So, basically, she has nothing

[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.