, but rarely all of them, and almost never does the approach resemble a good-faith attempt at the truth.

And right-wing media has been brilliant in doing this. That's a back-handed compliment, but one nonetheless, because Democrats can't even begin to know how to sync up those things. (Which is why, as the joke goes, when Democrats commission a firing squad, it forms a circle.)

Trump is the embodiment of this, and, for a good long while there, that pissed off the right wing media, because Trump services the hell out of objective and left-wing media, and, frankly, he takes away their cover and lays bare the approach for what it is. The right-wing media - both snooty and crass - so primed the pump for Trump that it couldn't stop him, and now more or less has to hold its nose and embrace him, because that's what their audience demands of them.

So at this point, yeah, many Americans do have an affinity for wingnuts. But that affinity has been curated and developed beautifully. Trump's sweet tooth for human weakness exploits that affinity for all its worth.

 

Let's start with the general rule that tax returns are available to anyone outside a taxing authority only if the taxpayer decides to provide them. Tax returns and broadly defined "tax return information" are confidential under federal law (IRC sec. 6103). Unless the situation falls under one of the specific exceptions, it cannot be shared with anyone, even within the government. All states have comparable confidentiality statutes. There are criminal and civil penalties for violating these laws. Tax returns and tax return information are excepted from federal and state FOIA statutes.

My advice to a regular person would be to not provide tax returns, whether or not under audit, unless legally required or you need to do it as a practical matter, for example, to verify income to get a mortgage. I can't think of a reason why returns would need to be provided other than proving income, for example: for loans; as part of a divorce proceeding; dissolution of a partnership. Assuming the returns are being used for that reason - to determine income with precision - being under audit is a material fact that minimizes the probative value of the returns for that purpose so I would try to not release them.

If my client was a regular person being publicly challenged about tax return information, such as whether s/he paid income taxes, I would advise not to provide the returns as proof or even provide specifics from the returns such as the actual amount of tax paid. This is my advice regardless of an audit and is based purely on privacy, not that it would impact the results of an audit. I have, in fact, given that advice even if it meant inaccurate information was being discussed publicly by people trying to surmise tax information from other publicly available information.

If you are running for office, especially for president, disclosure of tax returns are expected. One goes into it knowing there is that expectation. I don't think "normal" rules apply.

I don't think there are any parade of horrors from releasing returns that are currently being audited - at least in getting the audit resolved - so from a pure tax perspective I don't think release is crazy. Remember, just because someone isn't being audited at the moment doesn't mean there won't be one in the future, so I don't see that any risks are significantly different between someone under audit and someone who could still be audited.

I have heard or read Trump claims this is a normal audit and that he is audited every year. He hasn't said what year or years are being audited. I doubt his 2015 return is under audit, maybe his 2014. Even assuming these most recent years are under audit, there should be some fairly returns for which either the audit or statute of limitations has closed that could be released.

I think if Trump's returns are released there will be some interesting information but not nearly what some think there will be.

(Dr. Q, I don't have billable hours.)

 

Re: Trump's appeal to working class whites ...

The white working class has followed the black underclass and Native Americans not just into family disintegration, addiction, and other pathologies, but also perhaps into the most important self-sabotage of all, the crippling delusion that they cannot improve their lot by their own effort.

This is where the rise of Trump becomes both understandable and deeply destructive. He ratifies every conspiracy theory in circulation and adds news ones. He encourages the tribal grievances of the white working class and promises that salvation will come — not through their own agency and sensible government reforms — but only through his head-knocking leadership. He calls this greatness, but it’s the exact reverse. A great people does not turn to a strongman.

Read more at: Hillbilly Elegy: J.D. Vance’s New Book Reveals Much about Trump & America | National Review

 

The only reason there even is a "right-wing media" is because the liberal mainstream media got away with doing everything you mention for decades.

 

You want to vote for a guy who:

was the heir to a small fortune ($1M+); has said he will ban all Muslims from immigration (forget religious freedom); and has said all mexican immigrants are rapists/murderers; encouraged a foreign nation to break US laws;

or

a woman who has been a US Senator; Secretary of State; former 1st lady; and someone who used a private email server rather than a secure one. (Please do not blame her for the death of a US Ambassador; that's just rhetoric).

 

He must have missed the opening moments when Kaine mentioned his son.