After Wednesday, anyone supporting Donald Trump should think twice after his less than ambiguous response to the Associated Press (AP) regarding his unwillingness to release his tax returns followed by his demeaning tweets aimed at Senator Elizabeth Warren.
First, in an interview with the AP, Trump said, "Now, I hope [the tax audit] gets finished soon. And if it gets finished soon, I put [the tax returns] out immediately because there's nothing there. But until you get finished, you won't."
In other words, no promises for a release before the election (later in the day he took to Twitter to clarify his statement, but managed to avoid promising a pre-election release). Keep in mind, the Internal Revenue Service has already released a statement indicating that there is nothing that would bar Trump from releasing his tax returns.
Contrary to Mr. Trump's assertion that "there's nothing there," there is a lot to glean from tax returns: Actual income (versus what you've claimed to be your income) and actual charitable contributions and who those contributions are going to (versus those charities/causes you claim to have been a mega donor to), however, more importantly, tax returns also tell the American people whether you've actually paid any taxes at all. Now, I'm no conspiracy theorist, but I have a feeling Trump's unwillingness to release his tax returns is somehow linked to a significantly lower or nearly nonexistent effective tax rate that would likely play poorly with his base. If that were the case, I'm sure Trump's lawyers would advise him to buy as much time as possible before having to explain this "yuge" misunderstanding to his followers.
Secondly, the tweets that Trump has been targeting at Senator Warren are an insult to democracy. When a candidate for President of the United States stoops down to the level of calling one of Washington's most successful and committed public servants "goofy," argues that she's using "the woman's card," and makes unfounded claims that, "she has done nothing," it's clear that he's completely uninformed. Unlike Donald's bombastic rhetoric regarding the Senator, here are some facts:
- Prior to her service in the U.S. Senate, Senator Warren was a professor of law at Harvard Law School.
- Even before being elected to the U.S. Senate she was a vocal advocate for consumer rights and one of the main voices calling for the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (a resource I have used to effectively fight my federal student loan servicer a number of times).
- As a Senator, Warren has been working tirelessly to bring common sense to the federal student loan program, so as to free college graduates from the crippling debt that accumulates throughout undergraduate and graduate studies.
- In the Senate, Warren has sponsored an array of legislation that would help every day Americans -- ranging from a 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act to reign in the banks to legislation that would expand access to mental health services, she has championed legislation for middle class families. GovTrack offers a useful summary of all of the legislation Senator Warren has sponsored.
Perhaps most inspiring, and unlike Mr. Trump, Senator Warren has truly lived the American dream from humble beginnings. Warren was born into a poor family in Oklahoma struck by the tragic death of her father when she was only 12. She went on to become one of the nation's most respected law professors and a United States Senator. In short, when she speaks about the plight facing low and middle income Americans, she speaks from experience not from the penthouse of Trump Tower.
In short, if you want to support Donald Trump, fine, however, I hope you realize that you're supporting someone who refuses to release his tax returns - a tradition of transparency that every candidate for president in modern history has followed - and perhaps more troubling, instead of taking part in meaningful dialogue about the future of our country, Trump is more comfortable spouting off insults at anyone who challenges him to put forward concrete policy solutions rather than hollow one-liners that merely excite his base.
The day showmanship wins a presidential election is the day democracy dies and fascism rises (and, believe me, it takes a lot for someone who teaches political science to write that!).