Giuliani and Christie celebrate Trump for losing nearly a billion dollars and not paying taxes
Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.” He liked paying taxes; with them, he argued, he helped build the nation. This is clearly not the view of Donald Trump, who, when confronted by Hillary Clinton during their first debate on the likelihood of his not having paid taxes, responded: […]
This is clearly not the view of Donald Trump, who, when confronted by Hillary Clinton during their first debate on the likelihood of his not having paid taxes, responded: “That makes me smart.”
Days after that exchange, this happened:
https://twitter.com/gdebenedetti/status/782387438954094592
Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie hit the Sunday shows to spin this New York Times bombshell.
Giuliani’s primary talking point was that Trump is not merely “smart” for avoiding paying federal taxes, but “a genius.”
https://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/782608747961122822
He called Trump “a genius” again during an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN (while tacitly conceding Trump hasn’t paid taxes): “The reality is, this is part of our tax code. The man’s a genius. He knows how to operate the tax code.”
Tapper responded by asking the obvious question: If avoiding taxes makes Trump a genius, doesn’t that imply the rest of us who do pay our fair share of taxes are stupid?
Rudy Giuliani says Donald Trump is "a genius" for not paying taxes https://t.co/Ev8moEK0Um https://t.co/pP51MC9ZNQ
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 2, 2016
That is the clear implication, in spite of Giuliani’s denial. Further, it makes Trump one of the 50 percent of freeloaders he himself asserted that taxpayers can’t continue to carry.
Meanwhile, over on Fox News with Chris Wallace, Christie made the mind-boggling claim that the tax issue is “a very, very good story for Donald Trump.”
Christie: @nytimes story is actually "very very good" for Trump. Then says but maybe it isn't true. If good, confirmpic.twitter.com/2f0Hrn9dPa
— RiotWomenn (@riotwomennn) October 2, 2016
Not sure how that works out as a “very, very good story,” as opposed to yet another reason that Trump needs to produce his tax returns.
This level of spin is dizzying. Expect it to get worse in the closing weeks of the campaign.
Recommended
GOP Gov. Joe Lombardo funded candidates tied to racist remarks
Lombardo’s involvement in downballot races was unusual for a sitting governor.
By Jesse Valentine - December 12, 2024
Judge orders people removed from voter rolls to be reinstated, Gov. Youngkin to seek appeal
On Friday morning, a federal judge ruled in favor of plaintiffs challenging a Virginia program that has removed over 1,600 people from voter rolls since August, following an executive order by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. This means that people can be reinstated on voter rolls for the time being.
By Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury - October 25, 2024
Republican Kelly Ayotte’s record shows strong opposition to public school funding
Ayotte voted on multiple occasions to cut financial aid for low-income students.
By Jesse Valentine - October 23, 2024
