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An Afternote to Blog 115: Donald Trump’s Tax Returns

In Blog No. 115 we suggested that, even if Donald Trump persisted in his refusal to disclose his tax returns, he should be pressed to disclose key information from the returns. An excellent column in Friday’s New York Times by James Stewart makes just that point: “Keep the Returns, Trump; Just Give Us a Few Figures.” As Stewart put it:

So just give us this: your adjusted gross income and actual federal taxes paid for the last five years, certified by your accountants. That’s a total of 10 numbers, which would fit on a single page.

Those are numbers any taxpayer can understand. They wouldn’t tell the I.R.S. anything it doesn’t already know.

And while they wouldn’t answer many of the questions that have swirled around your finances, they would lay to rest once and for all the most basic question: How much, if anything, do you pay in federal taxes?

Read More »An Afternote to Blog 115: Donald Trump’s Tax Returns

Blog No. 115. The Debate: Odds and Ends (What the Moderator and the Pundits Missed)

There has been an avalanche of commentary on the debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump reflecting a range of differing views. Hence, there seems to be little need for extensive analysis here, but we cannot resist making a few observations. In general, we agree with the media consensus: that Clinton outpointed Trump, in substance and demeanor, but failed to land any “knockout” punches. Indeed, it is hard to imagine what it would take, given the peculiar support Trump enjoys, to constitute a knockout.Read More »Blog No. 115. The Debate: Odds and Ends (What the Moderator and the Pundits Missed)

Blog No. 113. Clinton’s Bad Week and The Attempt to Normalize Trump.

As readers will be aware, Hillary Clinton recently experienced a very difficult few days.  At the same time, the Trump campaign was working strenuously to normalize their candidate with a view to getting voters to ignore his more outlandish pronouncements and to focus on the failings of Secretary Clinton. There has in fact been a shift in the [national?] polls leaving Clinton only slightly ahead of Trump, or in a virtual tie with him. It is a matter of speculation as to whether, or to what extent, the polling reflects the candidates’ recent maneuvers and missteps or is more of a coincidence. Either way, however, it is a cause for anxiety for those of us who regard the possible election of Trump as a catastrophe in the making.Read More »Blog No. 113. Clinton’s Bad Week and The Attempt to Normalize Trump.

Blog No. 110. The “A Words” of the 2016 Election Campaign: Aleppo and Afghanistan

In attempting to chronicle the antics of the 2016 election over the last few months, we have sometimes tried to inject some humor. Today we turn to two subjects that leave little room for humor: Aleppo and Afghanistan.  We term them the “A words” of the campaign because, despite their importance, they are words that never seem to cross the lips of Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, and coverage in the media is spasmodic. Hence we thought it worthwhile to remind readers of what the candidates are so determined to ignore.Read More »Blog No. 110. The “A Words” of the 2016 Election Campaign: Aleppo and Afghanistan

Special Bulletin. Trump the Tweeter in Chief

Surely everyone has heard about Donald Trump’s tweets. But our guess is that many of the readers of RINOcracy.com have never actually gone to @realDonaldTrump to see for themselves. In order to fill that gap, we decided to give you a sampling of what you would find there – in just the past two days.

To our continuing puzzlement, we actually have friends who are Trump supporters, and we would ask them “Do you want a President who sits in The Oval Office banging out tweets of self-congratulation, whining about the press, insulting or belittling those perceived opponents or enemies or those who simply do not appreciate him enough?”

They would probably reply, “He won’t do that after he’s President.”

To which we say, “Uh-huh.”

PS:  Here is our RINOcracy Twitter page for those of you who tweet.

Read More »Special Bulletin. Trump the Tweeter in Chief

Blog No. 109. Still More Trump in August: OMG, Where’s the Reset, Has Anyone Seen My !#$%^&* Reset Button?

Friday morning brought the news of Paul Manafort’s resignation from the Trump campaign. That was the latest development in a week in Trumpland that provided reasons for despair among Republicans but grist for those with an interest in political pathology. On Monday, the Trump campaign had tried to bring some order out of chaos by yet another reset. (For a chronology of Trump resets, see NBC News, “Will Donald Trump’s Latest ‘Reset’ Stick? Here Are 7 Times It Didn’t.”)                                     

Read More »Blog No. 109. Still More Trump in August: OMG, Where’s the Reset, Has Anyone Seen My !#$%^&* Reset Button?

Blog No. 108. More Trump in August: Trumponomics and Loose Lips

Like the media in general, we are guilty of giving more time and space to commenting on Donald Trump than he deserves or we would wish. Nevertheless, we believe that the possibility of his election is such a grave threat that it cannot be ignored. So we will continue to try to puzzle out what he is up to and what it may amount to. Since our last blog, significant events have included Trump’s speech on economic policy, as well as some peculiar and offensive comments on the Second Amendment and ISIS.Read More »Blog No. 108. More Trump in August: Trumponomics and Loose Lips

Blog No. 107. Trump in August: Notes From the Traveling Asylum

An article in the Washington Post on Thursday summed up the current mood in the Republican Party:

Turmoil in the Republican Party escalated Wednesday as party leaders, strategists and donors voiced increased alarm about the flailing state of Donald Trump’s candidacy and fears that the presidential nominee was damaging the party with an extraordinary week of self-inflicted mistakes, gratuitous attacks and missed opportunities.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus was described as “very frustrated” with and deeply disturbed by Trump’s behavior over the past week, having run out of excuses to make on the nominee’s behalf to donors and other party leaders, according to multiple people familiar with the events.

Read More »Blog No. 107. Trump in August: Notes From the Traveling Asylum

Blog No. 106. The End of the Beginning: Historic Conventions and the Candidates They Gave Us

Pic - Hillary smile Trump fistThe Republican and Democratic conventions each produced historic results: the Democrats were the first major party ever to nominate a woman for President and the Republicans produced the most stunningly unfit candidate ever to be nominated by a major party. Now that the conventions have come and gone, we are left with a momentary sense of relief, but also foreboding as to the the next three months of charges and counter-charges and, ultimately, the election in November.Read More »Blog No. 106. The End of the Beginning: Historic Conventions and the Candidates They Gave Us