Trump's absolute abhorrence in having to reveal his taxes is... troubling. He's willing (and most likely will) take this to the Supreme Court, although that court has
a long history of dismissing such things.
Trump can appeal to the Supreme Court to stop Mazars, but courts, including the Supreme Court, previously have refused to curtail Congress' subpoena power.
Trump was basically dick-waving at fellow Republican Mitt Romney, who he viewed as weak because he, I don't know, posed trying to look like a supermarket shopper.
[Sam] Nunberg [Trump's political adviser from 2011 to August 2015] remembers that at the time Trump had recently returned from delivering a political speech in Iowa and that his motivation to look like a scrappy businessman was fueled by the failed presidential bid of Mitt Romney. "He felt that Romney had avoided looking successful," says Nunberg. "Romney had posed beside a shopping cart in his jeans. Trump wanted to appear to be the opposite of that. He was proud of his business track record."
(I’ll wait for you to catch your breath after reading, “[Trump] was proud of his business track record.”)
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Trump has long claimed that because his taxes are "under audit", he can't reveal them. That's 100% pure, unsaturated, GMO-free bullshit. Warren Buffet, an actual billionaire, released his online, showing he'd
paid nearly $2 million in taxes (along with $3.5 million in charitable donations).
During the presidential campaign Trump used the excuse of being under audit as the chief reason he could not release his taxes. He's repeated that defense as President. It's true that every president is audited every year, but there is no law that forbids them from releasing their returns while under audit.
Now, with the lower courts ruling against Trump, will we see a Supreme Court hearing on something that should be routine? Or is this group of grifters too far gone to actually have the pretense of upholding the law?
Who knows. In any other time in history, something like a tax return wouldn't be circulating in the public mind for a civil servant. In Trumpian times, it's apparently life or death. You know. Because he's so innocent of everything, and there's nothing to hide, this requires the highest court in the land to take a peek and make a decision.
This can't end soon enough.
Ps — The title for my post comes from the same CNN article linked at the top:
"He wanted to look rich rather than smart," Nunberg says.