Trump to citizens: none of your business
Trump won’t be releasing his tax records, because he’s better than you.
A top aide to Donald Trump said Wednesday that the Republican presidential nominee “will not be releasing” his taxes.“Mr. Trump has said that his taxes are under audit and he will not be releasing them,” Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort told “CBS This Morning.”
That “auditing” nonsense has nothing to do with it; it’s just code for he doesn’t want to plus fuck you.
Trump has pushed back in recent months on calls from Democrats and some Republicans, namely former GOP nominee Mitt Romney, to release his tax returns.
Conservative columnist George Will this week argued Trump doesn’t want to release his taxes because they show “he is deeply involved in dealing with Russia oligarchs.”
“So to be clear, Mr. Trump has no financial relationships with any Russian oligarchs?” CBS’s Norah O’Donnell asked Manafort.
“That’s what he said, that’s what I said,” Manafort responded. “That’s obviously what our position is.”
And why would we not take his word for it and what possible reason could he have to lie about it?
That is one hell of a squirrely answer.
“So you deny doing X?”
“Yes, denying that I did X is my answer.”
It’s not denying X, it’s stating that you have denied X.
Ophelia,
These are extracts from “The Interpreter”, a foreign policy magazine.
http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2016/07/27/Trump-Putin-and-information-warfare.aspx?
Theory 1
“Trump’s anti-immigration line, his muscular stance on ISIS, and his penchant for ‘simple’ solutions mean Russian audiences find him infinitely easier to relate to than Clinton or Obama. And while much of the Western media focus has been on Trump’s ability to stir up xenophobia, the Trump trade agenda is actually far to the left of the Democrats. A protectionist Trump presidency would seek to reverse the course of global trade liberalisation that has been the centrepiece of US foreign economic policy for decades. And his determination to seek a new deal for US allies, based on the view that if nations want US protection then they should pay for it, would result in hard choices across the global network of American security partners.”
Theory 2
“Since he was declared bankrupt, Trump has found it difficult to raise capital, which means that he has been forced to rely heavily on Russian financing. Much of the Trump SoHo development in Manhattan, for instance, was reportedly funded from Russia and Kazakhstan, but Trump’s refusal to release his tax records make establishing a direct link difficult. Carter Page, who is Trump’s main foreign policy advisor, has longstanding career ties to Gazprom. And Trump’s campaign director was previously in charge of communications for Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian Ukrainian President ousted in 2014.”
I’m a citizen of a small open trading nation, Trump’s protectionism is extremely alarming. US protectionism was a major factor in the Great Depression.