trump Tax Update

Ya know.........no one really gives a rats derriere how much trump paid in taxes in 2005 or how much he reportedly made in 2005.  But if you are interested, he paid approximately $38 million in taxes and reported approximately $150 million in income.  Again, I don't know about you, but this is not the information I want to know about, from his tax returns.  I also am not concerned about 2005, because I believe the statute of limitations for tax returns is seven years.

What I am interested in is all of the information on trump's tax returns for since 2009.  And......you all know why.  Because I want to see what information there is, if any, that clearly shows he has financial obligations to Russia.  Of course, if he does and because he has refused to divest himself of his business interests, that would be a "HUUUUUUUUGE" problem.  (Actually, I'm amazed he hasn't tried to copyright or trademark the word 'huuuuuuuge').

Why does trump think that anyone is going to buy his 'disclosure' of insignificant information from an insignificant tax return?  Does he really think that he can now start to tweet that he has now released his tax return information?

Rachel Maddow, on MSNBC, tweeted that she had a scoop last night:

Rachel Maddow MSNBC
✔@maddow
BREAKING: We've got Trump tax returns. Tonight, 9pm ET. MSNBC.
(Seriously).
7:36 PM - 14 Mar 2017
Before she could go on the air with her 'scoop', the White House picked up her tweet and preemptively tweeted:



David Shepardson‏Verified account @davidshepardson 15h15 hours ago
.@WhiteHouse statement on Maddow show @realDonaldTrump tax return via @ewstephe pic.twitter.com/nP8Z0o94p6

I have no clue who David Shepardson is.  Nor do I particularly care.

Here's the deal.......first of all if you've got a scoop, keep it under your hat until you're going to report it.  If it's the real deal, you'll get the credit you deserve.  Secondly, really think it through before you decide you if you want to put some piece of information out there.  In this case, was this really a big deal?  I don't think so.  Yeh, sure it was a small crumb, but not the information that's going to blow the lid off of trump's BS.  

I appreciate the role that the press, the honest press, is playing in our fight to remove trump from office.  They have a large role to play.  Even though this story back fired a little bit, it is still part of the continuing pressure that is distracting trump's staff, and trump too.  What the press does need to do is to define what 'the ball' is and keep their eye on it.  They cannot allow trump to define what the ball is and thereby distract the press, our press, our eyes, our ears from what the real ball is.