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Mitt Romney pulled a Donald Trump on Donald Trump

Mitt Romney pulled a Donald Trump on Donald Trump

and Donald Trump is not happy

In an interview with Fox News today, Mitt Romney suggested there was reason to believe there is a bombshell in the tax returns Donald Trump has not yet released:

There might be a “bombshell” revelation to be discovered in Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s tax returns, 2012 party nominee Mitt Romney said Wednesday.

He also called on the entire GOP field to release their tax returns.

“I think there’s something there,” Romney said of Trump’s returns, “Either he’s not anywhere near as wealthy as he says he is, or he hasn’t been paying the kind of taxes we would expect him to pay,” Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto on “Your World.”

Trump responded later Wednesday on Twitter, slamming Romney for losing a winnable election, and calling him “awkward” and “goofy” when the governor asked for the real estate magnate’s endorsement.

Trump supporters, and even many non-Trump supporters, are outraged. How dare he?! Isn’t that what Harry Reid did to Romney?

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/702632760368885761

https://twitter.com/Follow_Trump/status/702679170501861376

Well, not exactly. Reid said “the word’s out” that Romney had not paid taxes for 10 years, thus suggesting he had actual knowledge or at least a source. And the allegation was very specific, failure to pay taxes for 10 years.

By contrast, Romney explicitly was speculating based on non-release of the taxes. He didn’t suggest he had inside knowledge, and didn’t declare his speculation to be confirmed.

But there’s something very ironic about Trump and his supporters complaining.

Just yesterday, I wrote how Trump threatens owners of Chicago Cubs after they donated money to a SuperPAC running ads against Trump:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/701779181986680832

Trump was closer to Reid than Romney. Trump suggested he knew of specific things the Ricketts were hiding.

That tactic was cheered by many Trump supporters — he’s a fighter, he fights like a leftist, he’s just what we need. Quite a difference from how many of them are reacting to Romney’s comments about Trump.

*For the Record* I don’t think the claims by Reid, threats by Trump, or speculation by Romney are justified. But only one of them is running for president this year.

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Comments

Mitt Romney…troll ninja…???

Hilarious…!!!

And, NO!, this is nothing like Dirty Filthy Reid’s crap.

    Tax returns for Cruz are really easy. W-2s from being a government bureaucrat and forget to mention any imputed interest from the goldman sachs loans and itemize all those medical expenses for Heidi’s “depression” episodes.

    Much easier when you’ve never owned and run even a one employee lemonade stand.

      Sanddog in reply to Gary Britt. | February 24, 2016 at 11:14 pm

      Yes, Trump has business experience but I’d rather have a small business owner running for President. They can fully understand how someone like Trump uses the government to steamroll them.

        Lee Jan in reply to Sanddog. | February 25, 2016 at 9:22 am

        Next up tRump bashing Romney for being too hard on illegals. tRump said he loves illegals, he hires them to build his golf courses and they are GREAT.

      Mercyneal in reply to Gary Britt. | February 25, 2016 at 5:31 am

      Comments about Heidi Cruz’s depression episodes are below the belt

      Milhouse in reply to Gary Britt. | February 25, 2016 at 6:39 am

      What “imputed interest”? What the **** are you talking about? He paid normal interest on the loan.

      Estragon in reply to Gary Britt. | February 25, 2016 at 6:56 am

      So, WHY doesn’t he just release them, then? The man’s lies will be exposed, but it won’t affect his idiotic, low character supporters.

Trump is fighter and that is EXACTLY what we need. […] I stand up and applaud and cheer. Shouting its ABOUT DAMN TIME.

Romney let the democrats accuse him of murder and not paying taxes for 10 years and did absolutely NOTHING about it.

I’ll take the brash FIGHTER any day !!!

Oh dear.

Well now I have to wipe Oolong tea off my keyboard. Thanks, Obama Gary! 😀

Very disappointing to see Mitt Romney pull this after Harry Reid did it to him. I thought he was a better person.

Personally, I’ve never understood the desire to see any candidate’s or official’s tax returns, for any reasons. How/how much/where they earn it, or how/where they spend it…just don’t care. Especially if a business-owner candidate has figured out how to live a lifestyle they want on his company’s expenses and pay zero taxes legally, god bless them. I’d rather just know their lawyers and tax accountants…

The establishment put Mitt up to it and he should have said NO!

Pity Mitt didn’t fight this hard when it counted.

For me I am still waiting on Mittens to release his Tax Records. As I recall he only released one year and the average tax rate for twenty years.

I hope the Trump never says Boo to Mittens he was such a wimp he would run home crying.

Mitt won’t think its so funny when Trump shoves his tax returns up his a** and makes him chew on them …

Wow Trump is really living inside the Professors head these days.

    HandyGandy in reply to Gary Britt. | February 24, 2016 at 11:11 pm

    I love the smell of desperation in the evening!

      If you’d just use the Febreeze your Mom bought you and put your dirty socks in the hamper as she suggested, your bedroom wouldn’t stink so badly. Unless you have a high grade air handler, basements are hard to keep fresh-smelling even at the best of times.

