Donald Trump may have gotten the best of MSNBC last week when one of the news network’s finance reporters received a copy of the President’s 2005 tax return in his mailbox. The reporter who received Trump’s tax return, David Cay Johnston, believes that the president himself sent the documents to him to serve as a distraction from the “Russian” issue.
This reveals MSNBC’s desperation and is very telling. First, the Russian spy accusations have been completely eclipsed by the Vault 7 document released by WikiLeaks which show that the CIA hacked the DNC- and not the Russians, (and certainly not Trump’s associates), in an attempt to help Trump take the White House.
It’s desperate because only people who get their news from mainstream sources might be fooled by the claim, and it’s telling because it shows that MSNBC doesn’t mind playing to those who are least well informed.
But it gets better.
Aside from showing that Trump was fully compliant with tax law before becoming president, the tax forms Maddow held up before the camera while the blood drained from her face show that Donald Trump paid a higher percent of his income in taxes than either Bernie Sanders or Barack Obama.
The documents show that Trump was one of the world’s most successful businessmen, with a responsibility to pay no more taxes than legally necessary in order to take care of his family, company, and employees.
Mr. Trump paid $38 million in taxes in 2005 after taking account for large depreciations in his construction projects, his income, and after paying tens of millions in sales, excise, and employment taxes. The documents, illegally published, by MSNBC, prove all of this.
But wait, it gets better still.
While David Cay Johnston’s outrageous claim that the documents may have been intentionally planted by the Trump Administration does seem to be a stretch- it is really not beyond possibility.
Many pundits have speculated that Trump may have timed the wiretapping tweet he sent on March the 4th, days before the Vault 7 WikiLeak dump, to give the media time to accuse him of lying. This would make the media appear foolish and unhinged as the Vault 7 dump would prove them wrong.
If Trump did send his tax forms to Rachael Maddow’s coworker, then he may have done it for similar reasons. It has been said that Trump’s opponents in the media can never resist the temptation to lash out- even if it is premature, or if it hurts them. Maddow’s insistence on showing the tax documents, which make Trump look like a law abiding and generous businessman, makes her look childish, petty, and disconnected.
Why didn’t she look at the forms, recognize that they don’t help her make a case against the President, and quietly set them aside? If you ask former Washington insider Roger Stone, it’s because liberalism is a mental illness. Maddow simply could not help but shoot herself, and her network, in the foot.
Is this Donald Trump expertly trolling the main stream media? Possibly.
Consider that during the campaign, Trump showed his mastery over the media numerous times. On one particularly glorious occasion, he arranged a meeting of military, police, and firefighters to come to a press conference. He advertised the event simply as a press conference. When the adversarial media showed up, they were not allowed to ask questions, instead- they were forced to document the praise that the veterans and service people heaped on the candidate.
Naturally, the media did not report on the event- because they had been duped. But news of it got out through social media, and the press was left with egg on their faces.
If Trump did indeed set up the tax forms and the wiretapping tweet to show how dishonest the media is- and to reveal the criminality or his political opponents- then he has acted brilliantly. If Johnston’s claim is correct, it is a victory for Trump- not a demerit.
Even as Johnston tables the supposition that Trump may have set him up, he does not appear to realize that it makes his network look foolish while revealing the President as a brilliant media tactician. It reminds us of the Bible verse, “No weapon formed against him will prosper.”
But finally, the one most delicious detail about the Trump tax forms, is that they were 1040s, a simplified version of what would be a very complex filing and nothing near the full dossier.
But don’t ask Rachael Maddow to notice a detail like that with all that egg on her face.
~ Wealth Authority
