Taxes

Trump Rages After Tax Return Ruling that Supreme Court is ‘Political’ and ‘Lost its Honor’

Posted by on November 23, 2022 at 10:03 am. 7 Comments :

After half a decade of whining and running away, Donald Trump will finally have to face up to whatever is in his tax returns that has so terrified him of getting out. On Tuesday the Supreme Court ruled that Congress has the legal authority to the documents and that they must be provided to the House Ways and Means Committee.

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Donald Trump Angry

This ruling comes very late in the game because Democrats in Congress only have a few weeks to study Trump’s financial records before the Republican majority takes over in January. But that may be all they need. There’s a reason that Trump has fought this so furiously for years. And the American People deserve to know what it is. Trump is the first president in fifty years to refuse to make his taxes public. His efforts to avoid disclosure are typical of his all consuming fear of his crimes being revealed.

RELATED: Trump Being Too Scared to Testify Under Oath, Files Lawsuit Against the January 6th Committee

The legal authority for Congress to get Trump’s tax records was never in doubt, and this outcome was expected by experts. Nevertheless, shortly after the ruling by the Supreme Court was announced, Trump took to his floundering twitter ripoff, Truth Social, to whine petulantly about the decision. His post was just as demented and dishonest as would be expected. He asked…

“Why would anybody be surprised that the Supreme Court has ruled against me, they always do! It is unprecedented to be handing over Tax Returns, & it creates terrible precedent for future Presidents. Has Joe Biden paid taxes on all of the money he made illegally from Hunter & beyond. The Supreme Court has lost its honor, prestige, and standing, & has become nothing more than a political body, with our Country paying the price. They refused to even look at the Election Hoax of 2020. Shame on them!”

Trump is demonstrating his notorious cowardice and victimhood with the bizarre claim that the Supreme Court is always “against me.” The Court currently has a six-to-three ultra-conservative majority, including three justices nominated by Trump. What’s more, there is nothing unprecedented about his being required to turn over his taxes. In fact, it’s actually written into the law mandating that the Treasury Department “shall furnish” tax information requested by the House Ways and Means Committee.

Trump also asks whether “Joe Biden paid taxes on all of the money he made illegally from Hunter & beyond.” First of all, there is no evidence that Biden made any money illegally via his son Hunter, or anyone else. And we know that because Biden has been releasing his tax returns for decades. That’s just Trump’s pathetic way of deflecting from his own criminality.

This is also another example of Trump turning on anyone or anything that fails to be unflinchingly worshipful of him. He will attack his friends and foes alike. If his children criticized him they would be thrown under a fleet of buses without hesitation.

Trump, however, is right when he asserts that “The Supreme Court has lost its honor, prestige, and standing, & has become nothing more than a political body.” But not for the reasons in his warped imagination. The Court has suffered numerous embarrassments in the Era of Trump due entirely to the machinations of Trump and his Senate confederate, Mitch McConnell. Together they distorted the make up of the court through nefarious schemes and deceit. Most recently, their ruling in the Dobbs case that overturned Roe v Wade was not only dangerous and legally incomprehensible, it contributed to the election blowout in the 2022 midterms.

Trump’s Truth Social rant is dripping with fear as he comes to recognize the legal peril he is in. And it doesn’t end with this ruling by the Supreme Court. There are several other civil and criminal probes in progress by authorities in New York, Georgia, and Washington, D.C. Trump’s rap sheet is long and getting longer. Thankfully, Sean Hannity of Fox News provided a helpful catalog…

SEE THIS: Sean Hannity Thinks He’s Helping Trump By Scrolling a Long List of His Crimes on Fox News

UPDATRE: Trump posted another comment that further illustrates his perverse perspective of the court that he is most responsible for and has frequently bragged was his greatest accomplishment…

“The Supreme Court of the United States has the lowest Approval Rating in its long and storied history. No wonder – There are leaks and they can’t find the leaker (which is easy to do!), they are petrified of the Radical Left Maniacs (Democrats) who are destroying our Country, are unwilling to make bold, courageous, and proper decisions on Rigged and Stolen Elections, and are always wanting to be Politically Correct instead of doing what is BEST for the USA. We need Strength & Wisdom, NOW!”

Indeed, the Court’s public approval is in the gutter, primarily because of Trump’s toxic contributions to it. And if finding leakers was so easy, why couldn’t Trump find any of the ones who worked in his White House? Trump leans on his robotic use of infantile insults like “Radical Left Maniacs” because he has nothing of substance to say. As for “bold” decisions, overturning a fifty year precedent protecting privacy and women’s rights was pretty bold, in the worst way. As usual, rather than displaying “Strength & Wisdom,” Trump’s remarks further affirm his weakness and idiocy.

