- Trump is a terrible businessman. Most of his businesses lose money
- Most of his existing wealth came from the Apprentice TV Show, distributions from an existing trust fund and other means from his inheritance
- He doesn’t pay his fair share of taxes
- He held foreign bank accounts throughout his presidency in multiple countries including China and Turkey
- His federal tax returns declared negative income in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2020, and that he paid a total of $1,500 in income taxes for the years 2016 and 2017
- On their 2020 income tax returns, Trump and his wife Melania paid no federal income taxes and claimed a refund of $5.47 million, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
- Undocumented claims of $506,000 in charitable donations in 2019
- The returns indicate years of negative income
- In their 2020 income tax returns, Trump and his wife Melania paid no federal income taxes and claimed a refund of $5.47 million, according to the report by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation.
Claims of being a brilliant, skilled profitable businessman based on his financial acumen have been destroyed by the release of his taxes. The returns read like the resume of a failure. It reads like a narrative of a failed businessman, a successful liar, and a trust fund baby. Do Trump supporters now understand why he was hiding his taxes? Do they see that his scamming them is about continuing to secure their vote and their donations and convincing them he is a winner, not a loser? The taxes expose him as clever¹ in getting away with opposing the rule of law and the Constitution. The returns represent the financial version of his pervasive pattern of breaking laws and violating the ethical standards of a democracy.
Add his tax evasion schemes to the ” big lie”, the insurrection he incited and enjoyed, the fake electors scheme, election interference, the Trump Organization conviction of fraudulent business practices, obstruction of justice, witness intimidation, and the stolen classified documents stored at Mara-a- Lago and what you have is a criminal con man who corrupted and fooled the Republican party and its electorate.
Democracy is on a roll! Insurrectionists are being convicted, grand juries are convening to force obstructionists to testify, judges are ruling against election deniers and Trump’s expensive abuse of the court system is branding him as a big loser in his schemes to destroy democracy. However, he is the winner of the most successful grift of all time against millions of members of a political party. However, democracy is winning as there is no way to for him to claim he didn’t steal the classified documents from the White House. He admitted he took them because he said they belonged to him.There is no way he can claim he didn’t ask Brad Rathensberger to find just enough votes to change the Georgia election results. He said it on tape. There is no way he can claim he watched democracy being violently attacked and tried to stop it. He watched the attack for 187 minutes and took no action to stop it.Finally, he can no longer claim he is a successful businessman because his taxes reflect most of his business lose money. Hundreds of millions in inheritance, a reality TV show, not paying bills and taxes and grifting donors is why Trump has money. His supporters must get over the humiliation of being duped and pick a new candidate.
