Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump's campaigns agree on one thing: The potential damage from the revelation in The New York Times that Trump could have avoided paying federal income taxes for 18 years after declaring a $916 million loss in 1995 isn't the taxes part, CBS News' chief White House correspondent Major Garrett explained Monday night. "It's not so much tax fairness, that's a secondary issue," he said. "Both campaigns know the biggest vulnerability exposed by this story was Trump was a crappy businessman in the '90s. And Trump knows that's a big vulnerability if that becomes a cemented attitude about his relationship to business and business acumen."
Trump is trying to argue that the real story is that he was a "tough, stalwart businessman who used every tool imaginable to save his company," including using "creative approaches to the tax code," Garrett said. But that story "will probably not stand up to the test of time or more intense scrutiny." The things Trump "glossed over," he explained, include that "the recession of 1990-91 was one of the most mild of the postwar era," that "it didn't particularly hit the real estate market as much as Trump represented," and that his losses were actually from his almost-bankrupted airline and the "pretty strategic miscalculations" Trump made with his Atlantic City casinos. Watch below. Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Today's political cartoons - May 11, 2024Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - bathroom blues, family feud, and more
-
5 blustery cartoons about the Stormy Daniels testimonyCartoons Artists take on gag orders, lurid details, and more
-
The Idea of You review: 'impossible escapism' starring Anne HathawayThe Week Recommends Steamy romcom about a 40-year-old who falls for a boy band singer
-
Empty-nest boomers aren't selling their big homesSpeed Read Most Americans 60 and older do not intend to move, according to a recent survey
-
Brazil accuses Musk of 'disinformation campaign'Speed Read A Brazilian Supreme Court judge has opened an inquiry into Elon Musk and X
-
Disney board fends off Peltz infiltration bidSpeed Read Disney CEO Bob Iger has defeated activist investor Nelson Peltz in a contentious proxy battle
-
Disney and DeSantis reach detenteSpeed Read The Florida governor and Disney settle a yearslong litigation over control of the tourism district
-
Visa and Mastercard agree to lower swipe feesSpeed Read The companies will cap the fees they charge businesses when customers use their credit cards
-
Reddit IPO values social media site at $6.4 billionSpeed Read The company makes its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange
-
Housing costs: the root of US economic malaise?speed read Many voters are troubled by the housing affordability crisis
-
Feds cap credit card late fees at $8speed read The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule to save households an estimated $10 billion a year
