The left wing media is playing checkers. Trump is playing chess.

Flopping Aces ^ | 03-15-17 | DrJohn

[Starman417]

Well, they finally did it. The left wing media got its wish. It got hold of a Trump tax return. Leaking tax returns is a felony, but we'll not dwell on that. Instead, let's remember that a few days ago someone whose name rhymes with stickolas pistoff urged the IRS to illegally leak Donald Trump's tax return and voila! it got leaked and Rachel Maddow pounced.

With great fanfare she tweeted:

https://twitter.com/maddow/status/841795163664089089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Be careful what you wish for, as the saying goes.

Her monumental scoop turned her into a monumental pooper scooper.

On her Tuesday show, Rachel Maddow teased a scoop: She had Donald Trump's 2005 tax returns. It was the first time his federal returns would be released.

Small digression: MSNBC's Maddow didn't have them. Investigative reporter David Cay Johnston got them, and went on her show to talk about it.

Anyway, when she finally revealed what was in the taxes, it was not a huge deal. Trump earned about $150 million in income in 2005, and paid $38 million in taxes, thanks to the alternative minimum tax, which he wants to kill.

Of course, CNBC had to add:

This gives Trump an effective tax rate of about 24 percent, which Johnston pointed out was roughly equal to what he and his wife, who are an upper middle class couple, pay.

Thing is, it's a much higher rate than paid by either barack obama or Bernie Sanders. The democrat socialist icon, Senator Freebie, paid a paltry 13% in taxes.

And also let us hark back to some of the things thrown at Trump. Hillary Clinton:

During the September 26, 2016 presidential debate, Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speculated that one reason Donald Trump might not have released his tax returns is that “he doesn’t want the American people, all of you watching tonight, to know that he’s paid nothing in federal taxes.”

Clinton said, “So you’ve gotta ask yourself, why won’t he release his tax returns? And I think there may be a couple of reasons. First, maybe he’s not as rich as he says he is. Second, maybe he’s not as charitable as he claims to be. Third, we don’t know all of his business dealings, but we have been told, through investigative reporting that, he owes about $650 million to Wall Street and foreign banks. Or maybe he doesn’t want the American people, all of you watching tonight, to know that he’s paid nothing in federal taxes. Because the only years that anybody has ever seen, were a couple of years where he had to turn them over to state authorities when he was trying to get a casino license. And they showed he didn’t pay any federal income tax.”

The NY Times:

The New York Times reporters wrote: “Donald J. Trump declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns, a tax deduction so substantial it could have allowed him to legally avoid paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years, records obtained by The New York Times show.”

What this episode does is effectively kill the "How much did Trump pay in taxes?" story. Trump paid $38 million in taxes for 2005, most of it in the form of the Alternative Minimum Tax. Once you know Trump has liability under the AMT, you can be pretty much certain that he will be subject to it every year. That means he pays his fair share.

Back to Slate:

Trump’s tax returns, whatever information they happen to contain, constitute a major scoop. Maddow’s social media team ensured the highest possible ratings for that scoop. But if ever a story should have been delivered in a stentorian, fuddy-duddy, nonpartisan manner, this was it. In positioning it as a grand revelation, a vital step in comprehending Trump’s corruption, MSNBC created an exceedingly cynical spectacle. By playing into the network’s loyal liberal audience’s fantasy that there exists a Trump silver bullet, it instead delivered Trump a positive news cycle—the guy pays taxes! Who knew!—amidst the debacle of the AHCA, along with more evidence that the media is aligned against him.

Maddow's debacle was widely mocked. Among my favorites:

[cyclotic]

I think you got the title wrong. The left wing media can’t handle Checkers. They’re still trying to figure out the rules for Candyland.

They tried a jigsaw puzzle and gave up. They put it up for sale on Ebay. It comes complete with both pieces.

[coon2000]

They are convinced that they can win at Tic Tac Toe.

[moovova]

3-D chess...

[Lazamataz]

I got a jigsaw puzzle, and couldn’t solve it within the time alloted.

The outside of the box said, “Up to 5 years”.

[HotHunt]

[mountn man]

Of course, CNBC had to add: This gives Trump an effective tax rate of about 24 percent, which Johnston pointed out was roughly equal to what he and his wife, who are an upper middle class couple, pay.

It would take a married couple an income of $363,500, just using standard deductions to pay 25% of their income.
( Imagine if they claimed 401k or IRA contributions, and/or mortgage interest and property tax deductions.)

Putting them in the upper 1-2%,
except In the NYC or LA areas, which they'd be in the upper 3%.

I guess upper middle class has a pretty broad range.

[cyclotic]

A liberal calls his boyfriend and says, “Please come over here and help me. I have a killer jigsaw puzzle, and I can’t figure out how to get it started.”
He asks, “What is it supposed to be when it’s finished?”
The liberal says, “According to the picture on the box, it’s a tiger.”
His boyfriend decides to go over and help with the puzzle. He lets him in and shows him where he has the puzzle spread all over the table.
He studies the pieces for a moment, then looks at the box, then turns to the liberal and says, “First of all, no matter what we do, we’re not going to be able to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a tiger.”
He takes his hand and says, “Second, I want you to relax, and then…..” he sighed, “we’ll put all these Frosted Flakes back in the box.”

(OK, slightly modified blonde joke)

[cyclotic]

A liberal calls his boyfriend and says, “Please come over here and help me. I have a killer jigsaw puzzle, and I can’t figure out how to get it started.”
He asks, “What is it supposed to be when it’s finished?”
The liberal says, “According to the picture on the box, it’s a tiger.”
His boyfriend decides to go over and help with the puzzle. He lets him in and shows him where he has the puzzle spread all over the table.
He studies the pieces for a moment, then looks at the box, then turns to the liberal and says, “First of all, no matter what we do, we’re not going to be able to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a tiger.”
He takes his hand and says, “Second, I want you to relax, and then…..” he sighed, “we’ll put all these Frosted Flakes back in the box.”

(OK, slightly modified blonde joke)

[cyclotic]

It was funnier the second time. Actually I coughed just as I hit POST and hit it again.

[arthurus]

Rachel perhaps did not peruse the tax return before she crowed about it? Rachel is, perhaps, a public school grad and can’t read anyway? Or, same reason, she couldn’t understand the numbers? Or maybe she believes that the numbers don’t matter because the Assertion had already been made and no one else could possibly understand the numbers either. Perhaps she believed that everyone on the right also went to public school and wouldn’t understand the numbers either.

[IncPen]

you were saying...

[mainestategop]

Here's what trump is playing:

This is what the MSM is playing...

[ConservaTeen]

No, the liberal media is playing Chutes and Ladders and is getting beaten by a 2 year old... :-)

[Deplorable American1776]

As ConservaTeen said, the Liberal media is losing to a 2 year old playing chutes and ladders....😀

[cynwoody]

I got a jigsaw puzzle, and couldn’t solve it within the time alloted.

The outside of the box said, “Up to 5 years”.

How many $$ per cubic foot of Staples's best cross-cut shreddings to reproduce the original documents?