Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

You cannot shame the shameless.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

People are weird.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Bark louder, little dog.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Donald Trump, Tax Fraud, and His Fellow GOP Thieves/Enablers

Donald Trump, Tax Fraud, and His Fellow GOP Thieves/Enablers

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Bess Levin, at Vanity Fair, “Republicans: If Dems Release Trump’s Tax Returns, No One Will Be Safe”:

… Unsurprisingly, in the wake of the Times investigation, Democrats renewed their calls for transparency, with Representative Richard Neal telling The Wall Street Journal his party would use the authority of the Ways and Means Committee to commandeer a taxpayer’s records for confidential review—something that can be done without full approval from the House and Senate. And Republicans are having none of such talk. “This is dangerous,” an incensed Representative Kevin Brady tweeted… “Once Democrats abuse this law to make public @realDonaldTrump tax returns, what stops them from prying/making public YOUR tax returns for political reasons?” For good, fear monger-y measure, he concluded by hashtag-ing “#AbuseofPower” and “#EnemiesList.”

And, sure, Democrats could go after your tax returns for political reasons, but that would probably require you to be a sitting president who’s refused to release them on your own, and who’s been accused of “outright” tax fraud based on an investigation by The New York Times. If that describes you, you might have reason to worry! On the other hand, Congress has had this power for nearly 100 years and has not seen fit to “abuse” ordinary Americans with it it for political gain. One time it was used? In 1974, when Congress investigated Richard Nixon’s returns and determined that he was, in fact, a crook. But we’re sure that’s totally not what Brady & Co. are worried about here…

Professor Krugman, “Trump and the Aristocracy of Fraud”:

… Until recently, my guess is that most economists, even tax experts, would have agreed that tax avoidance by corporations and the wealthy — which is legal — was a big issue, but tax evasion — hiding money from the tax man — was a lesser one. It was obvious that some rich people were exploiting legal if morally dubious loopholes in the tax code, but the prevailing view was that simply defrauding the tax authorities and hence the public wasn’t that widespread in advanced countries.

But this view always rested on shaky foundations. After all, tax evasion, almost by definition, doesn’t show up in official statistics, and the super-wealthy aren’t in the habit of mouthing off about what great tax cheats they are. To get a real picture of how much fraud is going on, you either have to do what The Times did — exhaustively investigate the finances of a particular family — or rely on lucky breaks that reveal what was previously hidden.

Two years ago, a huge lucky break came in the form of the Panama Papers, a trove of data leaked from a Panamanian law firm that specialized in helping people hide their wealth in offshore havens, and a smaller leak from HSBC. While the unsavory details revealed by these leaks made headlines right away, their true significance has only become clear with work done by Berkeley’s Gabriel Zucman and associates in cooperation with Scandinavian tax authorities.

Matching information from the Panama Papers and other leaks with national tax data, these researchers found that outright tax evasion actually is a big deal at the top. The truly wealthy end up paying a much lower effective tax rate than the merely rich, not because of loopholes in tax law, but because they break the law. The wealthiest taxpayers, the researchers found, pay on average 25 percent less than they owe — and, of course, many individuals pay even less.

This is a big number. If America’s wealthy evade taxes on the same scale (which they almost surely do), they’re probably costing the government around as much as the food stamp program does. And they’re also using tax evasion to entrench their privilege and pass it on to their heirs, which is the real Trump story.

The obvious question is, what are our elected representatives doing about this epidemic of cheating? Well, Republicans in Congress have been on the case for years: They’ve been systematically defunding the Internal Revenue Service, crippling its ability to investigate tax fraud. We don’t just have government by tax cheats; we have government of tax cheats, for tax cheats.

What we’re learning, then, is that the story of what’s happening to our society is even worse than we thought. It’s not just that the president of the United States is, as veteran tax reporter David Cay Johnston put it, a “financial vampire,” cheating taxpayers the way he has cheated just about everyone else who deals with him.

Beyond that, our trend toward oligarchy — rule by the few — is also looking more and more like kakistocracy — rule by the worst, or at least the most unscrupulous. The corruption isn’t subtle; on the contrary, it’s cruder than almost anyone imagined. It also runs deep, and it has infected our politics, quite literally up to its highest levels.

Catherine Rampell, at the Washington Post:

… What to do with this information? Beyond all the Trump-specific takeaways — such as, duh, we need to see his tax returns — two much broader policy conclusions shouldn’t get lost here:

1. We need to adequately fund the IRS.
2. What’s scandalous here isn’t just what’s illegal. It’s also what is legal.

If you’re wondering how Trump was able to duck the tax authorities for so long, given the brazen acts documented by the Times, note that we have basically stopped prosecuting tax crimes and other white-collar offenses. This year, we are on track to notch the fewest tax fraud prosecutions on record, about one-third the level seen 30 years ago.

There are lots of reasons tax cheats are sleeping easier than they used to. One is that Congress has repeatedly stripped the IRS of money and staff, though the IRS brings in much more money than it spends.

Consequently, audit rates have plummeted, especially for corporations and the ultrawealthy. Since fiscal 2011, the audit rate for big corporations (those with at least $10 million in assets) has fallen by half; for households making at least $1 million in income, it’s down by two-thirds…

There’s a bunch of stuff the Trumps reportedly did that may not be illegal, but should be. When it comes to taxes — like lots of other policy arenas, such as campaign finance — we need to work harder not only to enforce the laws on the books, but also to make those laws fairer, clearer and less susceptible to exploitation.

