October 3, 2016 | No Comments
PUEBLO, Colo. — Sinking in the polls and facing a merciless barrage of negative news stories as he begins what may be the most important week of the presidential campaign, Donald Trump tried on a new persona Monday — the underdog.
In this hardscrabble, blue-collar town, the Manhattan billionaire presented his own story as one of grit and determination, describing how he rebounded from tough times in an attempt to explain the $916 million loss he claimed in 1995, which he attributed to an economic slowdown “almost as bad as the Great Depression,” that possibly allowed him to avoid paying income taxes for almost two decades.
As Hillary Clinton hammered his checkered financial past while stumping in Ohio, Trump unapologetically defended his tax history — none of which he has been willing to disclose — and credited himself for “brilliantly” working the system.
“As a businessman and real estate developer, I have legally used the tax laws to my benefit and to the benefit of my company, my investors and my employees. I mean, honestly, I have brilliantly — I have brilliantly used those laws,” Trump told around 2,000 supporters packed inside a hotel ballroom. “I have often said on the campaign trail that I have a fiduciary responsibility to pay no more tax than is legally required, like anybody else, or put another way: to pay as little tax as legally possible. And I must tell you, I hate the way they spend our tax dollars.”
It marked Trump’s first serious comments about Saturday evening’s New York Times report, which he framed as “an alleged tax filing from the 1990s at the end of one of the most brutal economic downturns in our country’s history.”
Although Trump has filed bankruptcy on behalf of his businesses four times, he sought the crowd’s approval for never personally filing for bankruptcy, asking, “Are you proud of me?”
Trump framed his financial turnaround as that of a “very successful private business person,” juxtaposing his career with that of Clinton, who he argued, “has never created a single job in her life” and “made her money as a corrupt private official.”
Claiming that his company is “bigger, stronger” than ever before, Trump reveled in his success story, taking the full measure of credit for his comeback.
“That did not happen by chance or luck. It happened by action and talent,” he said. “Lot of talent. I was able to use the tax laws of this country and my business acumen to dig out of the real estate mess — you would call it a depression — when few others were able to do what I did.”
Trump’s narrative wasn’t just a rebuttal to Clinton’s allegation that the billionaire mogul has gone out of his way to avoid paying his share of taxes. It was also an allegory for where he finds himself as the race for the White House nears its climactic stage, a Knute Rockne-like speech meant to inspire his supporters amid a difficult stretch and, perhaps most importantly, himself.
“Many people have said over the years I perform better under pressure than anyone they have ever seen,” Trump said.
After a poor performance in the first debate with Clinton that is still on his mind a week later — he also dumped on the Commission on Presidential Debates and moderator Lester Holt (who he’d initially praised) — and a week of unrestrained excuse-making, recriminations and bombast that have only compounded the damage, Trump now trails by growing margins in national and several swing state polls.
“When the chips are down is when I’m at my very best,” said Trump, who lost millions in the casino business. “They said I was finished,” he said. “Everybody said I was done. I am still here.”
Supporters here loudly cheered Trump’s defiant determination and his vow to fight harder in the second debate this coming Sunday in St. Louis, a chance for redemption he at least outwardly seems to be relishing even though his full week of rallies leaves scant time for more intense debate prep.
Trump also looked to shore up another weak spot: his temperament, which only 23 percent of voters believe to be well suited for the presidency, according to a poll taken following the first debate.
“You know, my temperament is probably the best,” Trump said, claiming it’s what helped him “escape that financial jungle” during the mid-1990s.
The real estate mogul said that as a major developer, he faces “enormous taxes,” including taxes from the city, state and federal governments, in addition to sales, excise and employee taxes. But he also argued that while it’s in his best interest to pay as little tax as possible, he gives back by investing in communities.
“It’s my job to minimize the overall tax burden to the greatest extent possible, which allows me to reinvest in neighborhoods, in workers and build amazing properties, which fuel tremendous growth in their communities, and always help our great providers of jobs, and we have to help our small businesses,” he said.
Trump highlighted tax reform as a key plank of his campaign, vowing to fix a system he deemed broken and unfair.
“Fixing our broken tax code is one of the main reasons I’m running for president,” he said. “I’ve been saying from the beginning of this campaign how ridiculous, complex and — yes, unfair — the tax system is. It is an unfair system and so complex that very few people understand it.”
He also suggested that the broken tax code is no fault of the IRS. Rather, the blame lies at the feet of “the political class that is owned outright by special interests and lobbyists.”
“Believe me,” Trump said. “It’s these politicians who wrote the tax code and who are constantly adding, revising and changing an already over-complicated set of laws, all at the behest of their favorite donors and special interests, who want special provisions in it — and they won’t take no for an answer. It’s thousands of pages long, and almost no one understands it. The average American would need an army of accountants and lawyers to wade through and wade through it.”
Trump also questioned so-called experts, who he said have no idea what the pages represent “due to their sheer size and complexity of the code.”
“These are experts. They get paid, and they don’t even know what it represents,” he said. “The unfairness of the tax laws is unbelievable. It’s something I’ve been talking about for a long time, despite, frankly, being a big beneficiary of the laws. But I’m working for you now. I’m not working for Trump. Believe me.”
Trump maintained that he understands the tax laws “better than almost anyone, which is why I am one who can truly fix them,” adding: “I understand it. I get it. And that is what I commit to do.”