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Fox News Fear Mongers that Biden’s IRS Agents Will ‘Hunt Down and Kill Middle Class Taxpayers’

Posted by on August 12, 2022 at 2:15 pm. 3 Comments :

From its inception, Fox News has been a fear factory, manufacturing nightmarish scenarios that they could ascribe to Democratic politicians and pundits who seek to improve the lives of average Americans. The Fox News narrative is a non-stop dystopian disinformation machine built to undermine democracy, on behalf of the Republican GOP (Greedy One Percent).

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Fox News, Joe Biden, Fake News

This week Democrats in Congress will pass the Inflation Reduction Act that achieves several long sought after progressive goals. It expands Obamacare subsidies. It caps Medicare drug costs. It imposes a minimum tax on billionaires and corporations. It makes the biggest allocation of funds to mitigate climate change in history. And much more.

RELATED: Joe Manchin Calls Out Fox News Host for Lying About Biden Raising Taxes on the Middle Class

Republicans are staunchly opposed to all of those widely popular measures. Every GOP senator voted against the bill. And another feature of the legislation that majorities of Americans support is being demonized in a particularly grotesque manner. The bill provides an additional $80 billion in funding for the IRS to enhance their services, modernize their systems, develop their labor force, and strengthen their enforcement capabilities targeting high income and corporate tax cheats.

The bill’s funding of the IRS has triggered right-wing politicians and media to fabricate ludicrous conspiracy theories in order to scare the American people. And nowhere is that more repulsive than on Fox News.

On Thursday, Brian Kilmeade, sitting in for Tucker Carlson, launched into a maniacal monologue that recklessly declared that the bill will produce IRS Agents who, acting as “Joe Biden’s new army,” will “hunt down and kill middle class taxpayers” (video below). Considering the violence that has recently been aimed at the FBI following Fox’s incendiary rhetoric, it isn’t far fetched to be concerned about the safety of IRS agents. But Kilmeade had no such concerns when he said that…

“The so-called Inflation Reduction Act also says the $80 billion budget is to increase enforcement, operational improvement, and customer service. What kind of customer service? We don’t have to wonder. Before the IRS took it down yesterday there was a posting on their website that listed the job requirements for a special agent’s position. The major duties require agents to carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force, if necessary. A little like James Bond, but instead of hunting down evil maniacs, these agents hunt down and kill middle class taxpayers that don’t pay enough.”

Holy Shih Tzu! Kilmeade is explicitly accusing the IRS of plotting to “hunt and kill” American citizens. Chyrons during the segment included “Weaponizing the IRS to Hurt Middle Class Americans,” and “Biden’s New IRS Will Hunt Down the Little Guy.” That requires minds so sick that they should be confined to padded cells. But it is not only nauseating, it is flagrantly false.

Among the misrepresentation by Fox News is the assertion that the bill’s funding will result in the IRS hiring of 87,000 new agents. What Fox doesn’t say is that that number is over ten years and includes 40,000 hires who are intended to replace retiring employees in the next five years. Also, the hiring is across a wide range of positions including IT technicians and taxpayer services support staff. In reality, the new funding will only allow the IRS to net about 20,000 to 30,000 more employees, which would be just enough to restore the agency’s staff to where it was before Republicans embarked on a crusade to neuter it.

What’s more, the charge that any of the new agents would be tasked with auditing middle class taxpayers is blatantly untrue. For the record, the Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellin, had this to say on the subject…

“Specifically, I direct that any additional resources — including any new personnel or auditors that are hired — shall not be used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels. This means that, contrary to the misinformation from opponents of this legislation, small business or households earning $400,000 per year or less will not see an increase in the chances that they are audited.”

Nevertheless, Fox News is devoted to their lying about the bill. Kilmeade also mentioned a poll (that he failed to identify) that “shows that 45% of the country fears the IRS will increase the number of audits.” So what? That number could be attributed mostly to just people who have been lied to by Fox News. And of course Trump, who has weighed in, is arguing that Democrats should vote against the bill because it “Adds 87,000 gun carrying IRS Agents to cajole and harass you and your family.” Which is typical of his dangerous derangement.

RELATED: Trump’s Ludicrous ‘Whataboutism’ Falsely Accuses Obama of Absconding With Classified Documents

Anyone who still thinks that these cretins aren’t hankering for a civil war is terminally naïve. They couldn’t be more clear about their overtly hostile intentions, and their blind allegiance to authoritarian cult leaders. But they couldn’t be more idiotic either. And while they are small in number and destined to be losers, we still need to be vigilant and steadfast in defense of democracy and freedom.

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Joe Manchin Calls Out Fox News Host for Lying About Biden Raising Taxes on the Middle Class

Posted by on August 2, 2022 at 11:33 am. 6 Comments :

Sen. Joe Manchin has become the Democrat that Democrats love to hate. He has obstructed legislation that his party and his President have worked on for months. Legislation that would benefit most of the American people, as well as the Party’s political prospects for the upcoming midterm elections.

