Donald Trump has been desperately hoping for a major game-changing revelation that might somehow alter the equation for him in his race against Joe Biden, who, according to most polls, is leading by a significant margin and poised to win in a landslide.
In other words, Trump needs an “October Surprise” to save him from going down in history as a failed one-term president.
But with Election Day now just 7 days away, there’s a potential surprise that could wind up destroying Trump’s already fading chances of winning.
Late last month, the New York Times reported it had obtained Trump’s tax returns and published an extensive investigation of what they found lurking in the documents: Trump is heavily in debt (some $421 million) and paid only $750 in federal taxes on two separate occasions, in 2015 and 2016.
However, we never actually got to see the returns, which must have come from someone close to Trump and the Trump Organization. The Times didn’t provide the actual returns, and that could wind up being bad news for the president.
Imagine in the closing days of the 2020 race (say a few days before November 3) that the same source the Times was fortunate enough to get Trump’s tax returns from decides to publish the returns online. Not just portions of them, but the entire kit and kaboodle. We might learn exactly who Trump owes all that money to, and we might also see the partnerships he has with foreign governments or leaders, not to mention long-hinted connections between the president and organized crime.
The Trump tax returns are the Rosetta Stone for understanding what possible crimes he and his company may have committed over the decades. And that’s why he keeps fighting in court to keep them from a Manhattan grand jury.
There’s another proverbial shoe to drop. And if it does, it could wind up being the death knell for what remains of Trump’s reelection effort.