Real estate, in particular, has lots and lots of loopholes and other opportunities for (legal) tax avoidance. Relative to other taxpayers, for instance, real estate investors can more easily use losses to reduce or completely wipe out future tax bills — something Trump is also believed to have done, based on a leaked 1995 return declaring a $916 million loss.

There have been periodic attempts to plug real-estate-specific tax loopholes. In fact, Trump personally testified before Congress in 1991 about his disgust for the removal of tax shelters for real estate, complaining that tax shelter is “a very bad-sounding word, even though it isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

More recently, as president, Trump has worked diligently to either preserve or multiply other tax breaks his family has benefited from.

For instance, the Times reported that the Trumps used (and likely abused) an estate-planning technique known as a “grantor-retained annuity trust” to help them duck hundreds of millions of dollars in gift taxes during the 1990s. This is, in fact, a tool that many rich people employ to pass on more wealth to their heirs tax-free, costing Uncle Sam tons of money for no justifiable economic reason.

The Barack Obama administration issued regulations to curb this popular tax-dodging tool. But almost a year ago, the Trump administration quietly withdrew those regulations.

And, of course, two months later, Trump signed an enormous tax overhaul that will save dynastic families such as his even more money by cutting income tax rates, doubling the exemption for the estate tax and, at the last minute, even adding a special new tax break for (you guessed it!) real estate investors…

Reader Interactions

215Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    “If Donald Trump kidnaps refugees’ children, he’ll kidnap your children,” said no Villager ever.

  4. 4.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Does anyone know if Nancy Pelosi has made her tax returns public? I am arguing with a Trumpie on FB about a meme he posted. I can’t find anything – yea or nay – with a quick Google.

  6. 6.

    JPL

    @JPL: google says she was grilled about releasing her own in 2012. I haven’t found something recent though. She’s not president though unless I missed that part on twitter.

  8. 8.

    Kent

    @JPL: The House does have some financial disclosure requirements for all members but to my knowledge it doesn’t include tax returns.

    http://clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial.aspx

    Honestly, a true and complete financial disclosure would go WAY behond Federal tax returns anyway because people can hold assets in a bazillion different ways through different obtuse corporate structures without having them show up on Federal tax returns.

  9. 9.

    randy khan

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    A quick search reveals that in 2012, when she said Romney should release his tax returns, (a) she said the standard was different for Presidential candidates than members of the House; and (b) she apparently had released some previous tax returns, but not her most recent ones.

  10. 10.

    Ruckus

    kakistocracy

    Gee ya think?
    shitgibbon is an idiot, and he didn’t get most of his money by doing anything honestly. He used to lie about how much he’d stolen. He didn’t call it that of course but it’s rather difficult to honestly acquire as much as he used to claim and have so many blatant failures and no real successes. A lot of the people whose sphere he’d like to be a part of have far more and based upon not all that much. Few of the uber wealthy got there through hard work. Hard work doesn’t pay that well.

  11. 11.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    When Pelosi becomes president after Trump’s and Pence’s impeachment, it’s the first thing I’ll demand of her.

    “Lock Her Up!”

  12. 12.

    randy khan

    I think what the Republicans are saying is that they’re very worried about what people might find if Republican office holders’ tax returns were reviewed.

    It’s always projection, right?

  14. 14.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    “Once Democrats abuse this law to make public @realDonaldTrump tax returns, what stops them from prying/making public YOUR tax returns for political reasons?”

    Accusations as confessions. Republicans will use this power in the future to hurt and intimidate their opponents

  15. 15.

    SFAW

    @Ruckus:

    shitgibbon is an idiot, and he didn’t get most of his money by doing anything honestly.

    Well, he honestly inherited some portion of it from his father.

    Now whether Fred’s estate was achieved legally … well, that’s a question for another day, libtard.

  16. 16.

    Ruckus

    @randy khan:
    It may not be always, but it’s a pretty safe bet that it’s close to it.
    So is being a republican national office holder the peak of projection? Or just the most obvious examples.

  17. 17.

    SFAW

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    Republicans will use this power in the future to hurt and intimidate their opponents

    I’m a little amazed we haven’t yet heard of them doing that. Either they’re not doing it, or they haven’t been caught. Hmm, I wonder which?

  22. 22.

    Ruckus

    @SFAW:
    From what I understand, shitgibbon learned at the hand of his dad fairly well. shitgibbon sr. was never all that and a bag of chips, but he wasn’t so publicly obvious. Example, the word slumlord wasn’t coined for him but he was a fine example of why it was coined in the first place.

  23. 23.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Chetan Murthy:

    to hurt and intimidate their opponents

    Oops, I thought you meant just plain “hurt and intimidate”, not “use the power of publicizing tax returns to do so”. Ignore.

  24. 24.

    dmsilev

    lol like any Dem with a remote shot of the nomination isn’t already super public with their returns

    Well, The Shouty Saint Of Vermont had to be dragged kicking and screaming into releasing his, but it’s true that he did eventually do so.

  26. 26.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    It’s hard to do it secretly unless people at the IRS are in cahoots.

