Opinion: Trump’s tax return scam has taken yet another turn
By Paul Waldman Paul Waldman Opinion writer covering politics Email Bio Follow Opinion writer April 8 at 12:26 PM While the best con is one in which the victim never even realizes they got scammed, that can seldom be guaranteed. So the con artist needs a final argument to make to their mark if they get confronted, and the one they often use goes as follows: Sure, I conned you. But this is your fault. You were dumb enough to believe me. Now get lost, sucker.
Indeed, there has never in American history been a president for whom it was more important that the public learn the full details of their finances. But now that Democrats in Congress have made a formal demand to the IRS for six years of Trump's returns as allowed by a law passed in 1924, Trump and his allies are saying to the public: You were dumb enough to believe me when I said I'd show you the returns? That's your own fault.
Before we go any farther, let’s remind ourselves that if Trump’s tax returns showed nothing more than that he is a shrewd and wealthy businessman, he’d have posted them on billboards all over Manhattan. The fact that he is so determined to keep them secret is evidence that they contain information that when fully investigated will be scandalous at a minimum, and perhaps even criminal.
The idea that if the president won he gets a blanket immunity for anything that came up during the election is ludicrous. Meanwhile, the “I can’t release the returns because I’m being audited” excuse was always a lie. The IRS doesn’t forbid anyone from making their returns public if they’re being audited.
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