The Trump Chronicles, Volume 22: Accountability 101: You Work For Us

Yesterday President Elect Donald Trump finally held the press conference he cancelled last year.

Since his election many of us have expressed concern over his conflicts of interest. He continues to refuse to release his tax returns and we have no idea whether or not his business interests might conflict with his role as President. Simply put, many of us want to know if he owes money to foreign governments. Is he in the pockets of foreign powers? His response: “Trust me.”

Speaking only for myself, I don’t. And I’m not alone. A week from today he will swear an oath to protect and defend the United States Constitution. I’m frightened that he will take the oath and not obey it.

He was born into wealth and spent his career spending (and losing) other peoples’ money. If you don’t believe me I challenge you to read Trump Revealed.

Mr. Trump spends much of his time falsely claiming his wealth has resulted from his brilliance. It hasn’t.

His career as a landlord and developer has depended on this truth: His wealth shielded him from needing to make his investments public. And it has shielded him from accountability.

Since none of his companies were publicly traded he’s never been accountable to anyone except himself and his father. Secrecy has served him well.

And now, for the first time in his life, he works for someone else: The American People. Suddenly we are not partners or employees but constituents. As a matter of fact, we are his boss and he is accountable to us.

But his press conference on Wednesday shows us much of what we need to know. When asked again to release his tax returns he said this: “Only reporters care about my tax returns. The American people don’t care. I won the election.”

The reality is that we do care. In a recent poll 74% of likely voters and 62% of Republicans reported that we do want to see his returns. He claims that if we really wanted to see them we wouldn’t have voted for him.

Here’s my answer: most of us didn’t vote for him and a significant number of those who did still feel uneasy that we don’t know as much as we should about his business interests.

In 2020 I look forward to saying this: You’re Fired.

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