Birther David Bossie, Donald Trump’s former deputy campaign manager and now a Fox News contributor, visited Fox & Friends today to help the Trump Cheerleading Squad delegitimize calls for Trump to release his tax returns and to snow viewers into believing the lie that Americans don’t care.
Cohost Steve Doocy asked Bossie, “Would it make a difference if the president DID release his tax returns?”
Of course, it would make a big difference, as Democratic Senator Ron Wyden explained in a New York Times editorial: We need to know what financial conflicts of interest Trump may have, to whom he owes money, and whether or not he is telling the truth about having no ties to Russia.
But Bossie said, “The American people don’t care. … This is a very unimportant thing to the president and to most Americans.”
That was an obvious lie. We know the thousands of people marching across America got under Trump’s skin because he tweeted twice to attack them. More significantly, a January, 2017 poll found that 74% of Americans want Trump’s taxes released.
Not one of the three cohosts mentioned that statistic. Instead, Trump sycophant Ainsley Earhardt helped promote and validate Trump’s dishonest attack on the protesters:
EARHARDT: The president basically tweeted after that Tax Day rally that was happening across the country, he basically said, “I won. The election is over and let’s move on.” He also tweeted that someone should look into who paid for the small, organized rallies. Who is behind these rallies, if they are getting paid?
Funny, we thought telling viewers who is behind rallies and whether or not protesters are astroturf was the job of a reporter, not a political operative from the other side.
Predictably, Bossie took Earhardt’s comments as a cue to amplify the Trump validation:
BOSSIE: You know these paid protesters, paid professional protesters, because that’s what they are. Maybe they need to be paying taxes on the money they’re getting from these left-wing organizations, all funded by George Soros and these others. There’s several dozen left-wing organizations that are out there, that are professionally organizing and paying these folks, so I’d like to see their tax returns.
Bossie has made a career out of smearing and lying yet nobody asked for evidence to back up his accusation. Instead, Doocy looked on with an approving smile.
Furthermore, Bossie sang quite a different tune when Trump was demanding President Barack Obama release his long-form birth certificate - a bogus attack in the first place, given that Obama had already proven his citizenship before Trump mounted his racist, mean-spirited and disrespectful campaign, aided and abetted by Fox News.
Here’s what Bossie wrote in 2011 (via Media Matters):
Why did the mainstream media not demand Obama’s birth certificate in 2008, just like they demanded records from Bill Clinton and George W. Bush in 1992 and 2000, respectively? There is a lesson to be learned here for members of the press corps who are sympathetic to Mr. Obama to a fault. Giving him a free pass on politically inconvenient issues does not help him in the long run politically. In fact, this issue has demonstrated it is quite the opposite. In U.S. presidential elections before 2008, there was something referred to as a “vetting” process.
[...]
Mr. Trump, of all people, has stepped up to the plate in asking the basic questions and demanding the elementary records the mainstream media should have investigated in 2008. Trump’s ability to force both Mr. Obama and the media’s hands has been something to behold. Next up for The Donald are the President’s college records. Once again, an issue that could have and should have been resolved long ago.
In fact, all presidents since 1976 have released their tax returns. But somehow not one of the three cohosts thought that worth mentioning, either.
By the way, Ellen was at one of the Tax Marches. She attended with two friends. Nobody was paid. Not even reimbursement for signs, gas or parking! Members of her family attended another rally in another city and none were paid there, either.
So, Mr. Bossie, since you claim to know so much about this, could you let George Soros know he owes us?
Meanwhile, watch Trump TV go all out to help their BFF weasel out of releasing his tax returns below, from the April 18, 2017 Fox & Friends.