Politico - Yes, A Tax Scandal Can Take Down a Politician [View all]

[BlueWavePsych]

The body of the story recounts years of dissembling about his finances: claiming huge losses to offset his tax liabilities, inflating his assets to obtain massive loans, asserting that: “Now, with his financial challenges mounting, the records show that he depends more and more on making money from businesses that put him in potential and often direct conflict of interest with his job as president.” It is rich in detail, and those details—hundreds of thousands of dollars in “consulting fees” to daughter Ivanka, a disputed $72.9-million tax refund, among other things—are not the stuff of easy interpretation (although $72,000 of deductible “business expenses” for hair styling, might raise a few eyebrows).

But that opening number—$750 in taxes from the self-proclaimed multi-billionaire—is easy to grasp, and easy to turn into a clear political message.

Perhaps the president, who has survived many seemingly fatal controversies, has so succeeded in convincing his acolytes not to believe anything critical of him that this latest story will have little effect. But I wonder: What if people start showing up in offices, factories, in malls and stores, with buttons and T-shirts reading: “I Paid More Taxes Than Trump”?

There’s an 89-year-old ex-Senator in Chattanooga who might be able to tell you what comes next.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/09/28/donald-trump-taxes-bill-brock-tennessee-422454



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