This week’s episode of Trump, Inc. brings clarity to a complex subject. It identifies three patterns in the president’s approach to taxes.
- First, it describes a history of ignoring norms (which, for presidential candidates, include releasing tax returns).
- Second, it delves into a recent New York Times investigation — which concluded that the president’s family committed “outright fraud” — to show a history of breaking tax rules.
- Finally, it examines Trump’s ability to change tax rules to benefit himself and his wealthy peers.
The episode includes an interview with The New York Times’ Susanne Craig, the co-author of the expose that reported that Fred Trump passed $413 million in today’s dollars to his son Donald, who describes how she reported her article and the mysteries she and her colleagues unraveled. It also examines a second New York Times article that explored how Kushner exploited a seemingly prosaic tax technique — depreciation — to wipe out his taxable income. (Representatives of the Trumps and Kushners have denied any tax improprieties.) Finally, the episode looks at many of the ways in which Trump’s signature tax cut will redound to the benefit of the real estate industry.
Confronting Extremism on Our Own Side
Alexander Hamilton, while still a university student, was a leader in the American revolution, but at some risk to himself he rushed to confront and stop a mob bent on attacking a pro-British leader of his university. There are plenty of examples on both sides of the aisle of people who have inflamed tensions rather than soothed them, but President Trump is extreme in sowing discord. As I see it, his tax cut can be repealed and his damage to the health care system rectified, but it will be more difficult to undo the harm to the societal norms that govern us. And I worry that when Trump undermines those norms there is a real impact on extremists. I don’t believe that Saudi Arabia would have dared to murder a Washington Post writer under another administration, and I wonder likewise whether Trump’s demonization of opponents and of the press risks empowering some violent people on the fringe to take actions that they would not have taken under a different president.
.. We received a memo advising us that if our building is evacuated, we should be sure to take our laptops — so that we can go to work wherever we have to. But I do hope that anyone prone to violence understands that they’re not going to intimidate journalists into pulling punches or not doing their job.