    Good point. I guess that would be as preposterous as someone in the FBI pulling shit.

    [More seriously: I have more trust in the IRS — well, the pre-Shitgibbon IRS — not fucking around like that, than I do in the post-2015 FBi.]

  28. 28.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @JPL: @Baud: I made the point to my interlocutor that being President and potentially okaying the murder of a journalist by the Saudis suggests we might want to know if there are financial connections there. I haven’t heard back from him. I just got curious – usually I can throw a Snopes link at him.

  32. 32.

    JTL

    I’m old enough to remember when Trump bragged that not paying any Federal taxes “makes me smart.”

  33. 33.

    JPL

    OT.. I’ve been watching the local news media to see the coverage about Kemp.. Anyway one station was covering the local high school football games and highlighted a local catholic school. Unfortunately one young man with his St. …. sweat shirt on decided to dance behind the camera man while holding his crotch. When he goes to school on Monday, I imagine an unhappy visit to the office.

  35. 35.

    JPL

    @Cheryl Rofer: When a relative talked about Feinstein’s wealth, I once said I am surprised that she was against the Bush tax cuts since they increased her wealth

  38. 38.

    SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal

    This is not taxes, but it is funny and bold and brilliant.

    Someone is putting googly eyes on the statues in Savannah’s public squares.

    The police are freaking out and overreacting.

    I love it. I wish I had the nerve. This should happen all over the country every year as a Hallowe’en tradition.

    Source.

  39. 39.

    laura

    Isn’t this the point of shrinking government?
    So the asset stripping can be done quickly and quietly?
    We need confiscatory income and estate taxes, real corporate tax – serious revenue and a big, juicy local, state and federal government (job guarantees!!) to do what’s been stopped including 501c3 oversight.
    More anti corruption activities, and not settlements -hard time.
    More, not fewer Lois Lerhners and Shirley Sherrods.

  40. 40.

    Ken Shabby

    “2. What’s scandalous here isn’t just what’s illegal. It’s also what is legal.”

    Among other things, when there’s that kind of sliding scale of …accountability, over the decades, you also get grist for GOP sh1t mills. And, unlike us, they’ll use it to beat down everyone in sight while skating like mofos. Because, also too Village Idiots.

    “Whatever have I done wrong?”

    Today is Chuck Schumer Appreciation Day.

    “The Sudententland IRS is savaging our people”

  42. 42.

    FelonyGovt

    @Cheryl Rofer: The Trumper nut jobs I know don’t accept Snopes when I try to cite them to refute their conspiracy BS. They claim Snopes is a “bunch of liberals from California”.

  44. 44.

    Ken Shabby

    @JPL:

    Yes but, his weekend will be glorious. Lube, rug burns and possibly Jesus on Sunday.

    “I’m truly sorry and promise not to until at least next week.”

  45. 45.

    debbie

    I have no idea how reliable Patheos.com is, but they’re showing up on my FB feed with an article who’s headline says Jeff Sessions doesn’t believe grabbing women’s genitals is sexual assault. I can’t imagine what he thinks does qualify as sexual assault.

  48. 48.

    debbie

    @JPL:

    Oh, boy. I remember many visits to the headmaster’s office. Not for reasons like this kid, of course, but they are no fun at all.

  49. 49.

    Jay

    “According to a forthcoming report by the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative program, which I direct, at the Center for International Policy, registered foreign agents working on behalf of interests in Saudi Arabia contacted Congressional representatives, the White House, the media and figures at influential think tanks more than 2,500 times in 2017 alone.

    In the process, they also managed to contribute nearly $400,000 to the political coffers of senators and House members as they urged them to support the Saudis. Some of those contributions, like Lampkin’s, were given on the same day the requests were made to support those arms sales.”

    https://warisboring.com/56188-2/

  50. 50.

    randy khan

    @FelonyGovt:

    Yeah, it seems to be a newish RWNJ thing to say Snopes isn’t accurate. When they diss fact-checking, I sometimes ask them to tell me what information is wrong and provide sources, which provides seconds of amusement.

  52. 52.

    Ken Shabby

    @debbie:

    Whenever he has to let the slaves loose or treat them like equal people or be made to watch Clockwork Orange where lil Alex has his eyes clamped open while watching misery pornography.

    It’s really an unfortunate anomaly that Sherman limited himself to Atlanta to Savannah.

  54. 54.

    debbie

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    What I’m seeing more of is “It’s only an opinion.” Even when an attorney is patiently explaining laws, statutes, etc. regarding sexual assault. The guy keeps coming back saying it’s only your opinion. Really?

  56. 56.

    Jay

    @debbie:

    It’s been a RWNJ default setting for a long time. Ignorant Opinions = Facts, or Science, or Laws.

    The MSM set up this dynamic decades ago,

  57. 57.

    debbie

    @Jay:

    I know, but this was pretty blatant. An attorney’s explanation of the law is just an opinion? I’m beginning to miss the simpler days of “Both sides!”

  59. 59.

    patroclus

    I don’t know bout y’all but I’m growing increasingly confident that we’re gonna take this election in an epic fashion.

  60. 60.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @JPL:
    You live in Georgia, right? Why are Sec of States allowed to be in their positions while running for another office? Now that I think of it, perhaps the person in charge of elections shouldn’t be an elected position in the first place. An independent non-partisan elections commission could be anti-democratic in a sense since it wouldn’t be under direct control by an elected official, but the above does seem like a conflict of interest

  62. 62.