    General ASSumption Britt is here again to rally low information voters and to prepare a banana republic for his obsession Dictator J Trumph.

    To do so GA Britt effortlessly plays head games with his ass.

        Radegunda in reply to Gary Britt. | February 25, 2016 at 11:38 am

        Someone who declared that I’m definitely a “democrat Hillary/Bernie supporter” who loves Fidel because I’ve criticized Trump’s pro-Democrat history and his ongoing left-leaning pronouncements and his sleazy character has no grounds for calling anyone else “insane.”

        You’ve also turned your own argument upside down, now saying it’s Trump’s not-very-conservative viewpoints that make him a winner!

        Face it, Gary: it has nothing to do with any principles. It’s just a bizarre infatuation with a fantasy superhero.

        Coming from a Trumph minion of the land of Eminent Dementia, that is a compliment.

    Lady Penguin in reply to Gary Britt. | February 25, 2016 at 8:11 am

    Yes, I’m sorry to see that. Despite the nuancing of the article saying what Reid did and what Romney did “are not quite the same thing” to John Q public’s superficial reading of headlines and one-liners, it will be taken the same way.

    Now again, I am all in for Cruz, but I’m NOT going to be one of those GOP types who take their ball and go home if Donald is the guy.

    The Establishment GOP has been incredibly destructive and have brought this on themselves. Proof? Just look at Virginia, where they did everything they could to make sure Ken Cuccinelli did not win the governorship, neither did they support E.W. Jackson (an African-American) for Lt. governor. Both are strong conservatives, and they worked against them. Chamber of Commerce endorse Hillary’s guy, McAuliffe of questionable everything. You see, we know how the game is played, and I’m grateful that Trump has turned the tables by forcing the exposure of just what really going on in DC.

    PS, we’re also the state of Eric Cantor, he of the “next-in-line” for the House speakership who set his young guns on every Congressional District here in Virginia to take out the conservative grassroots. Look up slating. We’re very lucky and grateful that David Brat pulled off the upset of the decade against the GOP-E for that.

    I’m simply not willing to blithely support the GOP-E anymore, they’ve enabled the damage and the mess.

Trump said a year ago as of tomorrow that he would release his tax returns in a week. So why hasn’t he? Maybe the Ricketts aren’t the only ones who have something to hide.

A lot of Trump’s image is based on his so-called business successes and wealth, despite his various scams and bankruptcies. If he’s been lying, that could be very harmful to him.

    Ragspierre in reply to NbyNW. | February 25, 2016 at 5:15 am

    Well, one of the things we’ve learned about Der Donald…

    if his mouth is moving, he’s lying.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Tower_%28New_York_City%29

    It seems he’s just wired that way. He claimed (claims) that Trump Tower is 68 stories. That’s ten more than it actually IS.

    Read the brief article on the tower, and try to count the number of lies or instances of corruption you find.

    I very much doubt he’s worth what he claims.

    gulfbreeze in reply to NbyNW. | February 25, 2016 at 9:16 am

    “A lot of Trump’s image is based on his so-called business successes and wealth, despite his various scams and bankruptcies. If he’s been lying, that could be very harmful to him.”

    I’m not a Trump supporter, but just like Romney’s comment, “I think there’s something there, either he’s not anywhere near as wealthy as he says he is…”, there’s a total fallacy that lies in any belief that Trump’s tax returns will reveal anything about his net worth. (And I would have thought in Romney’s long tenure in the hedge fund industry he would have at least been exposed to these concepts below as Romney’s firm helped launch Staples and Sports Authority where the valuations of commercial leasehold interests have relevance.)

    Why? How could Trump’s tax returns not reveal anything about his net worth? How would that be possible?

    Because in commercial real estate there are 3 different ways to value commercial real estate, that’s why.

    First is the income method, which in simplistic terms (without getting lost in the weeds of the actual math) calculates the present value of the net income stream a commercial property produces for an owner, calculated via a rate of return which competing investments/risks provide an investor.

    This method, which Trump’s tax returns would somewhat reveal, would show Trump earning X dollars per year in rents from the buildings he owns, and place a value on the property.

    So that’s the value of the propery, right?
    Not so fast.

    The other 2 methods to value commercial real estate won’t show up in Trump’s tax returns in any way, shape or form.

    One is the sales comparison approach. Much like homes are appraised for, this would value Trump’s properties compared to what similar buildings have recently sold for. Well then, that makes sense, that would be the one to use, right? Maybe, if one can find a comparable building in close proximity to Trump’s property. But unfortunately, often it’s hard to find such comps, as commercial properties don’t sell as often as homes, and in cities like NYC, differences in just a few blocks may have significant differences in values. So is there a current comp for Trump Tower? Heck, I don’t know, have any similar buildings with similar uses (in short, the ratio of uses employed in Trump Tower….condos, offices, retail, etc)… any comps sold in the past year? Maybe, maybe not. Is the location of that building getting better, worse, staying the same? Will this method show up in Trump’s tax returns? Of course not.

