Donald Trump’s carefully fabricated reputation for being a genius businessman and master dealmaker — which was already in tatters due to his disastrous tenure as president — has been finally dispelled for a good with recent acquisition and release by The New York Times of ten years of his tax returns.
The new report shows that Trump’s businesses lost over $1 billion between 1985 and 1994 meaning he’s not even a mediocre businessman, he’s an atrocious one. In fact, the argument could be made that during that span of time he was the most incompetent in the entire country, as each year of that decade he appears to have lost more money than any other single American taxpayer.
The other possible explanation for the massive losses is even worse because it means he was inflating his expenses to cheat the government out of paying taxes, shafting his fellow Americans in the process. It’s staggering that in eight out of the ten years he didn’t pay income taxes.
As soon as the news broke, it was only a matter of time before the infamously insecure Donald responded. Now he’s taken to Twitter to insist that he is, despite all the evidence, actually a brilliant businessman.
Trump claimed that his massive losses were because real estate developers at the time were “entitled to massive writes off and depreciation” which would appear as losses on tax filings. He says he used “tax shelters,” which is basically him just admitting to scamming the government and the people of New York City out of much-needed money.
He wasn’t done there though and went on to say that he “always wanted to show losses for tax purposes” and that it wasn’t just him, because most real estate developers did it. Factoring in what we learned from The New York Times story, he is essentially saying that he cheated the United States out of more tax dollars than anyone else during that ten-year stretch.
Stunningly, he ended the little tweet rant by saying that the “very old information” is actually part of a “highly inaccurate Fake News hit job!” Presumably, he thinks his supporters are so stupid that he can explain what happened in one tweet, and then insist that it didn’t actually happen in the very next breath. It’s a level of cognitive dissonance so absurd one can’t help but laugh. In attempting to cover all his bases, he’s served up a swirling stew of nonsense.
Now we know why he was desperate to hide his tax returns from voters.
Real estate developers in the 1980’s & 1990’s, more than 30 years ago, were entitled to massive write offs and depreciation which would, if one was actively building, show losses and tax losses in almost all cases. Much was non monetary. Sometimes considered “tax shelter,” ……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2019
….you would get it by building, or even buying. You always wanted to show losses for tax purposes….almost all real estate developers did – and often re-negotiate with banks, it was sport. Additionally, the very old information put out is a highly inaccurate Fake News hit job!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2019
Some of the responses to the president’s tweet were absolutely brutal:
Trump admits to racking up massive business losses, avoiding paying taxes, and treating the practice as “sport,” but says reporters are “fake news” for revealing the truth. https://t.co/W6Gt4N1hjV
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) May 8, 2019
The Fake News Media wants you to believe that I lost a billion dollars but really it was mostly tax fraud — gotcha, losers!
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) May 8, 2019
"This is a man who was handed hundreds of millions of dollars, flushed it down the toilet, and was desperate to maintain his image of wealth and success. You couldn’t invent a more inviting target for a foreign intelligence service to manipulate." https://t.co/p8D1YXKYxh
— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) May 8, 2019
So still losses. And all done to pay less tax to pay for Government services. Good to know.
— Hubert Cumberdale (@CaptainBlue) May 8, 2019
Translated: This is why I did that thing, but I never did it.
— Joe Van Ek (@Joe_Vanek) May 8, 2019
So…you make America great by *not* supporting it with your taxes? #BillionDollarLoser
— Heidi “Chypre Floozy” Czerwiec (@HeidiCzerwiec) May 8, 2019
In a nutshell, dodgy unethical accounting.
— Lax (@LaxBowel) May 8, 2019
I did it… but its fake… which is it?
— Jaime P Gomez (@ActorJaimeGomez) May 8, 2019
Casually admitting to tax fraud.
— Mykeal Wheeler (@broVandal6) May 8, 2019