    Roger Moore

    @dmsilev:

    Well, The Shouty Saint Of Vermont had to be dragged kicking and screaming into releasing his, but it’s true that he did eventually do so.

    I thought he only released his 1040, not all the supporting forms.

  63. 63.

    JaySinWA

    @JPL: My first thought was about the private/prep school culture. But, I suppose it will come to an office visit since it was in public view with the school’s name attached. That sort of thing is supposed to happen off the record, as I am sure will be explained to him.

  66. 66.

    Jay

    @debbie:

    Living in their Faux News ghetto 24/7 was always going to infect their minds with Wingnuttia prions, sooner or later.

    Once upon a time, the ReThug brain trust recognized that Faux News was created to feed the junkies. The current crop of ReThugs are high on their own supply and have been since Newt’s 1994 memo.

  67. 67.

    trollhattan

    Sportsball Programming Note. Concacaf Women’s Championship semifinals will be as follows (soccer, y’all):

    Canada finished Group B play in first place, and will play Panama on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET on FS1. Panama earned second-place in Group A after a 2-0 upset over Mexico on Wednesday. At 8 p.m. ET on FS1, the United States, who finished in first-place in Group A, will play Jamaica, the second-place team from Group B.

    IIRC the final is Wednesday and likely to be Canada-US, which should be a barnburner as Canada has been tearing it up in this tournament. A World Cup amuse bouche for us eager-for-2019 folks. (Fun fact: Canada has a 17 YO striker who scored four against hapless Cuba.)

  68. 68.

    NotMax

    OT.

    Holey moley, that’s a lotta stamps.

    An United States Postal Service manager allegedly stole $630,000 in stamps from a Louisiana post office, sold them online and used the proceeds to fund large casino expenses, according to federal charges announced Wednesday. Source

  70. 70.

    Roger Moore

    @Ken Shabby:

    It’s really an unfortunate anomaly that Sherman limited himself to Atlanta to Savannah.

    He didn’t. After Savannah, he marched north through the Carolinas and did the same kind of damage there he had done in Georgia. It just doesn’t get as much attention as the March to the Sea.

  71. 71.

    Anne Laurie

    @dmsilev:

    The Shouty Saint Of Vermont had to be dragged kicking and screaming into releasing his, but it’s true that he did eventually do so.

    Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat, as he will be happy to tell you — at length. And IIRC, he has never actually released his tax forms.

    Whether Bernie Sanders was a Russian asset in 2016, that’s an open question.

  72. 72.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @JPL:

    but this happens to be the person running the elections.

    That’s the conflict of interest I’m talking about. Even the fact that Sec of State is an elected position itself is part of that conflict of interest.

  74. 74.

    gene108

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Does anyone know if Nancy Pelosi has made her tax returns public?

    Has Paul Ryan? Has Mitch McConnell?

    Hillary released 39 years worth of tax returns, but that wasn’t a good enough effort at transparency to please the media or conservatives.

    Fuck ‘em

    Republicans and their enablers aren’t dealing in good faith.

    Let them pony up tax returns of their leaders going back 39 years and then we can talk. Otherwise they can just fuck off.

    Fuck ‘em

    (h/t EFG)

  75. 75.

    debbie

    @NotMax:

    There was a ring of postal workers here who took mail from the drop-off boxes at the post office. They apparently got quite a haul before anyone thought to install security cameras. There was much shock when it turned out to be a couple of their own.

  77. 77.

    WereBear

    I really enjoyed this article about prosecutorial strategies:

    Mueller’s Art of War

    Like Napoleon, Mueller is playing the long game. Because Trump’s culpability is a political matter as well as a legal question, it is hard to know exactly how this will end. The corrosive effect of exorbitant money in politics has rendered our democratic process largely dysfunctional. Thankfully, Mueller has been able to operate with prosecutorial independence, and his results so far — the indictments, convictions, guilty pleas, and cooperation agreements — speak for themselves. Furthermore, if a grand strategist is a master at controlling his emotions and focusing on the ultimate objective, Trump is the opposite. His constant outbursts are predictable — a serious liability in warfare. One day, we may learn that soon after his appointment, Mueller gathered his team around a map, and pointed to the place where Trump would meet his end.

  82. 82.

    ruemara

    @dmsilev: Some. He released some of his. We still haven’t seen the complete ones & I think the FEC closing filing is still not done. Yet, he’s out here torpedoing races in 2018 & getting ready to run in 2020. yay.

  83. 83.

    Adam L Silverman

    @WereBear: It was a good article, however there were several misapplications/misunderstandings of classic strategic theorists. And a whole lot of assumptions.

  84. 84.

    Martin

    So, yeah, making tax returns public is a no-brainer.

    But the broader issue of tax avoidance is a real problem, not because everyone is a greedy bastard, but because the tax code is so vague in so many places that nobody knows what is and isn’t legal. That’s why every article about this is qualified out the wazoo that ‘may constitute tax fraud’. Well, you have the return, does it or doesn’t it? Nobody knows, not even the IRS. The rules for us plebes are easy – we don’t have access to these colorful financial instruments so the rules are clear. But once you start hollowing out your private volcano, it’s not clear whether henchman benefits paid through your LLC owned by a trust are tax deductible or not.

