The New York Times released a late-night report suggesting that Donald Trump may have paid zero federal income taxes for 18 years. The Times obtained a copy of his 1995 income tax returns, in which he reported a $916 million business loss. According to tax experts, he could spread out the deduction over the next 18 years, and it would be large enough to wipe out $50 million of taxable income for each of those years. So, with that deduction alone, if Trump's taxable income did not exceed $50 million each year, he would have owed no tax. And it would be perfectly legal.
What is not known is whether Trump did have more than $50 million taxable income in any of those years; and, given his smart tax lawyers, they probably manipulated the loopholes so that he didn't. So far, Trump has not denied that this is true, although he did find time to charge that the 1995 document was obtained illegally and that the Times is operating as an extension of the Clinton campaign.
Ralph
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Trump's no good, very bad, absolutely terrible week -- with nobody but himself to blame
Donald Trump does not -- ever -- accept the responsibity for anything, no matter how minor. That's a fact that he is proud of. Once asked by a religious conservative if he had ever asked God's forgiveness, he said no. He'd never felt he had anything he needed forgiveness for. Not that he's an atheist, or doesn't consider confession a part of religious practice; it's that he is blameless.
This week began with a debate performance widely panned as a "disaster." But it was not his fault. He blamed the moderator for being unfair, he blamed the mic for being "a bad mic," he blamed a Miss Universe winner from years ago for saying he harassed her for gaining weight, he blames the biased media, he blamed the polls.
So the debate set the stage for his very bad week. But that's not all. The investigative reporters are on the job.
1. Kurt Eichenwald followed up on his blockbuster report in last week's Newsweek about Trump's entangled business relationships with foreign investors, including Russian oligarchs and others who are influential with foreign governments, plus possibly some criminals involved in his deals. This week, Eichenwald adds to the story with proof in printed receipts that a man representing the Trump Organization went to Cuba in 1998 to explore setting up a casino there. No deal was worked out; but the simple fact of spending money there on a single trip in 1998 was a violation of the U.S. embargo against spending any money in Cuba. And within weeks of that act in 1998, Trump was giving a speech to the Cuban-American community in Florida, excoriating the Castro regime and denouncing anyone who failed to observe the embargo. Trump did not himself go to Cuba, but his company paid for an operative to go there -- and thus violated the treaty.
As Rachel Maddow pointed out, the average voter isn't going to care about this, but Cuban-American voters in South Florida -- a key block for Trump to win the state -- are extremely angry, not only for breaking the embargo but also for lying to them about it.
2. David Farenthold is the dogged investigative reporter for the Washington Post, who broke the story of Trump's misuse of Trump Foundation funds to settle his own business interests. The Foundation was set up with Trump money, but he has not put any of his own money into it since 2008, getting other business associates and friends to contribute. Then he uses the money, under the guise that it's his charity. Now Farenthold has discovered that the Foundation has never registered with New York State and received the credentials necessary to solicit money from others for charitable purposes. This could result in fines, or a requirement that he return all the money donated, or possibly even shutting down the Foundation.
This has more than background connection to Trump's campaign for president. Last spring, in a pique with Megyn Kelly and FoxNews, he refused to participate in the next debate. Instead he held a simultaneous rally nearby to raise money for veterans. He claimed he raised $1,670,000. Online contributors were directed to send the money to the Donald J. Trump Foundation. Now we know that was illegal, since the Foundation is not registered by the state -- which requires periodic auditing. If a foundation only receives unsolicited donations, registration is not required. So it may be an oversight or lack of knowledge of the law when it changed from its original status as a family foundation. But once Trump began directing people to settle various deals with him by giving the money to his Foundation, he was already violating the law even before this solicitation for donations to the Foundation to be used for veterans -- which, by the way, didn't get to veteran charities until months later after investigators reported they could find no veterans groups that had gotten the money.
3. Trump's post-debate behavior has only made his bad debate performance even worse. He just will not let the story of the Venezuelan beauty queen go. He continues to lash back at her, sending out tweets at 3 am and 5 am telling people to look at a sex tape he claims is Alicia Machado. Investigators of course have been unable to find any evidence of such a tape. Instead we're getting reports that Trump himself once did an intro for a soft-core porn tape and then tried to persuade his mistress Marla Maples to accept Playboy's $1 million offer to pose nude. She refused.
Trump does not seem to realize he is only hurting himself with this continued juvenile tirade. It provides a vivid example of how easy it is to bait him into a bad response, revealing his obsessive vengeance when he is attacked. Not presidential. No, not at all.
