I read recently in the New York Times that the president paid no taxes during eight of the ten years from 1985 to 1994 when he was writing off losses of $1.17 billion for the decade. The next day he went to his Twitter account to tell us that it was fake news, of course. Then he went on to say that developers took advantage of laws during that period to take big write-offs. They considered it “sport.”
The day of that report I received a letter from the IRS telling me that I had miscalculated my return for 2018 and that I must send a check for $922.73 by May 27 or pay additional interest and penalties. My underpayment was not the result of sporting the government. I made an honest mistake. My check is already written, sent, and cleared my bank.
What is the word for my mood?
Let’s just say “impeach”.
The list of public officials I would recommend for impeachment and removal from office grows longer each day. President Donald J. Trump. Attorney General William P. Barr. Senator John Cornyn. Senator Ted Cruz. And the whole batch of Trump administration cabinet officers who grifted off the government rather than work for the common welfare during the first two years of his administration. My Texas senators are on my list with every Republican in the U.S. Senate who has given him cover so they could land a few more seats on the supreme court before he is removed from office, handcuffed and jailed.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been very deliberate in her discussion of the possible impeachment of the president because, clearly, he will be protected by the Senate Republican majority no matter the evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors. They will steal court seats any way they can, just as they stole the one for Neil Gorsuch. But now, with the official stonewall that Trump has erected between the White House and Congress, she is beginning to come around.
It galls me when Republicans say they are the taxpayer’s best friend. In the first place, they are not. My evidence? My tax bill versus that paid by the self-proclaimed billionaire (who was more likely a thousandaire until he learned how to extort money from Deutsche Bank, Russian oligarchs, and his free-wheeling violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause).
In the second place, I am insulted when they refer to me as a taxpayer. I am a citizen. Do they even know what that means?
It is an insult to every American who filed a 1040 and paid taxes to have him flying around and playing golf at our expense. Set aside the Mueller report and all his palling around with Russians. Set aside witness tampering and obstruction of justice. Set aside his infernal heel spurs. I am livid.
South of Town: Notes and Scenes from Texas' Upper Gulf Coast 