In the past two weeks, there has been a notable difference in responses by President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and President-elect Joe Biden’s son Hunter in their public announcements about governmental investigations being conducted about each them regarding the paying of taxes. With Ivanka, the New York state investigation is about her being paid by her father’s Trump Organization for large, and thus questionable, consulting fees the Organization had written off as expenses on its tax returns. With Hunter, the federal investigation of him concerns his own personal income tax returns.
There is also the issue of whether or not these two investigations of Ivanka Kushner and Hunter Biden are politically motivated. But to keep this post brief, I won’t open that can of worms.
Ivanka’s response was to publicly attack the IRS for its investigation of her, alleging it is “harassment, pure and simple.” Hunter’s response was of no such kind; rather, he merely addressed the allegation, claiming he handled his taxes “legally and appropriately.”
If you were accused of wrongdoing, and you didn’t do it, what would your response be? I know what mine would be: I would immediately claim I didn’t do it. Put another way, I would first of all deny the charge. I think that would be the natural response. I also think the first response one makes to an allegation can be significant. That is, to immediately avoid denying the charge, and instead to attack one’s accuser, more likely suggests that person is guilty of the alleged wrongdoing. What do you think?
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