Yesterday, Fox’s Neil Cavuto kissed up to Donald Trump in an “exclusive” where they both pretended Trump might run for president and that he has some real ideas about taxes.
Cavuto set the tone with his introduction: “You ever look at what’s going on around Washington, folks, and just think, you know, ‘You’re fired, you’re all fired?’ Well I can’t say it as well as this next guy.”
It’s hard to believe Cavuto or anyone on Fox could actually believe that Trump is going to run for president. But either out of colossal gullibility or dishonesty, they keep acting like he really might run this time. Cavuto said about Trump, “If I’m hearing the rumor mill correctly, he just might be going to Washington or looking to do that.”
Even worse was Cavuto’s attempt to present Trump as a tax policy wonk. “What would you do to simplify it?” Cavuto asked about the tax code.
“Frankly, it would be nice to get rid of everybody and just have either a fair tax, a flat tax or certainly a simplified code,” Trump responded.
The whole thing seemed little more than a venue for Trump to boast about “the fortune” he pays to tax preparers and how “a guy like me, the real estate taxes I pay – forget it!”
He also claimed that the U.S. is “the highest taxed nation in the world, we’re number one in taxation.”
But according to Forbes, Belgium has the highest income tax rate, while the U.S. is eighth.
Rather than challenge Trump’s assertion, Cavuto seemed like he was trying to talk Trump into running for president. “Are you serious and what would make you very serious and file the paperwork and run?” Cavuto asked.
For Trump, that was just another opportunity to show off his big ego. “I built a great company in a relatively short period of time,” he bragged. “It’s a tremendous company. Some of the great assets of the world and the world of real estate and other things, and I am tired, just sick and tired of seeing the way the country is run.”
Cavuto asked again, “Is it enough at this point, unlike four years ago, unlike eight years ago, where you’re saying, ‘You know what dammit? This time, I’m going to do it, I’m going to run?”
Short answer: no.
Trump’s answer: “Well, I looked at it seriously four years ago, and you know I came very close. …I’m looking at it extremely seriously. I’ve done a lot of things that I’ve never done before. I have a very big staff of people as you know in Iowa, in South Carolina, we have a lot of people.”
But Cavuto tried again. “You’re also a pretty savvy businessman and you know when you run for office, your financial life is an open book. Are you willing to show that to the world to save the world?”
Trump replied, “I’m probably the only person that ever was going to run and thinking about running last time, as you know, I gave a full financial statement. I’m very proud of my company.”
Karoli has a great rundown at Crooks and Liars about Trump’s grifting on this question.
And if Trump is such a great businessman, why do his companies keep filing for bankruptcy?
Cavuto didn’t ask, of course.
Watch it below, from yesterday's Your World, via Crooks and Liars.