President 'The Donald' Trump and Surprising Consequences - Mod warning in OP

Christy42

ligerdub wrote: »

For months we've heard baseless rubbish that he's not paid taxes in 20 years, and his records are probably full of proof of supposed links to the Russian government.........then one of his most vocal opponents leaks his returns (probably illegally), and totally blows all that out of the water......brilliant! Not only that, but he ended up paying at a higher rate than their great idols for that period!

Great job guys, that was hilarious!

As I say, it's time to stop assuming.

What has been blown out of the water? He paid taxes in one out of the last 20 and did not have dealings with the Russians 20 years ago. Eve at that he is trying to get rid of the law that made him pay a half decent level of tax.

Now if he released his full returns we might have some proof of his innocence here...

relax carry on

Are US politicians required to disclose their tax returns or is it just Presidents?

Christy42

relax carry on wrote: »

Are US politicians required to disclose their tax returns or is it just Presidents?

Presidents are not required. It is however incredibly unusual for them not to. Think Ford was the last candidate of a major party not to and that was about 40 years ago.

relax carry on

Christy42 wrote: »

Presidents are not required. It is however incredibly unusual for them not to. Think Ford was the last candidate of a major party not to and that was about 40 years ago.

So if it's been the practice in the last 40 years, why is Trump seemingly against it? It's a great transparency mechanism.

Christy42

relax carry on wrote: »

So if it's been the practice in the last 40 years, why is Trump seemingly against it? It's a great transparency mechanism.

That is a question many have been asking. Trump has repeatedly lied about the why (saying he can't as he is under audit, this is a lie). Avoiding a great transparency mechanism is rather suspicious. Especially with serious investigations as to whether or not he or members of his team have been compromised.

Itssoeasy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCF4Pk-rV7I

Well ball back in your court mr president.

Call Me Jimmy

Is there anything to be said for having another rally?

Pete29

ligerdub wrote: »

It really is hilarious some of the stuff that has been leveled at him. Good man Pete.

You didn't answer the question.

Peregrinus

relax carry on wrote: »

So if it's been the practice in the last 40 years, why is Trump seemingly against it? It's a great transparency mechanism.

Well, in the great Trump tradition he's not openly against it. Throughout the campaign he said he'd like to release his tax returns but he couldn't because they were under IRS audit. (While his returns were being audited, the IRS has no objection to taxpayers releasing returns under audit, and other political candidates have done so in the past.) Only after he was being elected did he announce that, no, he wouldn't be releasing the returns even when the audit finished because what would be the point? The election is over.

The reason he doesn't want to release his returns is most likely the very one you point to; it's a great transparency mechanism. The returns would likely reveal something embarrassing to him - e.g. he has been lying about his net worth; he is substantially in hock to shonky Russian banks; he has sources of income that he has not previously disclosed and that might present a conflict of interest - that kind of thing.

robinph

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Also, in a move that will no doubt annoy him more. A Hawaiian federal judge has blocked his travel ban. I mean that's twice his ban has been blocked. It might be time to pack in his travel ban.

Soon it will be 90 days of his 90 day travel bans not being in place. That I going to help the case of how urgent he thinks it is for the ban to be implemented.

Zubeneschamali

relax carry on wrote: »

So if it's been the practice in the last 40 years, why is Trump seemingly against it?

The two most popular theories are that his returns will show that he is broke, that his debts are bigger than his net worth, and more recently, that his returns will show a metric sh!tload of Russian money.

I think the first is more likely, since he has been refusing to release his returns since well before he was the nominee and in line for Russian help.

The pages released suggest that he might have been worth 1-2 billion at the time, and not 5 billion as he boasted.

Sam Russell

Christy42 wrote: »

Presidents are not required. It is however incredibly unusual for them not to. Think Ford was the last candidate of a major party not to and that was about 40 years ago.

Ford was never elected president.

seamus

Professor Moriarty wrote: »

Tourism in the US is taking a seriously cold shower because of Trump's rhetoric. Might be no need for a ban after all. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39121276

It turns out that detaining tourists for no reason and demanding the right to search through their private things makes people not want to come and spend money in your country.

Imagine that.

U.S. border control has for decades been an ordeal for inbound travellers, but people suffered it as a minor irritating delay to get into the US. People's patience only goes so far though and if you make it hard, demeaning or risky to make a casual trip to your country, then people will stop coming.

ancapailldorcha

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

Is there anything to be said for having another rally?

Cut out the nonsense please.

oscarBravo

seamus wrote: »

It turns out that detaining tourists for no reason and demanding the right to search through their private things makes people not want to come and spend money in your country.

Imagine that.

U.S. border control has for decades been an ordeal for inbound travellers, but people suffered it as a minor irritating delay to get into the US. People's patience only goes so far though and if you make it hard, demeaning or risky to make a casual trip to your country, then people will stop coming.

Yup. Having been to the US several times over the years, it's firmly off my list of places I'm now interested in visiting until it gets a grip.

Professor Moriarty

oscarBravo wrote: »

Yup. Having been to the US several times over the years, it's firmly off my list of places I'm now interested in visiting until it gets a grip.