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Fox News Lies

While the concerns of mainstream Democrats is understandable, some of the attacks on Manchin have been shortsighted. After all if he were not a Democrat, then Mitch McConnell would be majority leader and every Senate committee would be chaired by a Republican member of the Trump cult. And it would be difficult to elect any other Democratic senator from the blood-red state of West Virginia.

RELATED: Jen Psaki’s Scathing, Point By Point Repudiation of Joe Manchin’s Betrayal on the Build Back Better Bill

On Tuesday morning Manchin was interviewed by Harris Faulkner on Fox News (video below). And he illustrated just why Democrats are fortunate to have him on their side, despite the intra-party troubles he causes. Those troubles should not be downplayed. They are serious. But he is still better than the alternative, which would be more of the GOP (Greedy One Percent).

Faulkner sought to open a discussion on whether the “Inflation Reduction Act” proposed by President Biden and the Democrats raises taxes on middle class Americans. She played a video clip of Fox’s Peter Doocy asking White house Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about the Joint Committee on Taxation saying that it does raise such taxes. Manchin shot that down by revealing a fact that Fox News hoped to suppress…

Faulkner: We gotta know the bottom line on taxes.
Manchin: Let me tell you the bottom line on that Harris. You want to know the bottom line – the Joint Committee on Taxation? That opinion was only written by my friends on the Republican side. It was not done by the whole Joint Committee. So that is unfair.

The interview went south for Fox News from there…

Manchin: Let’s be accurate what we’re doing here. The bottom line is how in the world can you be raising taxes when all we’re saying is the wealthiest corporations in America – 55 of them pay zero to help this great country of ours.
Faulkner: So how does this change that.
Manchin: It’s a minimum 15%. The tax rate was at 35% before 2017. Then it went to 21%. That was a tremendous savings. But that’s not good enough, I guess. All We’re saying is a 15% minimum. Everyone I know in West Virginia, and most people around the country, is paying a 21% corporate or greater. So why can’t the greatest billion dollars of revenue a year, why can’t they pay at least 15% for this great country? […]
Faulkner: But $400,000 was supposed to be the cut off. But I’m reading – and I am reading Senator – that it’s below that now.
Manchin: Who is paying any taxes that doesn’t have a corporation that has revenue of over a billion dollars a year? Not one person.

Faulkner nevertheless persisted with her wholly dishonest line of questioning…

Faulkner: I’m saying that Americans, $400,000 and below are now going to be taxed. Their taxes are gonna go up.
Manchin: That’s a lie. A pure outright lie.
Faulkner: So their taxes are not gonna go up.
Manchin: Not at all. And you know one thing? How about the people that are gonna be saving on their Medicare who are paying $288 billion higher prices than they should? They didn’t even assume that in the evaluation.

After being called a liar to her face, Faulkner still badgered Manchin with charges by McConnell and other Republicans that taxes would go up. Manchin hurled back that they were “totally absolutely wrong.” He told Faulkner that the questions she was asking, and the facts she has, are “completely wrong.” Then he refused to participate in her efforts to turn the debate on the bill into a political brawl saying that “This is not a political piece of legislation. This is an American legislation.”

Then Manchin pointedly asked Faulkner if she was “scared that we’re going to do something good that will help our country?” Which she took personally and got all huffy, yammering about the bible and her father who served. But Manchin’s remark was spot on, as Republicans – and their Fox News mouthpieces – are indeed afraid of anything passing that helps the nation because they would rather that people suffer than risk letting Biden and the Democrats get credit for achieving positive goals. Manchin closed the interview saying that…

“This is not about whether you like the President or whether you like Democrats. Do you like America? Do you want us to succeed as a country? Do you want to fight inflation? This bill does it.”

This interview shows how desperately Fox News wants to keep anything that benefits the American people from coming to pass. And they will load up their questions with lies and frantically seek to divert in order to halt progress or help people. They will also viciously flip on Manchin, their favorite Democrat, who yesterday they considered a brilliant, nonpartisan representative of the people.

RELATED: For Those Wondering What Biden and Democrats in Congress Have Been Doing the Past 16 Months…

No matter what you think of Joe Manchin, he came through in this interview and exposed the dishonesty and callous disregard for the welfare of the nation by Fox News. And we always need more of that.

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Trump Lies While Whining that the NY Times is Lying About His Taxes

Posted by on September 28, 2020 at 1:58 pm. 1 Comments :

The bombshell revelations about Donald Trump’s taxes published by the New York Times are both shocking and disturbingly expected. Anyone who has been paying attention to Trump’s flagrantly criminal behaviors will not be surprised to learn that he has been cheating on his taxes for decades.

Donald Trump

Nevertheless, it’s jarring to discover the extent of Trump’s illegal financial dealings. His massive indebtedness is not merely a legal and ethical failing, it makes him a national security threat as someone who is vulnerable to pressures from foreign adversaries. What’s more, his failure to pay his fair share is an insult to the millions of Americans who are forced to pick up the slack. And it is monumentally hypocritical because it deprives the military, law enforcement, healthcare, and every other public service of scarce funding, while he’s trying to take credit for supporting those services and simultaneously cutting their budgets.

