The one that got away...

During the twilight of his first term, the Trump fishing expedition continues.

PROBE Manhattan’s district attorney has said he might have grounds to investigate Trump and his businesses for tax fraud as he tries to get the federal appeals court to let him obtain Trump’s tax returns. Trump’s tax returns be they as they may, and you can hate the guy for what ever reason but do you want a country where anyone can go on a fishing expedition against anyone because they say they might have grounds to investigate their tax returns to make them public?

The fight by Trump to keep his tax returns out of the public eye continues unabated which if it says nothing more, proves how powerful the man is to have attracted this amount of hate. As I posted before Trump even became President, these tax returns would always be his elephant in the room and come back to haunt him, not necessarily because they show any illegality but they would certainly have to illustrate what any wealthy business person would do to minimize their tax: and Mr. and Mrs. average might be appalled. Fair enough, but how does he keep these affairs secret when they could have a devastating effect in an election campaign despite his other declared victories? The story was that he had become a washed out bankrupt but because he owed so much, creditors let him run on his name as they were between that rock and a hard place and had little to lose by riding it out.

Business lesson 101 for how to be wealthy, apart from not using your own but OPM (other people's money) is not to have much in your name but structure so ownership is elsewhere but you have control. The easiest way is to set up Trust funds in people you trust, or lawyers who are paid to do this or an Epstein you have enough on so they would never expose you or even of wife if she insists and of course through the children. And you do it through shelf companies or go through a Chinese bank which gives you a number and doesn’t even need your name. Having some of these ventures go into bankruptcy might help you as a Trump but screw over other investors. You still have control of the money and the other punters lose their shirts. All of which would show that you yourself are not all that wealthy in your own right which the average voter would probably not understand. Are there so many other powerful people out there who don't want the public to know about their own tax loopholes so they are protecting Trump just as those earlier friends of Epstein want nothing to do with him? Have Trump's earlier creditors been repaid or are they still holding their breath? That would come out in tax returns.

Trump came along without previous political mileage and approached running the country as a businessman might. That includes factoring in risk and living with the consequences which might have worked out well pre-pandemic but how does it look if a policy is to just accept your (human) losses and carry on business as usual? Even if people could support his business approach, an opposition could have a field day with this sort of information and hence the fight by Trump to again keep these returns under wraps especially until after the Presidential election. At least there remain plenty of distractions. After the election should Trump win, tax returns would no longer be a worry. Should he lose, Rule 102 in business is always have a fall back position which for him and his family now doesn’t matter since there are businesses to fall back on where even non business ex-presidents can make a fortune on lecture tours. However on the present fishing expedition, the likelihood of this story is that it will be about one that got away…