Friday, May 10, 2019

More congressional hypocrisy

Every American should be getting fed up with the hypocrisy that consumes politics. Instead of focusing on the many critical issues facing our nation, Democrats cannot get past their hatred for President Trump long enough to actually do the work we pay them to do. Unfortunately, much of the same thing happened during President Obama's term on the other side of the aisle. As long as partisan politics continues to rule Congress our nation is stuck dealing with the same issues it has dealt with now for years.

Jerry Nadler is livid over the fact that the Attorney General refuses to appear before his committee to face questions regarding the Mueller report. He led the effort to find the AG held in contempt of Congress saying his refusal to testify is an attack on our democracy. However, in 2012 Nadler walked out of a Republican-led effort to hold then AG Eric Holder in contempt for refusing to appear before Congress to testify in the Fast and Furious gun-running scandal that occurred during President Obama's term. At the time he tweeted the vote was shameful and politically-motivated.

Nadler has also filed a subpoena for a copy of the unredacted Mueller report. However, back in the Clinton era this same Nadler was cautioning against releasing the details of Ken Star's report that eventually led to Clinton's impeachment. These are just a couple of the examples of the hypocrisy that runs rampant in Washington.

Another example is the recent release of President Trump's tax returns from the late 1980s to the early 1990s that showed Trump lost over $1 billion. Immediately, his critics jumped on those losses especially when the report from the New York Times said that Trump owed no taxes for eight of the 10 years they reported.

What the critics seem to forget is that many businesses lost money during that time frame, and when a business loses money they are allowed to deduct that loss on their tax returns. I am quite sure if the Times loses money they show that on their tax returns to reduce the amount of tax they owe. The same is true of any of Trump's other critics. It's also true that a lot of the losses incurred by businesses are paper losses, not actual money losses. Businesses are allowed by law, passed by Congress, to deduct many things as a loss that are losses on paper only. This is especially true when it comes to real estate. Although most years real estate increases in value, business owners can depreciate rental properties over a period of time allowed by the IRS. In writing all this I am assuming Trump's accountants followed all the laws regarding business losses, and with the likelihood of him being audited each year they would be foolish not to. With that assumption, his losses are legal under the laws created by Congress and regulated by the IRS, and anyone who wants to criticize him for following those laws is simply being hypocritical.

The constant attacks on President Trump and those in his cabinet do nothing but take up valuable time that should be spent on more important matters. The independent counsel's report was not what the Democrats wanted, so they continue to seek new ways to destroy the President. If both political parties cared more about America than they do about the next election maybe some wonderful things could happen that would address the real issues facing this great nation of ours.

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