    I think they need to make some of these things illegal. Narrow the scope of trusts. Find a way to deal with foreign holdings. It’s estimated about 10% of global wealth is completely hidden.

  85. 85.

    NotMax

    @debbie

    There was much shock when it turned out to be a couple of their own.

    Shouldn’t have been much of a shock. After all, they had access to the keys. Prime suspects.

  87. 87.

    JMG

    Nothing, nothing, nothing could do more to make a Democratic President popular than a series of indictments and convictions of wealthy people on tax fraud charges. This is not a game Republicans should want to play.

  88. 88.

    misterpuff

    @Ken Shabby: Actually after the March to the Sea, “Uncle Billy” (after entreating with Grant) turned north and brought the road show to the Carolinas, particularly punishing South Carolina. But the South Carolinians were too dense to take his message.. Traitorous swine.

  89. 89.

    Roger Moore

    @gene108:

    Hillary released 39 years worth of tax returns, but that wasn’t a good enough effort at transparency to please the media or conservatives.

    It’s worse than that. A huge amount of the BS in Clinton Cash was based around the Clinton Foundation’s outstanding transparency. They revealed all their financial information, which wound up just giving ammunition to Hillary’s enemies. So she was effectively punished for her transparency. The media punishes politicians for being transparent and then wonders why they aren’t more open and honest.

  90. 90.

    JPL

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: The position doesn’t matter unfortunately, and Kemp didn’t resign. Hopefully that hurts him, but honestly this is GA and I still doubt that a female can win, never mind a black female. I hope I am wrong because Kemp is a religious liberty guy, or the right to discriminate guy.

  91. 91.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @debbie: So far, haven’t gotten this. Mostly both sides-ism when they try to refute. I then ask for facts if I know they don’t have them or present a Trump atrocity of some sort. Separating parents from kids at the border has shut them up every time so far. I think the people I’m talking to are capable of some compassion.

  93. 93.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Jay:
    Who leads the Civil Servants of Elections and how are they selected/made accountable to parliament?

  100. 100.

    gene108

    @randy khan:

    I think what the Republicans are saying is that they’re very worried about what people might find if Republican office holders’ tax returns were reviewed.

    They are also signaling that payback is a bitch. Do the right thing to shed some light on Trump’s opaque finances and possible self dealing and conflicts of interest, and the next time there is Democratic President and Republicans control the House, we will release the President’s tax returns and hold endless hearings on them.

    Per David Brock, in “Blinded by the Right”, says Whitewater and Ken Starr were payback for Watergate and Iran-Contra, because they couldn’t let the narrative that Democratic Presidents were not corrupt and Republicans were.

  102. 102.

    Jay

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    The head of Elections Canada is appointed by the Prime Minister from the Civil Service. It’s a non-political appointment.

    Elections Canada is not “responsible” to Parliament, they are “responsible” to Canadian Citizens and are governed by the large body of Laws in the Elections Acts.

    There are some flaws. The Harper Con’s passed laws and budgets that weakened their ability to investigate and prosecute offences against The Elections Acts,

    and legislation has not kept pace with the changes of the digital age.

  104. 104.

    B.B.A.

    Wardlow says he’d fire Democrats in Minnesota AG’s office

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — Republican Minnesota Attorney General candidate Doug Wardlow told a group of supporters that he would fire “42 Democratic attorneys right off the bat” and replace them with Republicans if he wins in November, according to a recording that Minnesota Public Radio News obtained.

    Minnesotans: Vote for the alleged domestic abuser – it’s important!

  106. 106.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Jay:
    Didn’t know. Sounds like how elections here in America should be run. Everything has to be idiot and asshole-proofed now.

  107. 107.

    gene108

    @Roger Moore:

    The media punishes politicians for being transparent and then wonders why they aren’t more open and honest.

    True.

    The Goldman Sachs speeches came from having her tax returns open to the public, IIRC.

    I don’t know, if it is punishing politicians for being transparent per se, as much as it is a desire to treat Republicans as a normal political party, and not the radical right wing revolutionaries they have become.

    It is impossible to respect one side for honesty, when you desire to honor the other side, just as much, for winning by dishonesty.

  108. 108.

    khead

    So, I made the mistake of reading the comments on the Krugman article and came across this one that is actually a pick of the FTNYFT.

    I guess the real question is: why do journalists feel it is necessary to expend so much time and energy on things that occurred so far in the past?

    Is there nothing at all presently occurring in the world?

    Reading this paper, one would think Fred Trump is actively shuffling money around (he’s been dead nearly 20 years), Brett Kavanaugh is pumping iron and chugging beer (36 years ago), Albert Einstein is scribbling racist slurs about the Chinese (100 years ago), and Georgetown University is holding and selling slaves (200 years ago).

    Stop complaining about the dumbing down of America when the daily, sole focus of every front page article in this paper appears to be to remove the current occupant of the White House.

  110. 110.

    Ruckus

    @JMG:

    This is not a game Republicans should want to play.

    It may not be one they should want to play, but it says loads about them that they are quite willing to do so in broad daylight. Nothing good mind you but then we are discussing republicans.

  112. 112.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @oatler.: So Sasse’s got a book coming out. Sounds like he’s getting on the self-help train.

