“The FBI is after me. The CIA is after me. The SPCA is after me about some horse thing.” — SNL version of Vito Coreleone in the Godfather.
Al Capone was famously taken down for income tax evasion. It’s still staggering to think after all he did, it was taxes that brought him down. The NY Times managed to get their hands on Trump’s tax returns for a fifteen year period prior to his ascendency to the presidency. Supposedly, he paid as little as $750 in some years and zero in ten of them.
Here’s the thing. We already knew that. If we didn’t really KNOW it we certainly would have GUESSED it. He told us as much during the 2016 campaign. He announced it during one of the debates. He said it made him smart. See, only suckers and losers pay their taxes.
I actually am beginning to see what the MAGA crowd sees. They call all of this stuff fake news and after awhile I kind of see their point. How could anyone really be this evil? How could a guy assault all those women, stiff all those contractors, cheat on his taxes, and launder money for the Russians all at the same time? Heck, if you believe all the reporting he also dabbled in pedophelia on the side.
Then, there is the fraud he committed at his casinos, Trump University, and the Trump Foundation. The guy even cheats at golf. He drove his cart on the green and parked there. He insulted soldiers and Gold Star families. He made fun of a disabled reporter and a special needs 17 year old girl that wanted us to do more to fight climate change. He shoved the president of Montenegro out of the way and openly insulted our allies around the world. He loves dictators and apparently loves Vladmir Putin.
It’s an endless avalanche of crap. While I understand MAGA’s collective response I certainly can’t condone it. Even if only one-tenth of it is all true then he still has no business being near the White House. He doesn’t even deserve a tour. Much of what has been reported actually is against the law. He really belongs in jail. For how long depends on how much you really want to dig. I don’t know that there is a bottom here.
In basic Economics we teach the laws of marginal utility and diminishing returns. There can be no greater example than the coverage of Trump. I’m tired. I think most of us are exhausted. I guess it’s hard to blame 24 hour news. They need to make a buck and I’m sure most of them feel it is their duty to keep us informed of every illegal act he’s committed. So, they play every discovery as if it is the scandal that will bring down his presidency. I get it. Normally it would. We passed normal about five years ago when he came down the escalator.
When you watch Trump you feel like you’re watching a cross between a Bond villain, your drunk, racist uncle, with all of the effectiveness and complexity of Elmer Fudd. He’s like a ten year old giving a book report on the book he blew off. He rambles on using a string of English words that sound like something Alexa might say if one of her circuits misfired. Yet, the MAGA folks are convinced this troglodyte will somehow trounce Joe Biden in a debate. It went from funny, to pathetic, to frightening really quick.
In the backdrop, we are stuck in the cycle of, “did you hear what happened today?” Sure. He’s a crook. He’s an idiot. He’s a racist. He’d be a successful fascist if he weren’t so intellectually deficient. We must find a balance. We must find a balance between keeping watch over our democracy and obsessing over every little stupid thing he’s done today. He does stupid stuff everyday. It’s exhausting.
halloffameindex 