Yesterday, the New Yorker quoted a mystified former adviser to Mitt Romney wondering aloud why nobody in the GOP has really taken a bare-knuckles approach to challenging Donald Trump. A few hours after that piece was published, Romney waltzed into the fray and
Advertisement
“This will give us a real sense of whether these people are on the up and up and whether they’ve been telling us things about themselves that are true or not. Frankly, I think we have good reason to believe that there’s a bombshell in Donald Trump’s taxes...I think there’s something there. 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, or perhaps he hasn’t been giving money to the vets or to the disabled like he’s been telling us he’s been doing, and the reason that I think there’s a bombshell in there is because every time he’s asked about his taxes he dodges and delays and says, well, we’re working on it.”
Romney isn't quite pulling a Harry Reid here, as he's not peddling rumor as fact -- but he is employing Trumpesque innuendo to raise questions that The Donald may find unhelpful. The former Republican presidential nominee ticks off a list of possible embarrassments Trump may be trying to keep under wraps, zeroing in on possibilities that pertain to subjects about which Trump likes to boast. (For what it's worth, the charitable giving for-instance here seems entirely plausible). How about it, Donald? You're running for the highest office in the land. You say you're a stupendously successful businessman with nothing to hide. And you've contended that your rivals' alleged baggage could turn into general election liabilities. Don't Republican voters have a right to know if there's a ticking time bomb in your past (
Advertisement
Mitt Romney,who totally blew an election that should have been won and whose tax returns made him look like a fool, is now playing tough guy
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2016
A perfectly Trumpian non-sequitur. Setting aside the fact that part of the reason Romney lost in 2012 was Democrats' ability to tie him to...Donald Trump, the former Massachusetts Governor's tax returns actually made him look like a diligent, law-abiding, hugely successful, prodigiously generous human being. Clear away the under-informed, Democrat-playbook cheap shots, and the question remains: What is sitting in Trump's returns that he seems so intent on hiding? Isn't this guy supposed to be a fearless, straight-shooting champion of the people? When CNN's Anderson Cooper pressed Trump on this point in an interview last night, the wealthy heir's response was fascinating:
Well, well, well. Mr. Non-politician sounds an awful lot like a squirrely, slippery politician here. "We'll make that determination" over the next "several months," he says of the decision whether to release his tax records, adding that he's in "no rush" to do so because nobody is really talking about it. But Mitt Romney is. And now the media
Advertisement
.@marcorubio plans to release tax returns this weekend, per campaign.
— Alex Leary (@learyreports) February 24, 2016
Advertisement
What a coincidence! Within hours of Romney raising the tax returns issue to rattle Trump, Rubio's campaign just happens to announce their forthcoming disclosure plans. It's almost as if this two-step was part of a coordinated effort to focus attention on a Trump vulnerability. (When does collaboration turn into overt support?) Now that this is officially a campaign issue (just as his upcoming fraud trial should be, too), who wants to bet we'll hear about it at tonight's debate? And if Trump's response is to mutter something about complications and post-nomination "determinations," will anyone else on stage be willing to call him out, aggressively?
Join the conversation as a VIP Member