Trump remains the least transparent major presidential nominee in modern history. He is the first since 1976 to refuse to release his tax returns. He has declined to provide documentation of the “tens of millions” of dollars he claims to have donated to charity. He has yet to release a comprehensive accounting of his health. And, while Wednesday’s letter about Melania Trump’s immigration from her home country offers a few new details, there is no documentation to back up the claims.
In summary:
- Trump says he’s a billionaire, but refuses to release his tax returns to prove it.
- He says he’s a brilliant businessman but refuses to release any corporate financials to prove it.
- He says he gives millions to charity, but refuses to release any records to prove it.
In the end, though, he gets away with this because everyone sort of assumes he’s just bullshitting about this stuff anyway. That’s too bad. It’s pretty obvious that these records would put Trump in a bad light, and the reason he doesn’t release them is that he figures the hit from being non-transparent is less than the hit he’d take from voters knowing the truth. He’s almost certainly right about that, but only because he’s not really taking much of a hit from being non-transparent. The only way to force candidates to be accountable is to hold their feet to the fire if they aren’t, and this just isn’t happening with Trump.