On Monday morning Trump lashed out against the New York Times in a series of dishonest and incoherent tweets. The only thing this outburst succeeded in achieving is establishing how desperate and scared Trump is. The tweetstorm began with a familiar Trumpian rant:

“The Fake News Media, just like Election time 2016, is bringing up my Taxes & all sorts of other nonsense with illegally obtained information & only bad intent. I paid many millions of dollars in taxes but was entitled, like everyone else, to depreciation & tax credits…..”

As is often the case with Trump, he couldn’t make a logical argument if his life depended on it. Here he is saying that the information in the Times’ story was illegally obtained, which would suggest that it consists of authentic documents. But if the documents are authentic, then they aren’t fake. And if they’re fake, then they aren’t illegal. And notice that Trump asserts that he “paid many millions of dollars in taxes,” except for some unspecified credits. So he he isn’t really denying that he only paid trivial amounts after the credits, just as the Times reported. Then he goes on to say that…

“…..Also, if you look at the extraordinary assets owned by me, which the Fake News hasn’t, I am extremely under leveraged – I have very little debt compared to the value of assets. Much of this information is already on file, but I have long said that I may release….”

Here Trump is saying nothing substantive at all. His assertion that the Media hasn’t looked at his assets is simply absurd. And his claim that he’s “under leveraged” isn’t borne out by any evidence. The truth is that he is mired in debt, with hundreds of millions of dollars owed to unknown parties who could easily take advantage of his vulnerability. But Trump still wasn’t through. He added that he may release his…

“…..Financial Statements, from the time I announced I was going to run for President, showing all properties, assets and debts. It is a very IMPRESSIVE Statement, and also shows that I am the only President on record to give up my yearly $400,000 plus Presidential Salary!”

Indeed, he has been saying that for four years, without ever fulfilling that promise, or intending to. But now he is also bragging that he is “the only President on record to give up my yearly $400,000” salary. That is a flagrant and easily disproven lie. George Washington. Herbert Hoover, and John Kennedy all donated their salaries to charity. Trump, however, donated his salary right back to various government agencies (i.e. Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, etc.). Which is actually illegal.

Trump’s intention was to lavish himself with undeserved praise for not taking funds from taxpayers. However, he conveniently leaves out that he earns many millions more than his salary from foreign governments and other conflicted political parties who are paying for leases in Trump properties and stays at his hotels and resorts. Additionally, Trump benefits from the government paying the expenses for himself, his staff, and the Secret Service, when they travel with him on his frequent visits to his resorts and utilize ancillary services (i.e. dining, travel, communications, golf carts, etc.). This income far exceeds his presidential salary.

There is only one priority for Donald Trump: Himself! He will always put his own personal and financial interests above those of anyone else, and especially above those of the country that he has never served. That’s why his negligent mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in so much suffering and tragedy. It’s why the economy has slumped into a recession. It’s why he cozies up to foreign dictators and alienates America’s allies. And it’s why he must not be allowed to continue in office where he will surely betray the country again.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Crybaby Trump Runs to Fox News Following His Latest Media Fiascoes

Posted by on August 5, 2020 at 2:03 pm. 5 Comments :

The flop sweat gushing from Donald Trump is flowing like a tsunami the closer we get to Election Day. His polling continues to languish near historic lows for both reelection and job approval. And even his traditional allies are politically distancing from him for fear of being swept away themselves. it’s a downward spiral that shows no sign of slowing down.

Donald Trump, Mask, Fox News

Trump’s response to the imminent peril that he finds himself in has been to triple down on the lies, insults, and fear mongering, that have been the staples of his campaign. As a result he lashed out at Dr. Deborah Birx, his hand-picked Coronavirus Task Force medical expert, as “pathetic” just because she told the truth for a change. He flip-flopped on his opposition to mail-in voting (but only in Florida where he needs the votes of senior citizens who might not otherwise cast ballots). He made a ludicrous and unconstitutional proposal to delay the election. And he even threatened to ban TikTok from the United States in retaliation for criticism on the app from people like Sarah Cooper.

But that’s not all. Trump’s recent interview by Jonathan Swan of Axios exposed his shallow and hostile knee-jerk defensiveness and inability to engage in a coherent discussion. A PolitiFact analysis identified 22 false statements in the interview. And in a desperate effort to counteract the pitiful image he displayed, he immediately sought refuge in the warm embrace of his Fox News sycophants.

In the past three days Trump has done three phone-in interviews on Fox. One with his BFF Sean Hannity. One with Fox’s Senior Trump-Fluffer, Lou Dobbs. And on Wednesday morning, a full hour (video below) with the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends. Here are a few of the lowlights:

ON SUSPENDING THE PAYROLL TAX:

FOX: What’s your plan for businesses when it comes to the payroll tax cut?
TRUMP: Well, I may do it myself. We’re negotiating right now. I have the right to suspend it. And I may do it myself. I have the absolute right to suspend…ah, the payroll…ah, do the payroll tax. We call it a payroll tax suspension.