    Another valuation method is the cost approach, in short, how much would it cost to replace a building Trump owns? How much would it cost to rebuild Trump Tower today? Certainly more than when it was built. How much would the land cost? Who knows what labor and materials for a skyscraper cost today? Will land/materials/labor estimates show up in Trump’s tax returns? Of course not.

    Then you have to add in the value of what has become a major portion of Trump’s companies, and that is the real estate developers worldwide are paying Trump to simply slap his name on the building, consult in the development process, and market the property to buyers and lessees. What is the value of those contracts globally? I don’t know, but I know you won’t find it in Trump’s tax returns.

    See any problems here?

    And ultimately, all of those valuations are irrelevant. Why? Because if you’re not selling a property, who knows what it’s worth? If Trump isn’t selling Trump Tower and says “I will keep my buildings in this family for the next 100 years!”, then who knows what it’s worth to Trump? What will be the value of the land under Trump Tower in 100 years? Some will say, “Trump, you have to value it today!” Trump will say, “Why? I’m not selling it today.”

    Trump says he’s worth ~$10 billion. From memory, I think Forbes valued Trump’s holdings at ~$4 billion? Is there really much of a difference to the American voter if they hear “Trump is only worth $4 billion!!!” When a voter is just trying to put a few bucks in their 401k every year, does any number for Trump matter after 9 zeros?

    Obviously, not to Trump voters. And frankly, I don’t think to many others.

      Excellent post. Will fly completely over the heads of the Cruzbots.

      Ragspierre in reply to gulfbreeze. | February 25, 2016 at 10:14 am

      “Is there really much of a difference to the American voter if they hear “Trump is only worth $4 billion!!!”’

      Well, I would hope so, when it reveals he’s a lying narcissist, like our current “president”.

      I think Americans HATE a liar. I sure do.

        “hate a liar. I sure do”

        I always knew there was a strong element of self-hatred underlying your posts.

        gulfbreeze in reply to Ragspierre. | February 25, 2016 at 11:54 am

        “Well, I would hope so, when it reveals he’s a lying narcissist, like our current ‘president’.

        “I think Americans HATE a liar. I sure do.”

        As far as I know, Forbes is the only place you’ll hear the $4B estimate. I have no idea which method(s) they used.

        The point of my post being, if Forbes used the income method for Trump properties, and Trump uses the replacement cost method, BOTH could be completely accurate and truthful.

        The problem is, who knows? That’s my point. Different RE wealth estimates could be off by over 100% and both could be accurate/truthful, and neither would be lying.

        Is anyone going to spend the likely $100+k to dig through Trump’s hundreds of companies to try to understand Trump’s $10B estimate of his wealth that was issued by his experts, and then hire a team of experts to try to figure out Forbes estimate, and THEN do their OWN 3 methods of property valuation to see if or where EITHER estimate is “accurate” (whatever that would mean since there are a myriad of ways to compile the income/sales/replacement cost data so the methods can be matched to whoever has done an estimate before?)

        Of course not.

        That’s why I believe the entire issue of “How much is Trump worth?” is nonsense in regard to Trump’s tax returns.

        There is every reason to believe that Trump is a multi-billionaire. He could accurately be worth $10B or $4B or anywhere in between and EVERYONE who believes what they want could be accurate and truthful.

        So in that regard, the extent of Trump’s wealth is an absurd issue to even raise. People on all sides will believe what they want on their own complete LACK of information. They’ll read what they want, repeat it without having a clue of how the number was derived, knowing full well they personally don’t have a clue of how to come up with any accurate number or if where they heard it was true or accurate.

        Even further complicating the issue?

        The commercial real estate appraisal industry is ruled by the Appraisal Institue. The organization issues the MAI (Member Appraisal Institute) designation to practitioners that value commercial real estate, and they are the gold standard of commercial RE valuations, known as “MAI appraisals” (clever, no?!) They perform valuations for commercial RE owners, who most often use them to either finance or sell RE properties. You could walk into every MAI appraiser’s office in the U.S. today, hand them a single MAI appraisal using all 3 methods for any of Trump’s properties, and none of them could tell you if the valuations are accurate, only that the methods used were very likely performed correctly. They couldn’t tell you in the least if it’s accurate, though, or what Trump’s wealth is (unless Trump recently hired them to deliver and MAI appraisal of every single property he owns. Which of course he hasn’t done any such thing because he has no need to.)

        MAI appraisers perform all 3 methods for their MAI appraisals, and generally indicate in those appraisals they emphasize the “net income method”, only because of the intended use of their work product is for those who finance properties (who want to know if the properties can cover debt service) or purchase properties (who seek a periodic return on their investment).

        But the joke is in the commercial RE industry is MAI stands for…. “Made As Instructed”.
        😉
        Is the joke true? Are lawyer jokes true? Are doctor jokes true?
        Of course, no, not completely.
        Do they have a ring of truth?
        Yeah, maybe/probably, because the practicioners all know there are those out there that are the reasons the jokes exist.