4. And on top of all this, and largely because of it, the tension and open fighting within the Trump campaign organization has increased, with rumors that the Trump kids are unhappy that the rough campaign is hurting the business. Trump hotel bookings are down by over 50% overall, with the two major ones being New York and Las Vegas at over 70% down. In addition they are said to be blaming the staff for not preparing their father for the debate -- which of course must dismay Kellyanne Conway and others who tried so hard and just couldn't get Donald to sit down and focus.
I'd rather have Hillary Clinton winning on her own qualifications and her campaign, and not depending on the never-Trump vote. But whatever help she gets in the polls by a self-destructing Donald Trump -- we'll take it and be grateful.
Ralph
PS: What a waste that, coming into the last month of the campaign, we're talking about this stuff instead of the candidates' positions on: immigration reform, infrastructure rebuilding, jobs, the Middle East, national security, police-community relations, and voting rights.
This week began with a debate performance widely panned as a "disaster." But it was not his fault. He blamed the moderator for being unfair, he blamed the mic for being "a bad mic," he blamed a Miss Universe winner from years ago for saying he harassed her for gaining weight, he blames the biased media, he blamed the polls.
So the debate set the stage for his very bad week. But that's not all. The investigative reporters are on the job.
1. Kurt Eichenwald followed up on his blockbuster report in last week's Newsweek about Trump's entangled business relationships with foreign investors, including Russian oligarchs and others who are influential with foreign governments, plus possibly some criminals involved in his deals. This week, Eichenwald adds to the story with proof in printed receipts that a man representing the Trump Organization went to Cuba in 1998 to explore setting up a casino there. No deal was worked out; but the simple fact of spending money there on a single trip in 1998 was a violation of the U.S. embargo against spending any money in Cuba. And within weeks of that act in 1998, Trump was giving a speech to the Cuban-American community in Florida, excoriating the Castro regime and denouncing anyone who failed to observe the embargo. Trump did not himself go to Cuba, but his company paid for an operative to go there -- and thus violated the treaty.
As Rachel Maddow pointed out, the average voter isn't going to care about this, but Cuban-American voters in South Florida -- a key block for Trump to win the state -- are extremely angry, not only for breaking the embargo but also for lying to them about it.
2. David Farenthold is the dogged investigative reporter for the Washington Post, who broke the story of Trump's misuse of Trump Foundation funds to settle his own business interests. The Foundation was set up with Trump money, but he has not put any of his own money into it since 2008, getting other business associates and friends to contribute. Then he uses the money, under the guise that it's his charity. Now Farenthold has discovered that the Foundation has never registered with New York State and received the credentials necessary to solicit money from others for charitable purposes. This could result in fines, or a requirement that he return all the money donated, or possibly even shutting down the Foundation.
This has more than background connection to Trump's campaign for president. Last spring, in a pique with Megyn Kelly and FoxNews, he refused to participate in the next debate. Instead he held a simultaneous rally nearby to raise money for veterans. He claimed he raised $1,670,000. Online contributors were directed to send the money to the Donald J. Trump Foundation. Now we know that was illegal, since the Foundation is not registered by the state -- which requires periodic auditing. If a foundation only receives unsolicited donations, registration is not required. So it may be an oversight or lack of knowledge of the law when it changed from its original status as a family foundation. But once Trump began directing people to settle various deals with him by giving the money to his Foundation, he was already violating the law even before this solicitation for donations to the Foundation to be used for veterans -- which, by the way, didn't get to veteran charities until months later after investigators reported they could find no veterans groups that had gotten the money.
3. Trump's post-debate behavior has only made his bad debate performance even worse. He just will not let the story of the Venezuelan beauty queen go. He continues to lash back at her, sending out tweets at 3 am and 5 am telling people to look at a sex tape he claims is Alicia Machado. Investigators of course have been unable to find any evidence of such a tape. Instead we're getting reports that Trump himself once did an intro for a soft-core porn tape and then tried to persuade his mistress Marla Maples to accept Playboy's $1 million offer to pose nude. She refused.
Trump does not seem to realize he is only hurting himself with this continued juvenile tirade. It provides a vivid example of how easy it is to bait him into a bad response, revealing his obsessive vengeance when he is attacked. Not presidential. No, not at all.
4. And on top of all this, and largely because of it, the tension and open fighting within the Trump campaign organization has increased, with rumors that the Trump kids are unhappy that the rough campaign is hurting the business. Trump hotel bookings are down by over 50% overall, with the two major ones being New York and Las Vegas at over 70% down. In addition they are said to be blaming the staff for not preparing their father for the debate -- which of course must dismay Kellyanne Conway and others who tried so hard and just couldn't get Donald to sit down and focus.
