So, basically, she has nothing

[LibraLiz1973]

And she's going to spend the entire hour talking about how important it is that he release all of his returns.

Blah blah blah.

This isn't a story.

[mnmoderatedem]

1. Rachel's been on fire lately

but if this is all she has, this is monumentally disappointing.

[dixiegrrrrl]

32. Twitter agrees with you....many WTF??? comments. n/t

[pat_k]

50. It all went down in a very predictable way that benefits DT.

It wouldn't have mattered who went public with the leak of the 1040. The "hype" was inevitable. As was the "nothing to see here" let down.

We'll never know, but this is definitely the sort of thing DT would pull (leaking the 1040 without schedules).

1. He knows such a "leak' -- even without schedules -- would get the spotlight (And he helped shine that light with his "Rachel is a criminal" press release).

2. He knows that a 1040 without schedules says very little, and so any bruhaha would be seen as "overblown." (And I would guess that 2005 paints a "better" picture for Trump that any other return in the past couple decades.)

3. He knows this would get coded in the public mind as a "Tax return release event" that ended up with "nothing to see here" It sets up the expectation that if other returns are ever released, those 'release events" will also end with "nothing to see here." Of course, this was not actually a "Tax return release event" because it didn't include schedules, but that doesn't stop our brains from generalizing. It's what our brains do.

Rachel could have handled it differently, or somebody else on some other network could have "run with it." The outcome would have been the same. If she hadn't posted the teaser tweet, DT would still have "gotten word" and issued the press release to generate hype. It would have unfolded in the same way.

[leftstreet]

2. Was there anything different from what was already out there?

This article is a year old

https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-got-a-big-break-on-2005-taxes-1458249902


By Richard Rubin

Biography
@RichardRubinDC
[email protected]

March 17, 2016 5:25 p.m. ET
137 COMMENTS

Donald Trump was able to deduct $39.1 million from his 2005 federal income taxes by pledging not to build houses on a New Jersey golf course he owns, according to public records.

An appraisal conducted for the 2005 transaction determined that Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. was worth $49.5 million if it could be split into 33 estates, but just $10.4 million as a golf course. Tax law lets property owners impose permanent conservation restrictions and then claim charitable deductions for the reduction in value. Those restrictions curb what future owners may do with a property.

In 2005, according to the Internal Revenue Service, 2,186 taxpayers claimed so-called conservation easements for a total of $1.8 billion. That means Mr. Trump’s $39.1 million would have represented about 2% of all such deductions nationwide that year.

Mr. Trump, now the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, subsequently built a second golf course on the property, which once belonged to automobile executive John DeLorean. He said last year in his federal financial disclosure that the property was worth more than $50 million.

[still_one]

29. Exactly, it is bullshit, and might actually do more damage because of the

lack of substance

[TomJulie]

58. I agree still_one...

What a crock of crap. She'll be the laughing stock all over the world after this and we'll be caught in the middle. Certainly, does our side a big disservice.

[scheming daemons]

3. Big let down. Rachel blew it.

...and people won't take her teases seriously ever again.

[Hamlette]

6. agree, when I heard 2 pages from 2005 I thought "haven't we seen this all before"?

hurts her credibility. Hopefully Larry doesn't fall for it.

[uponit7771]

7. nnnnnnn, I'll take them seriously all the time... but they should've gotten the bigger story

... before breaking this like they did.

[babylonsister]

17. We all have opinions.

I think she's educating those that might not have been prior to this.

[pat_k]

53. Even without the "teaser," or even if someone else had "taken it public"...

...things would have unfolded the same way.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=8793397

[tinrobot]

57. Ever again? That's sure some hyperbole.

She had an off night. Big deal.

She's still got tons of credibility.

[oberliner]

4. Yep

It was a BS tease to get people to watch her show.

[uponit7771]

5. yeap, the 1040 is basically just a summary... the schedules are needed for right off details

[manicraven]

8. Wow, what a huge let down. Next time she does this, I won't believe her. Kind of like

the little boy who cried wolf.

