Donald Trump

dignin said:

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HughFreakingDillon said:

dignin said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

Gern Blansten said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

I dunno, does not paying taxes really resonate as a big thing with american voters? i'd think that would be cause for admiration, not condemnation. 

Admiration when a repub is in office...unacceptable when a Dem is in office.  The hypocrisy is deafening.

tRumpsters love to talk about leaches on society.  Takers that pay no tax yet receive welfare, etc.  

If I were advising Biden I would have him hammer the "I can't release my returns because they are under audit" thing 24/7.  We know that the IRS has already stated that there is nothing stopping him from releasing returns.  If tRump wants to say he can't release them then the first question is "why won't you release the returns that are NOT under audit?"  The IRS can only audit open tax years, generally the last three years of returns.  The only reason that returns older than three years would be under audit would be if the IRS suspects or is investigating fraud.  Biden needs to press him on that and either make him admit that the IRS is examining him for fraud or to prove the NYT wrong and release his returns.

yeah, i just don't see this moving the needle even with undecideds. many people, not just republicans, view legal but ethically ambiguous tax evasion as something to be proud of. sure, paying ivanka as a consultant seems shady, but is it illegal? this would likely take down a mayor or city councilor, but the president? more importantly, THIS president?

trump's take will likely hit it home: i didn't pay much tax because i'm smart. 

That's not Trumps take though. He says it's fake news. 

He's hiding those returns because they show lots of illegal activity.

his kneejerk is always fake news. then he sometimes pivots. i think he might pivot on this one. 

Pivot and release the returns or just tell us what's on them? No way he releases them. Doesn't want anyone to be able to go into them in detail. He's more afraid of going to jail than not getting elected.

no, just pivot from denial (fake news) to somewhat confirmation (smart businessmen keep more of their money away from government)

• Mr. Trump paid no federal income taxes in 11 of 18 years that The Times examined. In 2017, after he became president, his tax bill was only $750.
• He has reduced his tax bill with questionable measures, including a $72.9 million tax refund that is the subject of an audit by the Internal Revenue Service.
• Many of his signature businesses, including his golf courses, report losing large amounts of money — losses that have helped him to lower his taxes.
• The financial pressure on him is increasing as hundreds of millions of dollars in loans he personally guaranteed are soon coming due.
• Even while declaring losses, he has managed to enjoy a lavish lifestyle by taking tax deductions on what most people would consider personal expenses, including residences, aircraft and $70,000 in hairstyling for television.
• Ivanka Trump, while working as an employee of the Trump Organization, appears to have received “consulting fees” that also helped reduce the family’s tax bill.
• As president, he has received more money from foreign sources and U.S. interest groups than previously known. The records do not reveal any previously unreported connections to Russia.

tbergs said:

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PJNB said:

• Mr. Trump paid no federal income taxes in 11 of 18 years that The Times examined. In 2017, after he became president, his tax bill was only $750.
• He has reduced his tax bill with questionable measures, including a $72.9 million tax refund that is the subject of an audit by the Internal Revenue Service.
• Many of his signature businesses, including his golf courses, report losing large amounts of money — losses that have helped him to lower his taxes.
• The financial pressure on him is increasing as hundreds of millions of dollars in loans he personally guaranteed are soon coming due.
• Even while declaring losses, he has managed to enjoy a lavish lifestyle by taking tax deductions on what most people would consider personal expenses, including residences, aircraft and $70,000 in hairstyling for television.
• Ivanka Trump, while working as an employee of the Trump Organization, appears to have received “consulting fees” that also helped reduce the family’s tax bill.
• As president, he has received more money from foreign sources and U.S. interest groups than previously known. The records do not reveal any previously unreported connections to Russia.

40% of the voting population still doesn't care. They will check the box unless he says he's pro choice and wants to restrict gun ownership.

I think they'd still vote for him.

i just read that Rudy G is one of trump's debate coaches? WHAAAAT. LOLOLOLOL

Bentleyspop said:

I'm sure its been noted on here but needs repeating .. 
Not such a big deal that he doesn't pay federal taxes.
The problem is that he is such a bad business person and is on the hook for over $400 million that he is a SECURITY THREAT.

Yes, I agree.  It's about the gilded veneer he has created, it's a lie.  We knew that though.  

Spiritual_Chaos said:

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HughFreakingDillon said:

i just read that Rudy G is one of trump's debate coaches? WHAAAAT. LOLOLOLOL

The more Trump will try to debate like a scripted politician the worse he will do. That is not what his voters want to hear and in that realm he doesn't have much to back the words up with. That will not give viral moments shitheads will clap for. 

Look at him in the republican primary, or Clinton VS Him in 2016, it wasn't him debating professionally like her that made people adore the ol' fella. 

Just let him loose and hope for the best, would be my advice if I was Rudy G.

well rudy is off his rocker too so it might be the exact strategy he tells him

I’m just glad that Donald Trump is the only rich person not paying his fair share.

trumps performance is going to be so easy to predict. make promises that something amazing is going to happen before the election, middle east peace, gop health bill, something like that.

also, gop does not know how to run against biden. trump is going to do his old, tired attacks on sleepy joe and hunter biden. he will probably throw in there something about hillary's emails. he will also accuse biden of being in on some sort of mail in ballot scheme.

trump has to attack because he cannot run on his record and expect to win.

he will also tout jobs numbers, while not mentioning how many were lost under his watch before they began to rebound. will talk about how this is the greatest economy in the history of the world, and how he is the greatest president ever, besides possibly lincoln, for african americans.

it is going to be a shitshow. biden is going to be caught off guard and will spend his time trying to fact check instead of present his platform.

hopefully wallace will do fact checking in real time on both candidates, but i am not holding my breath.

Gern Blansten said:

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gimmesometruth27 said:

trumps performance is going to be so easy to predict. make promises that something amazing is going to happen before the election, middle east peace, gop health bill, something like that.

also, gop does not know how to run against biden. trump is going to do his old, tired attacks on sleepy joe and hunter biden. he will probably throw in there something about hillary's emails. he will also accuse biden of being in on some sort of mail in ballot scheme.

trump has to attack because he cannot run on his record and expect to win.

he will also tout jobs numbers, while not mentioning how many were lost under his watch before they began to rebound. will talk about how this is the greatest economy in the history of the world, and how he is the greatest president ever, besides possibly lincoln, for african americans.

it is going to be a shitshow. biden is going to be caught off guard and will spend his time trying to fact check instead of present his platform.

hopefully wallace will do fact checking in real time on both candidates, but i am not holding my breath.

I don't think Biden will be caught off guard.  Any attack tRump makes on Hunter can be easily deflected with an attack on Don Jr, Ivanka, Jerrad, etc.  

Biden is ready for all of that.

The question is really whether he ignores the attacks and stays professional or hammer him with his hypocrisy and lies.  Honestly, it's not an easy call.