Did our “stable genius” president come up with the idea of calling suspending the payroll tax a “payroll tax suspension” himself? More importantly, does he know that the payroll tax is used exclusively to fund Social Security, and that his proposed suspension would put the program at risk? And finally, he clearly doesn’t know that he has no authority whatsoever to suspend or otherwise alter tax laws passed by Congress. To his great dismay, he is not the American Dictator.

ON OPENING SCHOOLS:

FOX: What is the latest in your view as to how these schools should reopen?
TRUMP: My view is schools should reopen. This thing is going away. It will go away like things go away. And my view is that schools should be open. If you look at children, children are almost – and I would almost say definitely – but almost immune from this disease.

My view is that Trump is almost – and I would almost say definitely – but almost completely insane. He repeats himself ad nauseam without ever answering the question or making an intelligible point. And above all, he is comfortable with exposing children and their families to a deadly virus that is still out of control due to his negligence and incompetence.

ON OBAMA’S EULOGY FOR JOHN LEWIS:

FOX: Do you agree that [Obama’s eulogy for John Lewis] seemed like a campaign speech and less of a eulogy?
TRUMP: I thought it was a terrible speech, it was an angry speech. It showed there’s anger there that people don’t see. He lost control and he’s been really hit very hard by both sides for that speech. That speech was ridiculous.

You really have to wonder if Trump even saw Obama’s inspiring and heart-felt tribute. It is Trump’s review that is “terrible” and “angry” and utterly “ridiculous.”

ON HIS 2ND TERM:

FOX: Mr. President, what is your second term agenda? What are your top priorities?
TRUMP: I want to take where we left – we had the greatest economy in the history of the world. We were better than any other country. We were better than we were ever. We never had anything like it in this country […] What I want to do is take it from that point and build it even better.

Trump went off on a deranged rant about everything from unemployment to the stock market to how awful our allies are. What he never bothered to mention was anything about his second term agenda.

Needless to say, no one on Fox News challenged Trump’s lies or even bothered to ask a follow up question. They merely tossed him softballs and let Trump ramble on incoherently for twenty minutes. So Trump gets away with claiming he can unilaterally undo tax legislation, baselessly project his own anger onto Obama, and failing to articulate an agenda for the future. And for the record. Trump unleashed another 20 falsehoods on the Fox interview.

Which is why the one thing Trump said that is remotely connected to reality was just slightly off the mark. Referring to his prediction about the forward course of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump babbled that “This thing is going away. It will go away like things go away.” However, that typically inane Trumpism is more aptly applied to his presidency. And for those of you with exceptionally strong stomachs and nothing better to do, below is the full Fox and Friends interview.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

REALLY? Trump is Afraid that Electing Biden ‘Would Lead To Disaster’

Posted by on July 5, 2020 at 1:45 pm. 2 Comments :

The United States of America is currently undergoing one of the most troubling and turbulent times in its short history. The American people are suffering hardships that have not been imagined for decades. The list of leadership failures under “president” Donald Trump are almost too numerous to mention. But the consequences are far too too painful to ignore.

Trump Fear

An international pandemic has hit the U.S. especially hard, resulting in the deaths of 130,000 people, many of which would have been avoidable if we had competent leadership. The economy is in recession, and 20 million people are unemployed. Our allies are either laughing at us or pitying us, while our adversaries are gladly exploiting opportunities to achieve hostile objectives they have long sought. And in the midst of these calamities, Trump has the unmitigated gall to tweet that the policies of President Joe Biden…

Seriously? This makes you wonder just where Trump thinks his policies have led us. If we are not already in the throes of an epic disaster, then what would one look like? Biden would somehow have to put the Earth in the path of massive asteroid to satisfy Trump’s idea of disaster.

The spark that triggered Trump’s latest tantrum was an article in the ultra-rightist Washington Examiner. The article reported on remarks that Biden made to high-dollar donors at a recent fundraiser:

“In a donor meeting Monday evening, Biden said he was ‘going to to get rid of the bulk of Trump’s $2 trillion tax cut.’ He added about President Trump’s 2017 tax law, enacted with a Republican Senate and a House then under Republican control, ‘A lot of you may not like that, but I’m going to close loopholes like capital gains and stepped-up basis,’ mentioning the numerous wealthy people in attendance virtually.”

Naturally Trump regards this as a disaster since it would adversely affect him and his upper-crust pals in the GOP (Greedy One Percent). But you have to give Biden credit for telling prospective donors – and the very people whose taxes would be raised – that this is what he intends to do. Fortunately, there are some in the high income group who understand the need to raise taxes in order to “promote the general Welfare” (as the Constitution says), and that they are the ones who can best afford it. In the end, the reduction of the deficit, and the benefit to the overall economy, will serve the interests of the wealthy as well. It’s working people who drive economic prosperity. Without consumers the corporations will wither and die.