        BTW, I just heard a news channel say Trump has tweeted my exact points ~20 minutes ago, and here’s the text:.

        “Just for your info, tax returns have 0 to do w/ someone’s net worth.”

        That statement is correct, and I’ve explained why.

          Wow! The contortions people go though to justify voting for Trumph are amazing.

          How about Trumph release the info and get things out in the open so his servants and concubines wouldn’t have to yoga-ize themselves into pretzels to appease their boy-man-god.

          gulfbreeze in reply to gulfbreeze. | February 25, 2016 at 1:12 pm

          “Wow! The contortions people go though to justify voting for Trumph are amazing.”

          As you replied to me, are you suggesting I’m trying to justify supporting Trump, much less voting for Trump? Feel free to show where I’ve stated that, anywhere on LI. As a registered Independent, I can’t even vote in my state’s closed GOP primary, nor can I attempt to (the deadline for changing party registrations passed long ago).

          “How about Trumph release the info and get things out in the open so his servants and concubines wouldn’t have to yoga-ize themselves into pretzels to appease their boy-man-god.”

          Which info? His tax returns? Sure fine, I couldn’t care less.
          I don’t care what Trump does or doesn’t do. It won’t have anything to do with his wealth as Romney hopes, but if it makes Trump lovers or haters feel better, scream/cheer at Trump or each other as loud as you want.

    Radegunda in reply to NbyNW. | February 25, 2016 at 11:44 am

    It should hurt him, except that the same kind of mass delusion that turned Obama into a messianic figure is alive and well, and has taken over many people who thought the Obama cult was bizarre.

    In some ways the Trump cult is more bizarre, since he’s more overtly egomaniacal and bullying and dishonest and crude, so it isn’t just pouring an image into an empty vessel. It’s ignoring the deformity of the vessel itself.

“*For the Record* I don’t think the claims by Reid, threats by Trump, or speculation by Romney are justified. But only one of them is running for president this year.”

Apparently you do think speculation by Romney is justified. I see no condemnation of it here.

“Trump was closer to Reid than Romney. Trump suggested he knew of specific things the Ricketts were hiding.
That tactic was cheered by many Trump supporters — he’s a fighter, he fights like a leftist, he’s just what we need. Quite a difference from how many of them are reacting to Romney’s comments about Trump.”

Even if you are correct that Trump is closer to Reid than Romney, Romney is still wrong. He is doing exactly the same thing that was done to him, a slight difference in wording doesn’t change that fact.

When you play dirty politics it’s justified. When Trump does it he’s the devil.

    Rick in reply to Barry. | February 24, 2016 at 11:59 pm

    “Apparently you do think speculation by Romney is justified. I see no condemnation of it here.”
    Say What? The Prof explicitly wrote that Romney’s speculation was not justified.
    I read the Prof’s statement as suggesting that it may not be the greatest thing for a presidential candidate to be making a threat during the campaign.

      Barry in reply to Rick. | February 25, 2016 at 7:29 am

      Quite simple, at the bottom of the story, an asterisk saying they are not justified, but then the qualifier “But only one of them is running for president this year”.

      Not much condemnation there.

      Lady Penguin in reply to Rick. | February 25, 2016 at 8:18 am

      No, I see that the Professor nuanced what he said and it doesn’t cover up that he is giving Romney a pass on pulling the same dirty tricks that Reid pulled. GOP-E is desperate, and Romney is all Republican Establishment – which is why he ultimately lost.

      Being a Cruz fan doesn’t keep me from being fair nor will I ignore what we’ve learned the hard way about the GOP. They’re pushing Rubio, and I’ve asked the question everywhere, what will he do differently than what’s gone on for the past 7yrs. 15yrs. etc. Not one thing. That’s a game many of us aren’t willing to play anymore.

    Valerie in reply to Barry. | February 25, 2016 at 8:14 am

    What part of “I don’t think the claims by Reid, threats by Trump, or speculation by Romney are justified.” don’t you understand? You even quoted it.

Reid said “the word’s out” that Romney had not paid taxes for 10 years, thus suggesting he had actual knowledge or at least a source.

Romney said “… we have good reason to believe there is a bombshell in Donald Trump’s taxes …”

I don’t see a huge difference in degree between Reid’s and Romney’s statements. “Good reason to believe” suggests more than wild speculation.

This is nonsense. Romney has no information about Trump’s tax returns. This is Romney attempting to garner media publicity. Ask yourself why.

Now we know why Romney lost.
He is a RINO in republican clothing.
The Republican establishment at this point will do anything and I mean anything to stop Trump.

Just the first of many slimy tricks to try to damage Trump.

Trump is a liar and a cheat who admitted under oath he essentially makes up his net worth depending on how he feels about the economy. He claims donations he never made – uses donations made by his Foundation which he DOES NOT FUND to take credit for others’ donations.

His tax returns will expose him as a total fraud on these claims, which is why his Gestapo is attacking Romney for mentioning it.

