Trump’s Birtherism Backfires

Trump’s Birtherism Backfires September 28, 2016

Democratic U.S. President Barak Obama has always claimed that he was born in Hawaii and thus is qualified as a natural-born U.S. citizen to be its president. But non-politician and billionaire businessman Donald Trump surged to political prominence, and then gained the Republican nomination for U.S. president this summer, largely because he constantly alleged that Obama was born elsewhere and thus should produce his birth certificate to prove his legitimacy as president. President Obama let too much time pass until Hawaii officials produced his birth certificate. Yet Trump kept up the allegation afterwards for many months until he said only days ago that he now accepts it as fact that Obama is a natural-born U.S. citizen. Yet he never apologized for his constant proliferation of this misinformation about a sitting U.S. president. I think that in itself is most disgraceful. Trump lives in his own world. He just expects that the rest of us should, as they say in his home state of New York, “fuggetaboutit.”

Trump also had been saying that Democratic nominee for U.S. president Hilary Clinton–Trump’s sole opponent with a few weeks left until the national election on November 8th–had made the same charge against Barak Obama when they vied as opponents for the Democratic nomination for U.S. president in 2008. But all the fact-checking organizations claim that is a total fabrication. Plus, Trump has never produced evidence to prove this allegation. This issue surfaced last night in the first of three televised debates between Clinton and Trump. Moderator Lester Holt set the record right by telling Trump he was wrong about it. As so often, Trump didn’t accept being told he was wrong. During the debate, Hilary tossed a zinger at the Trumpster by saying, “Donald, you live in your own fantasy world,” or words to that effect.

Mrs. Clinton really pressed Trump on his refusal to make public his income tax returns of recent years. For the past forty years, all candidates for U.S. president did that. But Trump has claimed that he is presently being audited by the IRS, and you shouldn’t make public your tax returns while being audited. He also claims the IRS has audited him each of the past several years, so that the last time he publicly divulged his tax return was 2008. Yet some people who are or have been IRA officials claim it is not necessary to withhold such information while being audited. Then in the debate, Hilary told Donald the obvious and plain truth, that his failure to make public his recent tax returns looks like he has something to hide.

The Trump train is rolling down the tracks mostly on the The Donald’s constant assertion that he is for the middle class and people who don’t make much money. He says he is going bring back jobs to America. But a lot of hard-working Americans who have to pay their income taxes every year would become pretty upset with the blustery billionaire if they learned he has not paid any federal income taxes for maybe 20-25 years, yet he makes so much money.

Last night in the debate, Hilary Clinton told Donald Trump it looks like he hasn’t paid federal income taxes for many years. Trump interrupted her and said, “That means I’m smart.” That remark appeared as a gaffe, an admission that Hilary was right. That won’t set well with a lot of taxpayers. I don’t care if he didn’t do anything illegal; such a person should not become U.S. president.

Months ago, Newsweek magazine asked the Trump campaign to produce a letter that everyone gets from the IRS that informs them they are being audited. The Trump campaign refused to reveal such a letter and merely replied by saying a letter from Trump’s lawyer about the audit could be viewed on their website. But that letter reportedly says nothing about an “audit.”

Lawrence O’Donnell is a political analyst and host of The Last Word television program that appears Monday through Thursday nights on prime time on MSNBC. He has been alleging for months that Donald Trump is lying about this, that the IRS is not auditing him. In March this year, O’Donnell had former IRS director Mark Everson on his program. He asked him if Trump is being audited. Everson said a regulation prevents the IRS from divulging if any U.S. citizen is being audited. And current IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said some time ago on C-SPAN that it is very rare for an individual to be audited successive years.

Trump’s lawyers say he has “sole proprietorships” in some 500 different entities, making his personal tax returns “inordinately large and complex.” But one former IRS official said the public could know a lot if Donald Trump only produced the first two pages on his federal tax returns. Actually, we all should have thought of that. They summarize all of the return’s data, show your taxable income, and state the amount of tax you have to pay.

So, Donald Trump refusing to make public his income tax returns is similar to President Obama going for a while without making public his birth certificate. I think he did that because he felt so insulted. But then it finally happened. Will Trump do the same? For the good of the country’s electorate, if he really wants to Make America Great Again, he needs to do it before November 8th. If not, Trump’s birtherism is backfiring on him and he could be found to be only trying to Make Trump Great Again.

Donald Trump is so critical, so judgmental, and a braggart. We all need to memorize a certain statement Jesus made in his Sermon on the Mount; but The Donald needs to do like Orthodox Jews and wear it on his forehead. (But I don’t think his Orthodox Jewish son-in-law could get him to wear a kippah; it would mess up his hair.) Jesus said, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged” (Matthew 7.1). He added, “For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye” (Matt. 7.2-5 NRSV).

Is Trump lying about being audited? It appears he is not going to make public his recent tax returns before election day. As I said in my last post, he has accused several of his opponents in this race to the White House of lying; but it’s The Donald who fact-checkers have proved is the biggest liar by far. If the bully Trumpster is lying about this, that the IRS is not currently auditing him and he is really hiding some stuff that would make him look pretty bad, and we the public ever find out about it, even after the election, which is most unlikely, the name Donald Trump will forever be absolute mud in the land of the free and the brave.


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