Trump’s Tax Scam was never a good idea. It was intended to further enrich the already wealthy, and to entice them to contribute to Republican campaigns. The benefits of the tax cuts were distributed overwhelming to the rich. But in the wake of Trump’s catastrophic negligence, incompetence, and even deliberate malfeasance, many of the most reliable right-wingers are abandoning ship.

Biden’s pledge to reverse Trump’s tax cuts include raising the top corporate tax bracket from 21% to 28%. Which is still below the 35% it was at prior to Trump’s cuts. However, it would help to bring the budget closer to balance and, of more immediate concern, raise funds to help the American people, small businesses, and local governments weather the pandemic storm. It’s exactly the sort of progressive agenda that’s needed at this critical juncture.

As for Trump’s priorities, they remain precisely what they’ve been since the day he announced his candidacy by disparaging Latinos as criminals and rapists. His recent Independence Day speeches were littered with racist dog whistles, or more accurately, foghorns. Judging by the content of his speeches, the most pressing national problems are protecting the statues of Confederate traitors and suppressing the First Amendment rights of citizens protesting injustice and systemic racism. On these matters Trump believes that the if the people are allowed to exercise their rights…

It’s unclear who Trump thinks would be “calling the shots” in the Biden administration, but his list would surely include Hillary Clinton, George Soros, and the ghost of Osama Bin Laden. For the record, Kimberley Strassel, a Trump-fluffing Wall Street Journal columnist, misrepresented Biden’s remarks. Biden was not asked if he would “condemn” the protesters, only what he thought should be done about the offensive monuments. And only a seriously deranged mind could interpret Biden’s answer to be the ominous foreshadowing of “the beginning of the end.” Luckily for Trump, that’s exactly the kind of mind he has. And it has led us unarguably to the disaster that he now says he fears.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Terrified that His Taxes Will Become Public, Trump Sics His DOJ on the Supreme Court

Posted by on November 23, 2019 at 11:35 am. 7 Comments :

Last week’s impeachment hearings revealed overwhelming evidence of the criminal behavior of Donald Trump. The witnesses were largely from his own administration, including Dr. Fiona Hill who was a top aide to Trump’s ultra-conservative National Security Advisor, John Bolton. And every one of them testified that Trump improperly threatened to withhold military funds from Ukraine unless they helped him smear a political rival. In fact, Trump himself admitted it.

Donald Trump

However, in just the few hours since the hearings adjourned, there have been some startling stories of corruption and dirty dealing by Trump and his sycophantic defenders. The ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, has been implicated in a scandal of his own wherein he was seeking foreign assistance to dig up dirt on Joe Biden. Which is precisely the crime that the Committee is investigating Trump for. As for Trump, he visited his Friends at Fox News to spread propaganda manufactured by Russia. But These aren’t the only problems Trump faces.

The state of New York has been trying to get Trump’s tax returns as evidence in a case probing alleged campaign finance violations. Trump, of course, has been refusing to cooperate, but having lost in the lower courts, Trump is taking his challenge to the Supreme Court. In advance of any decision, the Department of Justice is now weighing in with their own opinion. And naturally they are siding with Trump. This is just further proof that Attorney Genuflect Bill Barr is a toady for Trump who is breaching his oath to serve the American people.

There is no justification for the DOJ to interfere with this litigation. It is outside of the purview of the Department as it involves Trump personally and is not associated with his duties as president. What’s more, the case that the DOJ is presenting to the Supreme Court is typically biased, shallow, and weak on legal rationale. According to their filing…

“The brief, filed by Solicitor General Noel Francisco, says allowing Manhattan prosecutor Cyrus Vance to obtain the tax returns would create a precedent that ‘may subject the president to highly burdensome demands for information’ and ‘raises the risk that prosecutors could use subpoenas to harass the president as a result of opposition to his policies.'”

Literally none of that is is justification for the Justice Department to interfere with this case. The President is not immune to investigations by state prosecutors. And it isn’t the DOJ’s job to define what constitutes a “burden” to the President. Nor is the DOJ permitted to insert itself into what may or may not be a political affair. The President has his personal attorneys for those purposes. The brief went on to say that…

“’The United States has a substantial interest in protecting the office of the president and the powers and duties vested in that office,’ the brief reportedly reads. ‘The United States also has a substantial interest in protecting the autonomy of the federal government from potential interference by the states.'”

To the extent that the DOJ is tasked with “protecting the office of the president,” it is limited to the his official duties, not his personal affairs. Especially those that took place prior to his election. However, the argument that the DOJ has an interest in protecting the President “from potential interference by the states,” is downright ludicrous. It is, in effect, a claim to protect the President from the nation he is sworn to serve. If upheld it would set a precedent that allows any president to violate state laws with impunity. And along with the tax laws that are central to this case, that could include rape and murder.