By contrast, Romney explicitly was speculating based on non-release of the taxes. He didn’t suggest he had inside knowledge, and didn’t declare his speculation to be confirmed.

I beg to differ. Romney did not pull a Reid or a Trump. He did not even speculate that Trump might have done anything illegal or disreputable. He merely speculated that he’s hiding something.

The two options he suggested were either that Trump isn’t anywhere near as wealthy as he says he is, or that his taxes are (not zero or anywhere close to zero but) lower than would be expected. Option 1 is the more likely one, and there’s nothing illegal about being worth only $3-4B instead of the $10B he’s been boasting of. It would merely expose him as a braggart. Even option 2 would not be illegal, or anything like what Reid accused Romney of.

Plus Reid claimed to have a source, and made it sound to the low-information journalist (is there any other kind?) that this source had actual knowledge of Romney’s tax returns. By his own description his alleged source (who probably didn’t exist) was never in any position to have had such knowledge, but no journalist noticed this.

Donald Trump on Donald Trump. How about a Harry Reid on Donald Trump? BTW Donald Trump defended Romney when Harry Reid pulled this one.

The only thing we have to fear is Trumph itself.

At times like this it’s a pity that Saint The-Face-of-God Ted walked on water, as advertised. But he’s demonstrated some pretty unctuous behaviors of his own.

And Robo-Rubio is downright appalling.

Truth is, the glorious deep bench of amazing Republican candidates was a myth from the start.

All told and tallied, Trump is probably no worse than his competition.

    clafoutis in reply to clafoutis. | February 25, 2016 at 9:01 am

    ugh: correction

    At times like this it’s a pity that Saint The-Face-of-God Ted HASN’T walked on water, as advertised. But he’s demonstrated some pretty unctuous behaviors of his own.

I’m sorry to see that people feel the need to troll the reasoned, well-thought out comments and place down votes just because they disagree on any support toward certain candidates.

Almost every comment I’ve made has been about the GOP Establishment being the worst concern for us, and I’ve been only trying to be fair about treatment of Donald. I’m not a hater, and recognize that there are obnoxious Trumpbots, but there are also obnoxious Cruz (who I want to win), Rubio bots, etc. etc.

Unless a remark is egregious, we ought to be reasonably respectful of different opinions. LI used to be that way.

    forksdad in reply to Lady Penguin. | February 25, 2016 at 2:08 pm

    Agreed and it is getting ridiculous. The derangement has not reached anti-Bush levels yet but it is climbing.

    Dear Lady Penguin,

    I count the downvotes as badges of honor. At the very least, the Donald exposes hypocrites in every corner.

    When reid does it, bad. When Romney does it, good (as long as he does it to the right person).

    If Reid had come out and said the same thing about trumps returns he said about Romney’s, most of the people here would be applauding, just like they are now with Romney’s exact same slander.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump responded to 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s comments on his tax returns by saying he would “make a determination over the next couple of months” whether to release his taxes during an interview broadcast on Wednesday’s “AC360” on CNN.

Trump said, “[M]y returns are extremely complex, and I’ll make a determination at the right time. I’m in no rush do it. Nobody’s been bringing it up except for Mitt Romney. And the reason he brings it up is that he lost in the last election, and lost very badly. So, I don’t know why he’s bringing it up. But tax returns are very complicated. I have many, many companies. I have tremendously — I have a very complex system of taxes. And frankly, I get audited every single year. So, mind — unlike everybody else, who never gets audited, I get audited every single year which I think is unfair, but I go through large audits. And that’s the way it is, but we’ll make a determination over the next couple of months. It’s very complicated.”

When asked if he means that he will release his tax returns, it’s just a matter of when, Trump stated, “No. I’ll make a determination. I will be making that determin[ation] over the next, I would say, couple of months, we’ll make that determination.”

http://www.breitbart.com/video/2016/02/24/trump-will-make-a-determination-over-the-next-couple-of-months-on-releasing-tax-returns/

A political science professor who claims his statistical model has correctly predicted the results of every election in the last 104 years has forecast that the odds of Donald Trump becoming America’s next president currently range from 97 percent to 99 percent.

The professor is Helmut Norpoth of Stony Brook University, reports The Statesman, the campus newspaper at the public bastion on New York’s Long Island.

Specifically, Norpoth predicts that Trump has a 97 percent chance of beating Hillary Clinton and a 99 percent chance of beating Bernie Sanders.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/02/24/political-science-professor-odds-of-president-trump-range-between-97-and-99/#ixzz41C4aXami

http://dailycaller.com/2016/02/24/political-science-professor-odds-of-president-trump-range-between-97-and-99/

Latest Quinnipiac Florida Poll

Trump 44%
Rubio 28%
Cruz 12%

When it comes to sticking a stiletto into a fellow Republican, suddenly Romney is Mitt the Machiavellian!