I'd rather have Hillary Clinton winning on her own qualifications and her campaign, and not depending on the never-Trump vote. But whatever help she gets in the polls by a self-destructing Donald Trump -- we'll take it and be grateful.
Ralph
PS: What a waste that, coming into the last month of the campaign, we're talking about this stuff instead of the candidates' positions on: immigration reform, infrastructure rebuilding, jobs, the Middle East, national security, police-community relations, and voting rights.
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Quote of the week
A tweet sent out immediately following the debate, from the moderator of the chaotic, combative, and no holds barred, reality tv: "Jerry Springer Show:"
#@JerrySpringer:
#@JerrySpringer:
"Hillary Clinton belongs in the White House.
Donald Trump belongs on my show."
Trump is alarming our international partners
NBC's top foreign correspondent Richard Engel listened to the debate Monday night and commented on what he heard.
That was perhaps a bit of planned theater, but it was good strategy and probably necessary, given what he has said and the concern that world leaders have expressed to our state department and to our president.
Ralph
"A lot of things Donald Trump was proposing were frankly destabilizing, dangerous, dangerous to the United States, dangerous to the world order . . . The United States' foreign policy is based on agreements . . . sometimes negotiated over decades and longer.
"If you listen to the debate he's basically saying that he's a business man and he's going to tear up the old agreements and negotiate better deals. If you're a foreign country and you're listening to this and you have an agreement, whether NATO or a nuclear deal or a protection agreement or a sovereignty agreement or a trade agreement, and you suddenly think, "is the leading world power just going to tear up the agreement that we've had for decades?" What is that going to mean for me? Are my neighbors going to invade?"At one point, in a moment that has gone unremarked by pundits that I have seen, Clinton turned to face the camera and addressed world leaders. She said that she knew many of them were concerned by what they were hearing during this campaign, and she wanted to reassure them that what he was saying, about NATO for example, is not the policy of America. She reiterated that "We do keep our commitments."
That was perhaps a bit of planned theater, but it was good strategy and probably necessary, given what he has said and the concern that world leaders have expressed to our state department and to our president.
Ralph
Friday, September 30, 2016
And did the dog eat your homework too, Donny?
What a sight to behold !! Donald Trump losing the debate and trying to spin it.
Apparently he really thought he won, initially. So in the spin room he told reporters that Lester Holt "did a great job" and had been "very fair." Or maybe he had doubts, since he complained about the "bad mic." Then others began trying to break the news to him. At first he got angry and ordered aides to go out and "Say that I won the debate." Then the real polls came out and he had to rev up his excuses and change his tune about Lester Holt.
Now, 3 days later, he is in full whine. "I had to fight the anchor all the time on everything I said. What a rigged deal" -- accusing Holt of being biased against him. Holt did confront him more than he did Clinton -- because Trump lied, over and over, about things that have been fact-checked and are not matters of opinion.
But Trump cannot admit his failures. He has to blame someone else -- and he doesn't do damage control either. He only knows how to make it worse. That's what we're seeing right now.
Ralph
Apparently he really thought he won, initially. So in the spin room he told reporters that Lester Holt "did a great job" and had been "very fair." Or maybe he had doubts, since he complained about the "bad mic." Then others began trying to break the news to him. At first he got angry and ordered aides to go out and "Say that I won the debate." Then the real polls came out and he had to rev up his excuses and change his tune about Lester Holt.
Now, 3 days later, he is in full whine. "I had to fight the anchor all the time on everything I said. What a rigged deal" -- accusing Holt of being biased against him. Holt did confront him more than he did Clinton -- because Trump lied, over and over, about things that have been fact-checked and are not matters of opinion.
But Trump cannot admit his failures. He has to blame someone else -- and he doesn't do damage control either. He only knows how to make it worse. That's what we're seeing right now.
Ralph
PPP post debate polls good news for Clinton
In a post-debate poll in five battle-ground states, results are good news for Clinton. This is from Public Policy Polling, one of the more respected in terms of methodology. These are not "who won the debate" but "who would you vote for" questions.
Colorado: Clinton leads by 7 points in a two way race (51% to 44%) and by 6 points in a four-way race (46%-40%-6%-2%)
Florida: Clinton leads by 3 points in a two way race (48% to 45%) and by 2 points in a four way race (45%-43%-3%-2%).
