U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 6, 2020. /Gettyimages
Editor's note: Chris Hawke is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a journalist who has reported for over two decades from Beijing, New York, the United Nations, Tokyo, Bangkok, Islamabad and Kabul for AP, UPI and CBS. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.
The Biden campaign is now selling T-shirts that say, "I paid more income taxes than Donald Trump."
This new like of attack and merriment stems from a report in the New York Times that finds Trump paid 750 U.S. dollars in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017. His housekeepers almost certainly paid more in federal taxes than that.
Meanwhile, Trump entities wrote off as business expenses nearly 100,000 dollars paid to a favorite hair and makeup artist of his daughter Ivanka Trump.
The NYT has obtained Trump's tax records going back over two decades. Trump had taken the battle to keep these records private to the Supreme Court. But the NYT reports that it received the records from someone with legal access to them.
Based on the records, the NYT concludes on its front page, in a rare flash of humor, "Mr. Trump has been more successful playing a business mogul than being one in real life."
Trump has received significant income from his role in the television show The Apprentice and spinoff endorsement deals. He used that money, the New York Times reports, to buy a collection of golf courses and other properties that are hemorrhaging cash. For example, since 2000, his golf courses have reported losses of 315.6 million U.S. dollars.
Most of Trump's core enterprises report losing millions of dollars a year, with more that 300 million dollars in loans for which he is personally responsible coming due in the next four years, according to the report.
U.S. banks have refused to loan money to Trump since the 1990s. The tax returns do not indicate who he owes the money to. Democrats are already demanding the answer to this question, calling it a national security issue.
The NYT also reports Trump faces a tax audit that could cost him 100 million dollars. Trump could face even more legal trouble from his aggressive accounting, which reportedly includes paying his daughter Ivanka hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in dubious "consulting fees."
The New York Times headquarters in New York City, March 9, 2020. /Getty images
This could explain why Trump in recent weeks and months has been trying to undermine the legitimacy of the upcoming election with attacks on voting by mail, which he claims will lead to widespread fraud. The President has even made Republicans squirm by indicated he may not peacefully hand over power if he loses, contending the only way that this could happen is fraud.
We now know a possible reason – he could be facing criminal charges and financial ruin when he leaves office.
Trump represents the ideals of Republicans who embrace a vision of a country where everything is possible, with hard work and perseverance.
The NYT report on Trump undermines this ideal. It instead suggests a country with two standards, one for the wealthy, and one for everyone else. If you are rich, you don't need to pay taxes. You don't need to fight in Vietnam. You don't need to follow the rules.
Trump will debate Joe Biden on the morning of September 30, serving up crackpot conspiracies, bigotry, and xenophobia, wrapped in a non-stop stream of lies. The only way to break the angry spell Trump has cast over the American public is to admit the absurdity of it all.
There really hasn't been much to laugh at in the U.S. right now, with more than 200,000 dead from the COVID-19 pandemic, and about 13.6 million people out of work.
But the news of Trump's tax returns is inspiring a lot of humorous jabs from Democrats. One tweet from the Biden team read: "Teachers paid $7,239, firefighters paid $5,283, nurses paid $10,216, Donald Trump paid $750."
Trump responded to the New York Times report by saying he is "extremely under leveraged" and has "very little debt compared to the value of assets." He also said he "may" release a financial statement showing his properties, assets and debts, calling it "a very impressive statement."
After years of refusing to release his tax returns, and bragging he pays little tax because he is "smart," this sounds like the biggest joke of all.
(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.)