Unfortunately, when it came to beating beatable incumbent Barack Obama in 2012, Romney couldn’t even deal with Candy Crowley; couldn’t prosecute Benghazi; couldn’t competently handle the questions around his own taxes; could neither shun nor embrace his wealth; couldn’t comprehend that in 2012 maybe you should assume everything is recorded before writing off 47% of voters; couldn’t do one damn thing effectively to win even a single news cycle against a failed incumbent.

Oh, but look at Romney now — diving in the gutter and proving that Mr. Squeaky Clean is in fact quite capable of doing what it takes to win … against his own.

For America, Romney couldn’t do it, even as Team Obama accused him of murder.

To protect the Establishment Trough, though, suddenly he’s a Man willing to get his hands dirty.

You know who does not have this genetic defect? Donald J. Trump, and that is a very, very big part of his appeal.

Not that we needed it, but thanks for the reminder that the GOP Establishment needs to be burned to the ground, and its ashes tied to the roof a car that we bury in a luxury elevator.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/02/25/why-we-lose-where-was-dirty-trickster-mitt-romney-when-america-needed-him-in-2012/

    Ragspierre in reply to Gary Britt. | February 25, 2016 at 11:32 am

    Gari IMMEDIATELY up-thumbs his own bullshit!

    He does it reflexively, like he lies about everything.

    forksdad in reply to Gary Britt. | February 25, 2016 at 2:13 pm

    That’s why you can’t trust ‘moderates’. They only want to moderate their own side. I hate it when someone doesn’t know which side to face when the fighting starts.

http://patterico.com/2016/02/25/todays-anti-trump-links-february-25-2016/

There is an argument to be made that T-rump’s Collectivism is MORE dangerous than anything the Deemocrats COULD POSSIBLY impose in political reality.

    Radegunda in reply to Ragspierre. | February 25, 2016 at 11:55 am

    One reason for that is the capacity of Trump fans to accept ANYTHING from Trump that they would protest if anyone else did it. I see it every day.

    It’s about faith in Donald the Great more than any principles — and that includes immigration, because Trump was favoring amnesty while Cruz was actually trying to stop it, and Trump didn’t start sounding like a border hawk until he started running for president.

    If his build-a-wall line hadn’t gotten him a fan base, he would have dropped it and gone back to his pro-amnesty views.

    Any site like Patterico that publishes a daily list of anti-anything links is not a site that has any credibility. Which explains why you constantly link to them. Birds of a lying feather and all that..

      Ragspierre in reply to Gary Britt. | February 25, 2016 at 12:23 pm

      Your lies aren’t even rational, Gaghdad Bob.

      You post unfiltered bullshit from Trumpbart daily.

      Refute anything from Patterico. Factually. Or make a counter-argument.

      But you can’t. So all you do is slime.

First rule of Trumpism: “It’s always good when Trump does it!”

Bill Clinton cheats at golf — He’s fundamentally dishonest!
Trump routinely cheats at golf — He’s a winner!

Trump cheats people he does business with and says they should sue him for what he owes them — He’s a successful businessman!

Trump often sounds more leftist than any RINO — He can win!

    All BS all the time from our resident Hillary troll.

    Nothing truthful in your posts as per usual.

    There is absolutely stuff Trump could say or do that would cause his support to evaporate. All he has to do is to say he won’t build wall, deport illegals and enforce our laws. Just that simple.

    Because as you and all the other anti-Trump bots here keep ignoring this election and Trump’s support is about:

    Build Wall
    Deport Illegals
    Enforce our laws

    Then as gravy:

    SMART Free Trade Agreements
    Jobs
    Economy
    Temporary muslim ban

      Ragspierre in reply to Gary Britt. | February 25, 2016 at 12:09 pm

      But we KNOW that Der Donald IS the very image of lying hypocrisy.

      Properly used, the word “hypocrisy” is not a failure to fully live up to a standard one espouses. That is just being human.

      “Hypocrisy” is PRETENDING a standard you have no intent to adhere to.

      As here…

      http://hotair.com/archives/2016/02/25/nyt-trump-relying-heavily-on-foreign-worker-visas-to-staff-florida-resort/

      Yes, lying sacks of sharia, it IS a NYT story. Refute it factually.

      Ragspierre in reply to Gary Britt. | February 25, 2016 at 1:12 pm

      Slamming Disney for its use of H-1Bs, Matthew Boyle [TrumpBart flack] also proposed that the “scandal doesn’t seem to be going away, and only appears to be intensifying as the electoral season progresses.” What, one wonders, must Boyle then think of Trump? If we are to judge a man by his actions and not by his rhetoric — as I’m told we should — then Trump comes up short, no?

      **When 300 hardworking Americans tried to land a job at his resort, Trump kicked them to the curb and applied instead for 500 “H” visas.**

      It’s “election season” now, so I await the extensive Breitbart denunciation with bated, skeptical breath. In the meantime, the good people of America should realize that they’re being duped by a bad man who doesn’t give a hoot about anybody other than himself.

      Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/431908/donald-trump-immigration-hypocrite-who-ignores-american-workers

      Anyone who is not a cultist acolyte should have the intellectual integrity to investigate that.