[retrowire]

9. Mmm but she got those SWEET SWEET

RATINGS

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. David Cay Johnson is talking about how the figures were arrived at,

Last edited Tue Mar 14, 2017, 10:07 PM - Edit history (1)

talking about the alternative minimum tax - Still need to know what the sources were. Johnson speculates that Trump released these two pages himself because he's done that before. (Could have been to prove he actually did pay tax?)

[ClusterFreak]

11. So it's his 1040 form and a couple of empty wine bottles...

....in Al Capone's vault.

Is that about it?

Just checking.

[QC]

12. I'm having a flashback to Al Capone's Vault.

Anybody else remember that?

[bullwinkle428]

16. DAMMIT!!! I wanted to be the first up with that reference!

[QC]

27. LOL! I was in college then. My fraternity watched it together,

and we got angrier and angrier (and drunker) as the show wore on for hours.

[Pacifist Patriot]

34. Not even close

[ananda]

13. Not nothing exactly.

It shows why 45 wants to eliminate the alternative minimum tax,
which would put a more onerous tax burden on the working class
including the poor.

[Motownman78]

22. But, ever since last year

we knew about his low effective tax rate.

[BannonsLiver]

14. "Like, this is is so boring, put on The Voice1!"

[Takket]

15. i wonder if she was set up

she gets this info, goes to air with it, has basically nothing, the GOP is going to try to "Al Capone's vault" and ruin her now.

[regnaD kciN]

59. In which case, a Rhodes Scholar like RM should have looked at the returns...

...and determine (or have an accountant/tax attorney determine for her) if there was any there there before hyping the story.

Maybe she got good ratings for the night, but the hit to her -- and our -- reputation is unlikely to make it worth it in the long run.

[Motownman78]

18. She is a yellow journalist

like the rest of the media. All they care about is ratings. Want hones reporting, go outside of the USA.

[BannonsLiver]

44. How's the weather in Moldovia?

You like American rock 'n roll?

Blue jeans? Levi's?

[Generic Brad]

19. She is being played by Trump

He is obviously the source of this leak. This has created excessive chatter over a lot of smoke and no fire.

This tells me that the White House is aware of something larger and actually incriminating about to break. Trump is trying to get us to fixate on this piece of nothing to distract us from the actual something that will be reported tomorrow. I have no idea what that would be, but my gut tells me not to trust this at all.

[Juliusseizure]

43. Agree

[pat_k]

55. Hope you are right about "something larger..." on the horizon.

And I agree. We'll never know, but this has all the hallmarks of a "modified limited hangout."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=8793397

[radical noodle]

20. This is to get voters more

interested in seeing the rest of his tax returns, and also to tell whoever released these two pages that they need the rest of it.

[lindysalsagal]

21. She's making this story scream cover-up. She's going to save us all from Russian mobsters.

This all drags GOP Congress members into the gray. This is all good. I love, love, love this very brave woman.

[Fearless]

23. They only thing this will do is move the conversation along

But this isn't a bombshell anything.

[Pacifist Patriot]

24. The story is...

Not these two pages. The story is "What is he hiding and why everyone should care." The two pages are an excellent opportunity to raise awareness, doubts, and sow discord.

And to encourage anyone with access to go ahead and leak more. She knows what she's doing. This isn't analogous to Capone's vault.

[oberliner]

30. But the tease was that she had Trump's tax returns

And she basically has nothing of interest on that score.

[GWC58]

25. So, what Rachel is saying is

Trump must release his taxes!?! Wow! I guess we should've asked sooner. That is, by the way, sarcasm. I'll still watch her, though.

[Stuart G]

26. ....blah..blah...blah....

[babylonsister]

28. If there is no there there, the

swiftness of dt's response (calling the returns being released illegal) disputes that.

[HipChick]

33. Agree

[Pacifist Patriot]

36. I agree as well.

I can understand the disappointment, but this feels like it has the potential to end up being a brilliant journalism judo move. A lot of subtext in the way this story is bring delivered.

Wasn't it Miles Davis who said something like, "don't play what's there, play what's not there." She is definitely playing what is not there.

[Juliusseizure]

39. I disagree

I think this was a setup. The pages are harmless, from before he got involved with Russia. Only 3 pages. No sources given.

I guarantee he'll shove it back at MSNBC's face, put them on the defensivd, blame liberals for theft, call it a a witchhunt, maybe call for an investigation, fire the IRS head, use it to show there's nothing to hide.