My thoughts exactly. I would feel as if I was condoning Trump's administration.

Christy42

Sam Russell wrote: »

Ford was never elected president.

This is why I said candidate. I have no idea when the last elected president to not release their returns was.

Zubeneschamali

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Also, in a move that will no doubt annoy him more. A Hawaiian federal judge has blocked his travel ban. I mean that's twice his ban has been blocked. It might be time to pack in his travel ban.

Showing again that he has no idea what he is doing, Trump says:

The order he blocked was a watered down version of the first order that was also blocked by another judge and should have never been blocked to start with

Proving in his own words that the intent of the new ban is unconstitutional.

Water John

I think a second judge in Maryland also.

DT finding the job of POTUS is like wading through treacle and his hasn't the mentality capable of dealing with that.

ancapailldorcha

Back on topic please.

paulsocialr

Starting to think Kellyanne Conway is becoming a great media distraction for the administration. Her statements are too ridiculous, it has to be a bait and switch.

frostyjacks

paulsocialr wrote: »

Starting to think Kellyanne Conway is becoming a great media distraction for the administration. Her statements are too ridiculous, it has to be a bait and switch.

I think she's been the star of the show so far for this administration. The criticism she gets about factual errors and inaccuracies is in vain; surely if we've learned anything from the election it's that facts take second place to style and appearance. The way the media and the Hollywood elite relentlessly mock her leaves a sour taste in the mouth. They're playing the man, not the ball.

I think what sticks in the craw for Trump's opponents is that she's the sort of intelligent, articulate, hardworking mother who they would normally champion, but they can't quite bring themselves to do that.

Zubeneschamali

frostyjacks wrote: »

I think she's been the star of the show so far for this administration.

I don't think that means what you think it means.

JPCN1

Professor Moriarty wrote: »

oscarBravo wrote: »

Yup. Having been to the US several times over the years, it's firmly off my list of places I'm now interested in visiting until it gets a grip.

My thoughts exactly. I would feel as if I was condoning Trump's administration.

I'm going to drive around Limerick on my way to Kerry in future as I don't like the bold Willie O'Dea.
Immature nonsense of the highest order.

dudara

seamus wrote: »

It turns out that detaining tourists for no reason and demanding the right to search through their private things makes people not want to come and spend money in your country.

Imagine that.

U.S. border control has for decades been an ordeal for inbound travellers, but people suffered it as a minor irritating delay to get into the US. People's patience only goes so far though and if you make it hard, demeaning or risky to make a casual trip to your country, then people will stop coming.

I agree - I've travelled to the US several times a year on average for the past few years between work and holidays. I've taken many holidays in the US, but at the moment, I'm very reluctant to do so. It's partially to show my dislike of Trump, but it's really more so because I'd prefer a country which has a stable border control that is not in flux (like the US is as the moment).

Frank Bullitt

seamus wrote: »

It turns out that detaining tourists for no reason and demanding the right to search through their private things makes people not want to come and spend money in your country.

Imagine that.

U.S. border control has for decades been an ordeal for inbound travellers, but people suffered it as a minor irritating delay to get into the US. People's patience only goes so far though and if you make it hard, demeaning or risky to make a casual trip to your country, then people will stop coming.

I live in Vancouver so Seattle is just down the highway. Before Trump got in, it was fairly strict at the boarder and having to do flag poling for my visa a number of times, it was never a comfortable experience with the US boarder guards.

I have friends who o to seahawks games on the regular but they dont plan to go this year for fear of the hassle they will get at the boarder. And they are Canadians!

seamus

Gintonious wrote: »

I have friends who o to seahawks games on the regular but they dont plan to go this year for fear of the hassle they will get at the boarder. And they are Canadians!

The majority of people are probably thinking the same way - I don't want to risk hitting border control, getting detained and interrogated and then permanently denied entry to the US because of something innocuous I said or did (or indeed didn't say or do).

Instead I would rather wait for all this Trump madness to blow over and look at going to the US another year.

B_Wayne

JPCN1 wrote: »

I'm going to drive around Limerick on my way to Kerry in future as I don't like the bold Willie O'Dea.
Immature nonsense of the highest order.

Hardly, boycotting nations in various ways as a statement of opposition to their questionable policies isn't new. I half no plans on visiting US cause they've come across as incredibly intolerant by electing him in first place. His racist policies more firmly push me towards this position. I'm lost on whatis immature about holding such a position...

Alun

Gintonious wrote: »

I live in Vancouver so Seattle is just down the highway. Before Trump got in, it was fairly strict at the boarder and having to do flag poling for my visa a number of times, it was never a comfortable experience with the US boarder guards.

What does that mean?

eire4

B_Wayne wrote: »

Hardly, boycotting nations in various ways as a statement of opposition to their questionable policies isn't new. I half no plans on visiting US cause they've come across as incredibly intolerant by electing him in first place. His racist policies more firmly push me towards this position. I'm lost on whatis immature about holding such a position...

To be fair to Americans only about 25% of them actually voted for him. Voter turnout was a pathetic 54%. So 46% did not vote at all and a majority of those who did vote vote did not vote for him.