North Carolina: Clinton leads by 4% (49% to 45%) or by 2% (44%-42%-7%).
Pennsylvania: Clinton leads by 5% (49% to 44%) or by 6% (45%-39%-6%-2%).
Virginia: Clinton leads by 6% (49% to 43%) or by 6% (46%-40%-7%-1%).
Another important finding in this post-debate poll was that there seems to be movement from the minor candidates toward Clinton, especially with younger voters.
Ralph
Update Friday noon: Another post-debate swing state poll from Suffolk University polling has come in. Of likely voters, Clinton now has a 6% lead in Nevada, 44% to 38% with 7% for Johnson. In their last Nevada poll, she led by 2%.
Colorado: Clinton leads by 7 points in a two way race (51% to 44%) and by 6 points in a four-way race (46%-40%-6%-2%)
Florida: Clinton leads by 3 points in a two way race (48% to 45%) and by 2 points in a four way race (45%-43%-3%-2%).
North Carolina: Clinton leads by 4% (49% to 45%) or by 2% (44%-42%-7%).
Pennsylvania: Clinton leads by 5% (49% to 44%) or by 6% (45%-39%-6%-2%).
Virginia: Clinton leads by 6% (49% to 43%) or by 6% (46%-40%-7%-1%).
Another important finding in this post-debate poll was that there seems to be movement from the minor candidates toward Clinton, especially with younger voters.
Ralph
Update Friday noon: Another post-debate swing state poll from Suffolk University polling has come in. Of likely voters, Clinton now has a 6% lead in Nevada, 44% to 38% with 7% for Johnson. In their last Nevada poll, she led by 2%.
Donald Trump by Charles Pierce and Steve Brodner
From an article by Charles Pierce on Politics in Esquire magazine. Drawing by Steve Brodner.
". . . [H]ow anyone could have watched the proceedings at Hofstra on Monday night and not seen a complete bloodbath is beyond me. There were two presidents on that stage. One was Hillary Rodham Clinton and the other one was Lester Holt. There also was a curiosity—a walking YouTube comment thread who knew nothing, cared less, and didn't even notice when he was setting his own feet on fire.
"This was true 21st century Know-Nothingism. He plainly had not done even the most rudimentary preparation for the most important political night of his life. He spent the whole night drunk on the applause he's had from his frothing, adoring public over the past 18 months. His entire appearance was an insult to his supporters, to the audience, to everyone watching at home, and to the entire concept of democratic governance going back to Pericles. He is running for president as a guy who doesn't care enough to do the real work.
"And, whatever you may think about HRC, she gave you all the respect of actually preparing for the debate. The examples are numerous and almost beyond belief." -- Charles Pierce
". . . [H]ow anyone could have watched the proceedings at Hofstra on Monday night and not seen a complete bloodbath is beyond me. There were two presidents on that stage. One was Hillary Rodham Clinton and the other one was Lester Holt. There also was a curiosity—a walking YouTube comment thread who knew nothing, cared less, and didn't even notice when he was setting his own feet on fire.
"This was true 21st century Know-Nothingism. He plainly had not done even the most rudimentary preparation for the most important political night of his life. He spent the whole night drunk on the applause he's had from his frothing, adoring public over the past 18 months. His entire appearance was an insult to his supporters, to the audience, to everyone watching at home, and to the entire concept of democratic governance going back to Pericles. He is running for president as a guy who doesn't care enough to do the real work.
"And, whatever you may think about HRC, she gave you all the respect of actually preparing for the debate. The examples are numerous and almost beyond belief." -- Charles Pierce
====================
Update: As further evidence of how out of touch he is with his failure -- or how incapable he is of tolerating failure -- Trump has been trumpeting the online "polls," claiming that he won in all of them. The fact is that those are not polls; they are voluntary online surveys where you can "vote" as many times as you're willing to keep redoing the survey.
On the polls with any validity, Clinton beat him handily. An average of seven different polls showed her beating him by 27%, with the difference between them ranging from 11% in one poll up to 32% difference in another. In another delusion, Trump has reportedly been berating his aides and surrogates to stop acknowledging that he needs to improve, insisting that they go out and proclaim that he won the debate.
Ralph
On the polls with any validity, Clinton beat him handily. An average of seven different polls showed her beating him by 27%, with the difference between them ranging from 11% in one poll up to 32% difference in another. In another delusion, Trump has reportedly been berating his aides and surrogates to stop acknowledging that he needs to improve, insisting that they go out and proclaim that he won the debate.
Ralph
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