If there was anything harmful, I'd agree. There ain't shit.

[progressoid]

56. How so?

Most of his tweets are delusional ravings. They aren't evidence of anything; except perhaps an obsession with conspiracies and Kristin Stewart.

[exboyfil]

31. Weird Al

Al Capone's glove box

What is in it

"Roadmaps"

[Juliusseizure]

35. Overhyped turd

Not her best moment. Her tweet said tax returns plural. It's not. O'Donnell said it's what we've been waiting for. It's not. This is deflating. Journalism used to be a lor more honest than this.

[dubyadiprecession]

37. At least Rachel is doing something.

We need to keep the pressure up on trump for his current tax returns. The last one that came out was from 1995, this new one is 2005. We are getting closer to his 2016 return!

[chillfactor]

38. oh for pete's sake...

I thought that DUers were more intelligent then the scrap I see posted here in this thread. What in the hell did you all expect? It will come drip, by drip, by drip.....god you have no patience.

[greytdemocrat]

40. Maybe...

You should PM Rachel with that.

She looks the fool.

[babylonsister]

42. Yea. And maybe you will look like that tomorrow.

Patience. Maybe releasing taxes will become normal and everyone will do it!

[babylonsister]

41. Hahaha!

It takes time and this is breakneck speed for politics!

[LompocDem]

48. Cleansing the documents of Bush the lesser...

..was a piece of cake compared to the copies of the ShitFaceGibbon's paper trail. I remember a post by someone who had connects with the IC community where their source said that he 'would die in prison'. I believe this but shudder at the reaction from the armed deplorable elements when they become proactive. This is a domestic security threat beyond anything George Orwell could have imagined in '49.

[regnaD kciN]

60. It may well come drip-by-drip...

... but what happened tonight is likely to mean there are going to have to be a hell of a lot more drips before anyone takes notice of it again. For the foreseeable future, stories about "Trump's taxes!!!" are likely to generate a collective eye-roll.

[Quixote1818]

45. I have been trying to see how this helps us and it just doesn't

If anything it hurts us because he can now say he released his taxes and a shit load of people will buy it.

[sharedvalues]

46. Heer Jeet explains why Rachel's show tonight is good

Starting here

Link to tweet

[Kimchijeon]

47. Oh well

That's why I don't bother watching her, just blah blah blah GET TO THE POINT ugh. And so often much ado about nothing. Rather spend a couple seconds to read what she takes painfully long to yammer about. No offense, I know lots of fans here love her delivery, I don't.

[LompocDem]

51. She weaves a story...

...sometimes it takes a while to get other journalists to ask the questions she exposes. IMO, that is why she has skyrocketed in ratings lately. The 'mainstream media' is waking up and taking notice of her shows content and new popularity with her access to information given exclusively to her. Even if this was a leak from the White house of 'ShitFaceGibbon' they likely miscalculated the numerous patriots who have detailed tax info on him outside of the government. I remember where I was when Nixon resigned. I knew little of the circumstances other that my vote against him in '72 was swayed by graffiti on a wall at a house we called the 'Zoo'. It said "Why change Dicks in the middle of a screw, vote for Nixon in '72'. Fortunately my draft number in '71 was 236.

[Quixote1818]

49. "Trump Pays His Taxes" is everywhere on every comment section about this story

Trump won this round big time.

[Warpy]

52. The story here is that they had to go back 11 years to find one with no Russians in it

Shady real estate deals started in 2006, picked up the pace in 2008, and culminated in a $10 million fine over "long stnading and significant" money laundering at his casinos in 2015.

It's amazing how much of this stuff didn't come out during the campaign, the press was too busy writing puff pieces and hanging on his every word.

It's another example of why the DNC had better start brainstorming NOW on how to engage all the energy at the grassroots, where people are mad as hell and want to RESIST this gang of criminals. They can't expect a fucking thing from corporate media.

https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-fines-trump-taj-mahal-casino-resort-10-million-significant-and-long

[malchickiwick]

54. The grift continues. Today, Rachel (and her audience) was the mark.

I feel pretty confident that the orange turd himself "leaked" these pages.