    “Sasse’s new book argues that ‘Persistent loneliness’ reduces longevity 3x as much as obesity and…is as physically dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. ‘We’re literally dying of despair,’ of the failure ‘to fill the hole…’”

  116. 116.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @khead:

    Reading this paper, one would think Fred Trump is actively shuffling money around (he’s been dead nearly 20 years), Brett Kavanaugh is pumping iron and chugging beer (36 years ago), Albert Einstein is scribbling racist slurs about the Chinese (100 years ago), and Georgetown University is holding and selling slaves (200 years ago).

    So in other words, the past doesn’t matter. This is literally from 1984.

    Stop complaining about the dumbing down of America when the daily, sole focus of every front page article in this paper appears to be to remove the current occupant of the White House.

    Gee, maybe if the current occupant of the White House didn’t do so many outrageous and illegal/corrupt things than maybe the NYT wouldn’t give him such bad press all the time?

    Also, that’s so pathetic of the NYT so highlight this moron when he rips into them with such shitty logic.

  119. 119.

    JPL

    Daniel Dale is covering Trump’s rally again, and this is one of the latest tweets..

    Trump rambling about Democrats: “Da Nang Dick. Da Nang Dick. How ’bout Da Nang. Cory Booker. He ran Newark into the ground. Senator Dianne Feinstein.” There is a big boo for Feinstein. “How bout that. Seriously? Who thinks that Dianne Feinstein leaked the papers?”

    wtf President bone spurs is using da nang?

  120. 120.

    Kay

    Our canvassers are so nice! I really fall down in the snack department. Which he seems to know:

    Looks like we have to use some sunblock for tomorrow! Mostly sunny and 53 degrees. That sounds pretty good. I will be picking up a subway platter tomorrow morning so we would have some things for lunch or snacks and drinks like juices, pepsi or coke and waters. See you tomorrow morning at your office at 10:00 AM.

    Pepsi OR Coke. Because what if you;re one of those people who feel strongly about the difference? He’s got you covered.

  123. 123.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Anne Laurie: Whether Bernie Sanders was a Russian asset in 2016, that’s an open question.

    the question, as someone said about trump, is whether he was an asset of (witting) Russia, or just an asset to (unwitting) them.

    Tad Devine’s taxes might be very interesting to Mueller, as well

  124. 124.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @JPL:
    Uh… he did beat REL, Trumpy Dumpy. Lee signed the surrender papers to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, who ultimately answered to Lincoln.

  125. 125.

    JPL

    @JPL: More history by Trump

    Trump on Ulysses S. Grant: “He had a serious problem. A serious drinking problem. But man was he a good general. And he’s finally being recognized as a great general.”

  126. 126.

    JPL

    @JPL: lol
    Thank you Dale for following Trump so I don’t have to.

    Trump on Neil Armstrong planting the flag on the moon: “There was no kneeling, there was no nothing…there was no games. There was no games. BOOM. BOOM. Right, fellas?”

  127. 127.

    gene108

    @SFAW:

    I’m a little amazed we haven’t yet heard of them doing that.

    Like ending the filibuster for SCOTUS or invoking the “Biden Rule” for stonewalling Garlend, Republicans want to create a situation that forces Democrats to break protocol in response to Republicans trashing protocol, in the first place,

    And then using the Democratic response to further erode norms, in their quest for unlimited power.

  128. 128.

    Cheryl Rofer

  129. 129.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I like Coke. Pepsi’s too sweet. But I will eat or drink just about anything :)

    My daughter told me once “you like the herb-y sodas” which is true! I love ginger ale and root beer. I never thought of them as a special category.

  133. 133.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I can’t eat until I’m done working because I don’t really approve of eating while working. I don’t know how people do it. Finish then eat. Seems obvious to me. Why are they combining things?

    I’ll try to tamp down my inherent authoritarianism. I promise. Just go along to get along.

  135. 135.

    Ruckus

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:
    Any facts and history that fall out of shitgibbon’s mouth come from inside his head and that could best be described as a whirlwind of bullshit, lies and thin air. That they are backasswards, twisted into unrecognizable shape or out right wrong should be no surprise. shitgibbon lives in his own little world, it’s not like any other world and there really isn’t anyone else in it. Everyone else is a visitor to his world. I’d bet all the cells in his world are gold spray painted, to remind him that he shits gold, frankincense and myrrh because he’s the top of the heap, smartest man alive, has the biggest dick, and is the best looking. Nothing in the preceding is true, real or right, but that’s what is in his head. And everything that falls out of his mouth is effected by that stench of delusion and bullshit. And it’s gotten far worse, as would be expected by his advancing dementia.

  136. 136.

    Mnemosyne

    @gene108:

    the next time there is Democratic President and Republicans control the House, we will release the President’s tax returns and hold endless hearings on them.

    They already did that to Hillary Clinton. Empty threat.

  137. 137.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    I am guilty of doing that at work. There’s just too much to do.

    You’ll get over that. Just don’t dribble on the collateral materials.

  139. 139.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @JPL:
    Well, considering the bulkiness of the spacesuits they wore then and the moon’s low gravity, kneeling would have been difficult anyway. I remember footage from later missions where astronauts were seen having difficulty getting back up on their own without assistance.