Trump’s stubborn refusal to release his taxes – as every other president in modern times has done – is a pretty good indication that there is something terribly wrong hidden in them. He isn’t even pretending to be audited anymore. Now he claims that just asking to see his returns is an abuse of power. He’s just sending his lackeys out to make absurd arguments in the hopes that he can keep his skeletons in the closet. And while the DOJ’s case is so thin as to be laughable, it is not outside the realm of possibility that it will be received favorably by a Supreme Court that is stacked with right-wingers and Trump appointees. Time will tell if they honor the law and the Constitution more than their misplaced loyalty to a criminal president.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

To Sarah Sanders: If Congress is Too Dumb to Understand Trump’s Taxes, Releasing Them Can’t Hurt

Posted by on April 14, 2019 at 12:20 pm. 5 Comments :

Donald Trump’s media relations have been a case study in both a totalitarian hostility toward the free press and a narcissist’s obsession for attention and adulation. He has repeatedly referred to the media in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people,” while lashing out personally at journalists and networks that he doesn’t think are sufficiently adoring.

Donald Trump

Trump’s White House has all but abandoned the daily press briefings that every other president in modern times has held. But he continues to send his press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, out to the same TV news networks that he maligns. While there she does nothing but disseminate flagrant lies, packaged propaganda, and irrational defenses of her bosses many offensive utterances. Case in point: Sanders went on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace to try to shore another bad week for Trump. When the subject turned to the President’s stubborn refusal to release his tax returns, Sanders let this bull fly (video below):

“Frankly, Chris, I don’t think Congress – particularly not this group of congressmen and women – are smart enough to look through the thousands of pages that I would assume that President Trump’s taxes will be.”

Seriously? Trump’s first responses to this question were promises that he would release his taxes and would be happy and proud to do so. That later shifted to a lie about being audited, which he said prevented him from releasing his returns. It doesn’t. Most recently he has just declared that he isn’t going to do it under any circumstances. Which should cause any thoughtful citizen to wonder why he’s lied for so long and what terrible things he is trying to hide?

But for Sanders to make such a vicious ad hominem attack on the entire institution of Congress only escalates the suspicions that Americans should have. After all, it is the job of Congress to conduct oversight on matters like this, and many members have professional experience and training in economics. The insult by Sanders is just a lame attempt to avoid the real issues that concern Trump’s corruption and nefarious business relations that may include Russians.

If Sanders thinks Congress is too dumb to comprehend Trump’s taxes, why does the White House she represents think they are capable of developing a new healthcare plan; or ratifying international treaties; or passing Trump’s Tax Scam; or regulating everything from energy to banks to defense policy? Her scattershot slander only reinforces this administration’s aversion to the American ideal of democratic self-rule. According to Trump World, we’re all too stupid to be allowed any such privilege.

However, if Sanders really believes what she’s saying, then why would she have any objection to Trump’s taxes being released right now? After all, Congress won’t be able to understand them, so what’s the harm? In reality, this is just another example of projection by Trump and company. This is a man so inept that he bankrupted four casinos. He is the one who is so painfully idiotic that he can’t comprehend even simple matters, particularly about the economy. Take for instance his Sunday morning tweet about the Federal Reserve Board:

None of that is true. It’s pure fantasy to suggest that the Dow would be 10,000 points higher, even if the Fed did what Trump wants. But they can’t do it because lowering interests rates when the economy is already overheated would result in inflation and a massive stock selloff as investors sell equities and shift into bonds. What’s more, if a recession should result (a real probability), there would be no way to mitigate its harm by lowering interest rates further. It’s a recipe for a depression. But that’s where this administration is determined to take us. They just hope it occurs after a Democrat is elected next year so they have someone else to blame.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Self-Abuse? Trump Promised to Release His Taxes, Now Calls Requests ‘An Abuse of Power’

Posted by on April 7, 2019 at 11:36 am. 3 Comments :

The still simmering controversy over whether or not Donald Trump should release his tax returns is emblematic of the march toward Idiocracy by the Trump administration, his cult following, and his State TV affiliate, Fox News. The arguments made by the tax suppressors are an affront to logic and democracy. In other words, quintessentially Trumpian.

Donald Trump

The first and foremost point to be made is that Trump himself promised to release his tax returns prior to the election saying that “I’ll produce my tax returns, absolutely. And I would love to do that.” He never delivered on that promise of transparency that every presidential candidate for the past forty years has complied with.

Trump’s original breach of his pledge was an invented excuse that he couldn’t release his taxes because he was being audited. Let’s set aside the fact that there is no evidence of any such audit taking place. More to the point, the IRS does not prohibit – or even care – if a taxpayer chooses to release their own tax returns during an audit. And it wouldn’t affect the audit in any way. After all, the IRS already has that data, so there wouldn’t be any surprise disclosure. How could a public release change anything?

