Greetings and Happy Sunday,
Time for another edition of “In His Own Words…”
FIRST, A WORD
Before I do, though, let’s acknowledge that the President is hopefully resting comfortably at Walter Reed Hospital. And we should wish him well, both out of our humanity and our need to have a healthy chief executive, regardless of his or her competence.
THE DIAGNOSIS
With only 24 days before the election, we probably won’t get a clear timeline for our president’s appallingly cavalier approach to the virus, including with regard to his obligations to his staff, his supporters and his nation. He apparently was advised of his positive COVID-19 test Wednesday morning, yet engaged in campaign activities through the day on Wednesday and Thursday and didn’t report the test results until early Friday morning.
In the words of David Israel, with whom I served on the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission:
Donald Trump has failed America for four years. Now he has failed his staff, his third wife, and himself. By his hubris he visited this upon his own house. Now he should get well, get gone and go away.
Meanwhile, the campaign goes on. The Biden campaign has pulled down its negative ads but the Trump campaign has not.
BACK TO THE TWEETS
It’s hard to know how to say anything after Monday’s debate and the crazy news of the past couple of days. That said, here’s the President’s response to the disclosure of his losses and tax avoidance:
The Fake News Media, just like Election time 2016, is bringing up my Taxes & all sorts of other nonsense with illegally obtained information & only bad intent. I paid many millions of dollars in taxes but was entitled, like everyone else, to depreciation & tax credits.....
.....Also, if you look at the extraordinary assets owned by me, which the Fake News hasn’t, I am extremely under leveraged - I have very little debt compared to the value of assets. Much of this information is already on file, but I have long said that I may release....
.....Financial Statements, from the time I announced I was going to run for President, showing all properties, assets and debts. It is a very IMPRESSIVE Statement, and also shows that I am the only President on record to give up my yearly $400,000 plus Presidential Salary!
And here’s his response to the release of information about his taxes at a press conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLylGfR3VdU Seriously, listen to him in this clip and consider whether it even sounds plausible… Sounds just like a man with nothing to hide, doesn’t it?
HOUSEKEEPING
Apparently a fairly high percentage of Musings mailings are getting bounced by email servers. I’m moving to Mailchimp to send the emails instead. For the next couple of days you may be getting two musings—one via email and one via Mailchimp. After a few days, this should be ironed out and you’ll only get one (even those who may previously have received two a day). Sorry for the short term inconvenience. Thanks for your understanding.
Best, Glenn
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