  140. 140.

    Jay

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    Yup. US States however, manage the elections and voting process, so State by State the election process needs to be taken away from Politicians.

    There’s a lot of elected offices in the US that should not exist, now that Idiocracy is a How To instructable.

  141. 141.

    gene108

    @Ken Shabby:

    It’s really an unfortunate anomaly that Sherman limited himself to Atlanta to Savannah.

    Sherman was head of the army, during the Plains Wars of the 1870’s, which saw Native Americans forcibly stripped of lands, so white settlers could move west.

    He was a soldier, who did what he did to win a war. He wasn’t making a political statement.

  142. 142.

    Mnemosyne

    Also, don’t get me started on how pissed I continue to be that the MSM allowed both Sanders and Trump to weaponize Hillary’s tax returns while never bothering to release their own. They just gobbled up all of the “scoops” about Goldman Sachs speeches and used them as a club against her.

  143. 143.

    khead

    I know that no one here wants to be subjected to one of his rallies, but people really should go check out the portion starting with “Da Nang Dick. Da Nang Dick. How ’bout Da Nang” and ending with Neil Armstrong. See JPL above.

  144. 144.

    gene108

    @Mnemosyne:

    They already did that to Hillary Clinton. Empty threat.

    Where there is smoke there must be fire. Republicans have used there Congressional investigative powers to blow enough smoke that a good chunk of the population believes the targets of the investigations are guilty or both sides are equally corrupt.

    They’ve done plenty of harm.

  146. 146.

    Roger Moore

    @WereBear:

    Like Napoleon, Mueller is playing the long game.

    Napoleon was not noted for playing the long game, or at least not for playing it well. He was good at planning a single campaign, but he lacked a good long-term diplomatic strategy. That was why he kept winning battle after battle and campaign after campaign but never wound up with long-term peace.

  149. 149.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Mnemosyne:
    I made the mistake of catching Washington Week on PBS when channel flipping. All they kept doing was speculating about how Trump was going to come into certain races and single-handedly boost R turnout, how Trump was making the Midterms a referendum on himself to motivate his base and how Kavanaugh has potentially fired up the R base. They also expressed mild skepticism about the Dems core message about healthcare and how effective it would be.

    Oh and they called a Beto O’Rourke win a unicorn because only one poll ever showed him ahead and the media was in love with the idea of a Beto win. None of this was supported with hard data.

  151. 151.

    Amir Khalid

    @khead:
    For a moment I thought Trump was channeling Robin Williams as Adrian Cronauer in Good Morning Vietnam: “Da Nang me, Da Nang me, why don’t you get a rope and hang me?”

  152. 152.

    Roger Moore

    @gene108:

    Do the right thing to shed some light on Trump’s opaque finances and possible self dealing and conflicts of interest, and the next time there is Democratic President and Republicans control the House, we will release the President’s tax returns and hold endless hearings on them.

    That would be a more effective threat if the Republicans weren’t going to do that no matter what the Democrats do.

  153. 153.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JPL: And he’s finally being recognized as a great general.”

    Huh. I wonder why someone told trump about US Grant in the last three days

  156. 156.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Kay: In traditonal Indian households there are pretty strict rules about what you can do when you are eating. Having a meal without giving it your 100% attention is considered rude and frowned upon. I used to scoff at those rules but now I see the wisdom behind them.
    So much better than “multitasking” while eating.

  158. 158.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Roger Moore: When it comes down to it, he was a far better soldier than he was a ruler. And, if I am frank, his grand battery concept of artillery was outdated in its own time. The mobile horse gunners of the British army showed the direction that modern artillery would take. Shoot, move and communicate. //Resident gunner pedant mode

  166. 166.

    jc

    Are there actually Republicans who are saying: oh, no, please don’t release Trump’s tax forms. We really want them to remain hidden from the public. We really don’t want to know the truth. Anything but that. Really?

  168. 168.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: There are such things as professional fouls. I’ve taken a rugby player or seven down with a collar tackle when I was beaten. Cede a penalty to avoid a try? Any time, any day.

  170. 170.

    Mary G

    I commented on this plan to stifle protests in Washington DC yesterday, and there were only about 3,900 comments from the public. Monday is the last day!

    ALERT: The Trump administration has a plan to drastically curtail protests in DC, shutting down space in front of White House, charging massive fees, & banning stages & sound systems for rapid-response demonstrations. Deadline for comments? Monday, Oct 15: https://t.co/kCxYhMu8Rd— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) October 11, 2018

  175. 175.

    James E Powell

    @gene108:

    Republicans have used there Congressional investigative powers to blow enough smoke that a good chunk of the population believes the targets of the investigations are guilty or both sides are equally corrupt.

    The Republican could never have accomplished this without the NYT enthusiastically promoting every one of the faux-scandals the Republicans dreamed up.

    Question for the B-J commentariat: Trump and the crooks in his administration have more scandals than all other presidents combined, yet the press/media have yet to attach the “-gate” suffix to any of them. My argument is that this is evidence that the press/media just don’t care about any of Trump’s scandals or those of his administration.

    What say you all?

  179. 179.

    George

    @James E Powell: I’ll buy that argument.