Now Trump is whining about efforts by Democrats in Congress to acquire his tax returns as part of their constitutional oversight responsibilities. And his complaint is typically broiled in hyperbole. He is accusing Democrats of “a gross abuse of power.” In fact, they are performing their duties in conjunction with all applicable laws. And there is a glaring need to probe Trump’s finances given all of the evidence of corruption in his businesses and political activities.

What’s more, Trump is exacerbating the suspicions that surround him by being so evasive and adamant that his taxes remain secret. There is a distinct odor of criminality and consciousness of guilt. What is he struggling so hard to conceal? His “acting” chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, was on Fox News Sunday morning and participated in this exchange with anchor Bill Hemmer:

Hemmer: To be clear, you believe Democrats will never see the President’s tax returns?
Mulvaney: Oh no, never. Nor should they. Keep in mind that that’s an issue that was already litigated during the election. Voters knew the President could’ve given his tax returns, they knew that he didn’t, and they elected him anyway.

To be clear, Trump told voters that he would “absolutely” release his taxes, he lied, and a minority of voters elected him anyway via the fatally flawed Electoral College. And it’s the American people, not just the Democrats in Congress, that Trump is most worried about, prompting his obsession with preventing them from seeing the shady dealings in his tax returns.

Trump frequently takes both sides of any issue he addresses. That’s mostly because he doesn’t understand anything and forgets what lies he told previously, or finds a new lie more advantageous at the moment. For instance, his initial assertion that he welcomed the release of the full report by special counsel Robert Mueller, and later dismissing it as an illegal hoax. But for him to call requests for his taxes a “gross abuse of power,” after vowing to release them himself, suggests that he was engaging in a perverse act of self-abuse when he made his initial promise. Democrats now are only asking that he keep his word. Which, based on his prior record, may be way too much to hope for.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Fox News Compares Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Hitler and Stalin in Unhinged Rant

Posted by on January 23, 2019 at 1:03 pm. 4 Comments :

It’s always easy to tell who the Republican Nationalist Party is most afraid of. It’s the person they lie about most, and whose character they malign with the most vicious insults. Their obvious defensiveness gives away their fear and betrays their intentions to destroy anyone they think is having a real impact on changing the status quo.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

The current ogre under the GOP’s bed is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She has had the audacity to advocate for the common American, the oppressed, and those who have been left out of the nation’s prosperity. Her recent comments regarding raising the marginal tax rate for multi-millionaires to 70% has brought severe anxiety to the rightists in Congress and the media who serve the wealthy. So their response to this common sense proposal, that was in effect for decades prior to the Reagan administration, is to lash out in the most absurd and offensive way imaginable.

On the Fox Business Network program host Trish Regan invited right-wing clown and alleged economist, Ben Stein, to discuss Ocasio-Cortez. The segment was utterly devoid of any substantive discussion of her ideas or her role in Congress. Instead, it was a bitterly personal assault that was nothing but invective and slander. Stein delivered a thoroughly deranged tirade dismissing her impact and insulting everyone who supports her. “She’s seeing success,” Stein began, “because there’s a lot of people just as ignorant as she is out there.” Never mind that he’s disparaging the majority of Americans (59%) who agree with her.

Stein believes that “messages about justice and equality … always turn out to be messages that lead to a dictatorship.” And his extended comments on Fox affirm that opinion, but go even farther into an abyss of slime (video below):

“We have a society in which there are an awful lot of people who have no idea that Stalin, Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, all came to power promising the same kinds of things that Miss Ocasio-Cortez is promising. And it led to mass murder. It led to dictatorship. It led to genocide. These promises are old promises and they invariably led to bad things.”

Stalin? Hitler? Does Stein really believe that Ocasio-Cortez is an aspiring tyrant who hungers for the blood of the masses? Does he really believe that her agenda, which is squarely in the mainstream of America’s principles and history, will lead to genocide? Or is he merely mouthing off with noxious hyperbole intended to incite the hatred of Fox’s viewers? If Stein is looking for an aspiring tyrant, he might want to look at Donald Trump, who actually kept a book of Hitler’s speeches at his bedside. And Trump’s anti-press chant of “the enemy of the people” was stolen verbatim from Stalin. But Stein wasn’t finished:

“Capitalism is a system that allows people to make something of themselves, instead of suppressing other people. Making money is … what our society is about. It’s not about ordering people around, putting them in concentration camps. What do you do if a person is a richer person or a poorer person? What do you do? Do you take him away and shoot him?”

Where on Earth did Stein get that from? Certainly not from anything Ocasio-Cortez, or any Democrat, has ever said. It’s simply Stein inventing horror stories for the Deplorables watching him on Fox News. And the number one viewer is, of course, Donald Trump, who spends countless hours watching, and live tweeting, what he sees on Fox. And as a result of crackpot diatribes like this one, watch for Stein to be hired by Trump as an economic advisor or, perhaps, his new Billionaire Tax Elimination and Peasant Revenue Collection Czar.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.