The October surprise happened on the first day of October and to many of us who were already horrified by a Donald J. Trump candidacy for president it really wan’t much of a surprise. It turns out that Mr. Trump has paid no taxes for at least 20 years, probably more if we were ever to get a look at his returns. I think it’s safe to assume that we never will.
So what is the conversation about on every network and cable news show this morning? Whether not paying his taxes makes Trump bad for gaming the system or brilliant because his ability to game the system proves he is the only one qualified to change it.
While it is interesting to hear both sides of that argument being made, particularly by the creepy Trump minions who are tasked with the unpleasant assignment of making the fact that Trump hasn’t paid any taxes Obama and Hillary’s fault, it is not the issue in this revelation we should be focused on. What we should be focused on is the fact that Trump didn’t pay any taxes for the past 20 years because he claimed business losses of $1 billion in 1995.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Mr. Trump’s sole reason for running to be the most powerful person in the world based on his business acumen and success? Hasn’t he said that because he’s been such a powerful force in the marketplace, only he is qualified to turn our country around, put people back to work, bring manufacturing jobs back home, negotiate the “best deals ever” with the rest of the world, and make America great again? The question we should be asking is “how do you plan to do that Mr. Trump if you were so f**king inept as to lose $1 billion in one year because of the way you ran your business?
Through the entire campaign, we’ve given Trump a pass on filing 6 bankruptcies, being involved in over 3,000 lawsuits, and going bust while running a Casino, which are normally cash cows for the people and syndicates that own them. Now we’re supposed to overlook that he claimed $1 billion in businesses losses for one year, which not only affected him but put thousands of people out of work and left his creditors holding the bag because he was smart enough to turn this epic failure into a windfall of unpaid taxes for the next 20 years? I don’t think so.
If Trump hasn’t hasn’t already proven himself unfit and unqualified to be president for more reasons than there is space to enumerate, then this final revelation that he is the ultimate carnival huckster using and losing other people’s money like he’s playing Monopoly should put the matter to rest.
Stop asking if not paying his taxes for twenty years is a problem, of course it is, especially when you think those taxes would go towards repairing our infrastructure, paying for and supporting our military, firefighters, police, healthcare, education, etc., you know, all the things that make America “great”. Start asking, “if you are such a brilliant businessman, how did you manage to run your own businesses into the ground to the tune of $1 billion?” I know I’d be interested to hear his answer.