Perhaps he’d rather not have us see that he is totally and completely beholden to the banks. Big time.

    His companies and properties have relatively little to no debt. One of the strengths of his company.

    He learned the hard way that the bubbles and crashes the government keeps doing to the real estate/construction markets is disastrous for companies loaded up with debt.

    He had to survive the government induced real estate/construction crashes of the mid to late 80s, the early 90s, and 2008. Most real estate/construction companies did NOT survive 80s and 90s crashes. As Charlie Gasparino FNC business analyst says what Trump did taking his companies with a net worth of zero after crashes of 1990 – 1991 to 10 Billion net worth with little to no debt is a MIRACLE.

      Ragspierre in reply to Gary Britt. | February 25, 2016 at 12:12 pm

      It’s ALSO a myth.

      Mr. Establishment owes hundreds of millions of dollars to New York banks and others.

        I don’t know if your claim is accurate or not. It is from you after all, a known liar.

        But assuming it is true. 100 million of debt on more than 10 billions worth of real estate and other assets is VERY LITTLE DEBT.

        That would be a debt to equity ratio of 1% !!!

          Ragspierre in reply to Gary Britt. | February 25, 2016 at 12:30 pm

          But a few billions of debt on a few billions of “net worth” is highly leveraged. Which has been a pattern with Mr. Establishment all his “business” career.

          As has lying, as you’ve been forced to admit.

          You lying SOS.

          Well now. Debt-laden, highly leveraged Trumph is his own man? The too big to fail, bailout-positioned Trumph?

          Ragspierre had his lies and poor math skills exposed and suddenly 100s of millions becomes billions in his next post.

          Rags just being Rags, making up his lies as he goes along.

          Trump’s companies have very little debt. That is the fact.

          1 Billion in debt on more than 10 Billion in real estate and other assets would be around 10% debt to equity ratio.

          What homeowner wouldn’t LOVE to have their home mortgage be only 10% of the value of their home instead of the usual 70%, 80%, 90% of the the value of their home.

          Ragspierre in reply to Gary Britt. | February 25, 2016 at 3:04 pm

          Gaghdad Bob Britt (and we know what he gags ON) will tell any lie.

          He’s inflated the dubious figure of “10 billion in net worth” to “more than 10 billion in net worth”.

          He has no real idea of the net worth of T-rump’s crony captitalist holdings, that he has lavishly lied, cheated, and defrauded to acquire.

          He has no real idea of how highly leveraged T-rump’s massed holding may be. We DO know that VERY high leveraging has been a hallmark of T-rump’s “business” for decades.

          We DO know that T-rump has used every corrupt means at his disposal to acquire his lucre. This includes oppressing his own tenants to drive them out of their homes in his buildings.

          We ALSO know that the lying, stinking Collectivist thug has even threatened the attorney’s who represent his victims.

          Watch and learn…

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcx5MH93cDU&feature=youtu.be

          Ragspierre: “He’s inflated the dubious figure of “10 billion in net worth” to “more than 10 billion in net worth”.

          Rags publishes another of his lies and reminds all in his zeal to lie for Cruz that he doesn’t have time for simple math or the ability to understand a simple net worth statement.

          1. We know Trump’s net worth and financial information because he has filed all financials required by law under oath, on time, and without extension of time to file.

          2. Trump’s net worth thereon is 10 Billion.

          3. Net Worth = Assets – liabilities, debts, and mortgages. OR AND NOW USING BASIC PRINCIPALS OF ALGEBRA THAT RAGS SLEPT THROUGH IN SCHOOL. That equation can be restated as. Assets = Net Worth + liabilities, debts, and mortgages.

          4. Therefore if Net Worth is 10 billion and if it is alleged that liabilities, debts, and mortgages, are greater than zero then simple math means Assets are GREATER THAN 10 Billion.

          Now let’s get past Rags financial and mathematical ignorance to his lies.

          Rags lies and says I said Trump has greater than 10 Billion net worth. However anyone who reads my posts will note that I actually wrote Trump has Assets in excess of 10 Billion which the above algebraic equations demonstrate MUST BE TRUE when net worth is 10 billion and liabilities, etc are asserted to be greater than zero.

          So we have demonstrated 3 things:

          1. Rags is a liar.

          2. Rags knows nothing about badic math, algebraic equations or how to read a financial statement.

          3. And most importantly Rags ability to lie and misinterpret a simple one page net worth statement shows exactly why Trump should never ever release his 3 ft thick tax return that would provide a near limitless opportunity for all the Rags in the world to tell lies and falsehoods about.

          This is EXACTLY why Huckabee said Trump should never release his tax returns.

          Ragspierre in reply to Gary Britt. | February 25, 2016 at 7:20 pm

          Algebra…???

          You’re a liar AND idiot! Hard to know WHICH you excel at!

          Assets minus liabilities = net worth

          That is NOT algebra. That’s like AVERAGES (just grade school math), which you ALSO don’t comprehend!

