An editorial written by the New York Daily News editorial board on Monday delivered a scathing rebuke to former President Donald Trump over his recently released tax returns, which the editors argued should dispel any remaining notion that he is a business genius.
In fact, the editors argued that Trump’s taxes showed that he was “not so rich or so smart” and was really nothing more than a “bad businessman who racked up huge losses” even as he made repeated boasts about his purported great wealth.
In fact, note the Daily News editors, Trump’s stated finances were so dodgy that even his former accounting firm felt compelled to issue a statement after it dropped him as a client that his financial statements should not be relied upon.
In fact, the editors conclude, the biggest reason that Trump tried to keep his tax returns hidden so long is that they exposed his image as a fraud.
“He’s not such a rich man,” they write. “His adjusted gross income was negative, mostly from a Net Operating Loss carryover of $105,157,825. He had to pay the IRS $707,123. No wonder the fraud didn’t want Americans to see.”