By Jen Froderman / 09.13.2016
The co-founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, has joined a veteran in putting up funds, up to five million dollars, to one of Trump’s “favorite” causes IF Trump finally releases his taxes. So, if Donald Trump really is just a savvy, mostly honest, decent businessman with nothing to hide who just LOVES our vets, we will see his taxes before the October 19th debate.
Mr. Hoffman announced that he is joining Peter Kiernan, a former Marine, in the fundraising effort to entice Trump to release his returns. In fact, he may just quintuple the effort, promising a five to one matching donation up to five million dollars. Kiernan’s Crowdpac fundraiser had an original goal of $25,000 dollars but has already passed $100,000 dollars as of Tuesday, so now has a one million dollar goal.
Kiernan’s message is powerful:
“All military recruits make required disclosures before we are declared fit to serve. As a man who claims to be a big supporter of veterans like me, I’m hoping this message will encourage Mr. Trump to meet our standard and show us what kind of leader he would be by finally making his tax returns public.”
It appears that people, despite Trump’s protest that they don’t care, really do. So much so that they are willing to put their money where their mouths are. People are afraid that the information in his tax returns will lead to legal problems. They are afraid of having a president with that much to hide. They want to know what he made, how much he gave to charity (in reality, not his boasts) and they want to know what he paid in taxes.
We know that Hillary and Bill Clinton paid 35 percent in taxes, we know what they made and who they gave to. They were not afraid to release the information, yet Trump continues to attack Hillary as non-transparent while he is the one hiding his financial information like his campaign depends on it.
Mr. Hoffman wrote:
“In a functioning democracy, the public shouldn’t be forced to bargain with a major presidential candidate to obtain access to his tax returns. And for the last 40 years, it hasn’t had to. With the exception of Gerald Ford, every major candidate has shared this information with voters.”
It remains to be seen if the information that Trump seems so desperate to keep from the American public is damning enough that he would take up to six million dollars from veterans just to keep it secret. Donald Trump himself said that presidential candidates should release their tax returns when Romney ran, so what is it that would keep him from doing so now?
It’s simple, and the ball is in Trump’s court. The mere act of releasing his returns would help thousands of vets, or more. His flimsy excuses about audits surely can’t outweigh the good five million dollars would do our veterans, right?
Are you holding your breath yet?
Didn’t think so.