          But you can’t even show that T-rump has ASSETS worth what he claims as his NET WORTH.

          Lying SOS. Intercontinental Railroad Britt!

Nah, Rumney pulled a Reid on Trump that was pulled on Rumney to begin with. Both moves were/are despicable. Rummy is a damned disgrace who just can’t accept the fact that he LOST twice in his effort to become president. Now Yeb can join the club. Both need to know their role. And it ain’t interfering with the primaries and election.

My opinion of Romney is significantly lower than it was a few days ago.

Rick Perry has endorsed Ted Cruz.

So has Gov. Abbot. Which makes Cruz ahead of Donald Ducks.

People who know him love Cruz!

Heh…!!!

Trump is the classic school-yard bully. He likes to push people around and then cries like a little baby when somebody pushes back. After eight years of being embarrassed by our President, please God don’t let this blow-hard win.

Someone wrote a couple of masters thesis-long comments explaining why Trump’s tax returns won’t tell us his net worth; but the possibility that Trump may be pretending to be wealthier than he is comprises only one part of Mitt Romney’s point. Though Romney didn’t pretend to cite every possible reason voters might be interested in seeing Trump’s returns, he did also mention that Trump might not be paying as much in the way of taxes as we might expect from a man of his wealth (i.e., aggressively sheltering his income, not exaggerating his wealth), and that he might not be donating as much to veterans and the disabled as he brags about.

It has become a custom for presidential candidates to reveal at least a couple, most recent years of their tax returns as they ask the entire country to trust them with the keys to the White House. Why should Trump be an exception? Unless, of course, he has something to hide. Which is Romney’s non-specific point.

    gulfbreeze in reply to ReReFicoli. | February 26, 2016 at 3:07 am

    I’ll assume you meant my long posts. Sorry for the length, but I found no shorter way to accurately describe a very complex subject to an audience that likely had no exposure before.

    “he did also mention that Trump might not be paying as much in the way of taxes as we might expect from a man of his wealth (i.e., aggressively sheltering his income, not exaggerating his wealth),”

    I’ll keep this one as short as possible, still might be long.

    Even the notion of “aggressive sheltering” is impossible to evaluate from a RE investor’s tax returns.

    Real estate is one of the most tax advantaged investments that exist. Tax deductible depreciation of the improvements (anything that sits on top of the land) to the property insures that. The masses will not understand that depreciation concept, so while I have no doubt that Trump’s taxable income may appear very low, such a tax-advantaged income is completely appropriate and legal.

    A second point is this. What is a good real estate investment? Assuming the real estate in question has long-term value, it is any property with a net income that covers its debt service. If you can put as little investment into the property as possible and the net income it produces pays all the operating expenses and the debt service on the property, it’s a good RE investment. In other words, if the property makes $1 a year and covers all of those expenses and payments, it’s a good investment.

    Why? Because RE investment is a 4-bagger. Somebody else pays for the property, your net income goes up as rents increase, your net income explodes after the debt is paid off, and that property should be worth more down the road because of long-term appreciation.

    Oh, and guess what? When the investor pays off the debt, if they don’t want to receive their exploding taxable net income every month (since the mortgage is now gone), instead they can take out a new mortgage and the entire proceeds of the mortgage is tax free, and the rents will pay off that new mortgage over time. And the property is still increasing in long-term value with appreciation.

    So a RE investor could show $1/yr net income in perpetuity and create an infinite stream of tax-free return (whenever they refinance), all with their very low initial down payment.

    Showing that if the tax returns of a RE investor with very high net worth show very low taxable income, it says nothing about “aggressive sheltering of income”. Such low taxable income could, and most likely is, completely normal/appropriate/legal in RE.

    Of course, Trump critics’ heads will explode if his net income is low, but no one should presuppose anything in his tax returns no matter what the return shows. High income, low income, whatever. The number will be irrelevant because no one will know all of the background details of his properties.

Huckabee on FBN today said Trump should NEVER disclose any tax returns. It isn’t required by law, and says Trump shouldn’t do it.

I’m with Huckabee.

    Ragspierre in reply to Gary Britt. | February 25, 2016 at 2:37 pm

    #SuckTrump

    Telling the truth is not “required by law”, either. And a damn good thing for T-rump! He’d be in prison years ago!

    With supporters like Hucksterbeeeee, we know T-rump is a thug.

    But we knew that already. He’s a lying, stinking Collectivist fraudster.

The proper way to interpret this exchange is Trump pwned Mittens, as he pwns everyone who tries to diss on him. It’s clear now that what we have here is President-elect Donald J Trump.

Rush just made it abundantly clear that Der Donald is a lying liar WRT his attacks on Cruz.

Heh…!!!

So Romney lost to the man trump contributed to and voted for. Big deal. Trump would lose to Bernie.

The republican entitled elite have been attacking Trump since he announced that he’s running. MANY voters are p|ssed off with the republican entitled elite. The more the elite attack Trump, the more voters hate the entitled elite, and the more solidly they get behind Trump.