    It’s all about normalization of aberrant behavior. As easy as it is to blame the media, although they are not the root cause of why America is where it is today, they surely are the reason. Their affection for both-siderism reveals their laziness and inability to understand what the GOP is trying to accomplish. Imagine if Obama had spent as much time lambasting the media as Trump has. Everything would be an XYZ-gate.

  181. 181.

    JR

    @WereBear: Napoleon isn’t really known for his “long game” is he? His biggest victories (Austerlitz, e.g.) were driven by risky tactical maneuvers that involved pushing his armies to their physical limits.

  184. 184.

    Jeffro

    #SameStandards

    – Merrick Garland denied even a hearing, much less a vote, while we were almost a year out from the presidential elections…
    – …yet, the Turtle is already ok with any SCOTUS appointments that Trumpov might need in 2019 or 2020
    – no need to talk to Trumpov about the Niger debacle where four of our soldiers were killed…
    – …yet Hillz was grilled for 11 hours(!) on Benghazi (one of the eight investigations, I might add: Niger = 0 investigations)
    – Trumpov excuses the Saudis’ killing/dismemberment of a Post journalist…
    – …yet, if Clinton or Obama was president and making money off of the Saudis and excusing them killing their opponents…hoo boy…

    #SameStandards

  186. 186.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @George: W’vevs.

    ETA: I went to college with a shitload of Chicago folks. I will dance on your graves anytime I can.

  187. 187.

    J R in WV

    @Anne Laurie:

    Whether Bernie Sanders was a Russian asset in 2016, that’s an open question.

    No, no, it isn’t an open question. I just look at the actions and the results. Who won, and who lost, and who worked towards which result.

    Bernard Sanders has been a Russian asset since before he was married. Long before I suspect. Since High School? Who knows when he was sold on Marxism? Who knows who sold him on Soviet Russia being a Marxist state? It wasn’t, ever, but so many people believed it was. Including Bernie Sanders.

  189. 189.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @Baud:

    When Pelosi becomes president after Trump’s and Pence’s impeachment indictment,trial, conviction and imprisonment.

    TFTY :-D

  193. 193.

    Aleta

    Simone Biles – Vault – 2018 World Team Selection Camp

    slow motion

    (Deadspin) Before this camp, Biles was competing a vault with the same entry—a roundoff onto the board and half turn onto the table—but with only one and a half twists off. This vault is called the Cheng, named for Cheng Fei of China who first performed it in 2005. The vault that Biles performed yesterday featured an extra half twist (for a total of two) so that Biles landed facing away from the vault table.

    This new vault means that in the less than 12 months that Biles has been back in the gym full-time—she resumed training in November of last year—she has upgraded her program from Rio on all four events.

    Before yesterday’s verification competition, this vault had only been performed by men. If Biles does it at the world championships, it will be named “the Biles.” She already has a skill named after her in the Code; the double layout-half on floor exercise is called “the Biles.”

  199. 199.

    randy khan

    @gene108:

    They are also signaling that payback is a bitch. Do the right thing to shed some light on Trump’s opaque finances and possible self dealing and conflicts of interest, and the next time there is Democratic President and Republicans control the House, we will release the President’s tax returns and hold endless hearings on them.

    But that’s kind of an empty threat, since the Democrats are not going to nominate someone who doesn’t release years worth of tax returns during the primaries.

  201. 201.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Omnes Omnibus: Lots of circumstantial evidence. All the anti-HRC memes cames were fed by Putin’s minions to leftier-than-thou purity ponies which were then weaponized in T’s favor in the fall campaign. I remember BS sitting pouty faced in the convention his face flushed red.

  209. 209.

    SFAW

    @Ruckus:

    How long is that line?

    Well, not to brag, but it probably stretches to efg’s hospital room. And I live north of the Mass ‘Pike.

  211. 211.

    StringOnAStick

    @Gin & Tonic: I saw your question about Patagonia. We started in El Chalten and did day hikes from there, then went to Chile and did the W trek. Argentina is super affordable right now though you run the risk of national strikes messing w with your travel plans. The Chilean portion has a lot more tourism infrastructure, including lodges in the park with a jumpin ‘ bar in the wilderness. No hiking after dark because of pumas.

    Trekking poles are highly, strongly advised as the trails are often steep and rocky, plus you need them to help you keep upright when it’s windy.

  212. 212.

    Gin & Tonic

    @StringOnAStick: Thanks for the response. We’ll probably end up heading down the Argentina side, because we have friends in BsAs where we’ll be at the beginning, and they have a place around Bariloche as well. My daughter and SIL were there two summers ago, but started from Punta Arenas.

  213. 213.

    VOR

    @George: There was an episode of the Simpsons where Mr. Burns got a physical. The doctor said he tested positive for every disease under the sun, but they were all fighting each other so none could break out and kill him. Trump has so many scandals, and they come so fast, that reporters can’t pause long enough to dig into any of them. The NYT spent a lot of time digging into that tax fraud story and it got lost in the crowd.

  215. 215.

    artem1s

    @Kathleen:

    Grant was born in Ohio, about an hour out of Cincy. Just a guess.

    whelp so was Sherman. the neo confederate revisionists have been bad mouthing the Ohio boys who kicked their butts for 150 years. Sherman’s response to those in the press who tried to paint him as a madman when he told Lincoln that it would take 4 years and 400K men to win the war – “Grant stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk, and now we stand by each other.”

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