Anatomy of a Lie

On May 14, 2014, Donald Trump said in an interview (link here): "If I decide to run for office, I’ll produce my tax returns. Absolutely. I would love to do that." This was the first of many documented promises he made to release his taxes.

During the early part of the campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to release the returns before the election. But as the campaign season wore on, he suddenly began qualifying that statement: He would release the returns but only if an audit was completed before the election. Trump refused to provide proof he was being audited.

Of course, the law does not prevent him from releasing tax returns even if he was being audited. Richard Nixon released his tax returns notwithstanding he was under an audit.

After the election, Trump's spokesperson broke the promise he had made repeatedly, saying he would never release his tax returns (link here). The rationale for this, notwithstanding he had given his word to do so many times, was a claim that nobody cared about the tax returns.

This was a lie within a lie -- numerous opinion polls have shown that three quarters of the American people believe that he should release his returns.

Once again, Trump's tax returns are a hot issue in the news because of the escalating Russia scandal and a number of conflicting statements made about the President's investments there. Trump himself has said he has no investments in Russia, but his son has contradicted that in interviews: "we see a lot money pouring in from Russia."

The Los Angeles Times ran a thoughtful editorial yesterday with the title "What is Donald Trump hiding in his tax returns? And will they ever see the light of day?" (link here). It's an interesting piece that details why releasing the returns is so important and how that may happen even if Trump refuses to release them himself.

So let's be blunt for a moment: Trump never intended to release his tax returns. He lied over and over during the campaign to keep kicking the can down the road, hoping that the issue would go away.

He managed to win the White House, even though he lost the popular vote by nearly three million votes. Once in the White House, he flatly broke his promise when his flack said he was never releasing any returns.

He lied dozens of times and then just walked away from his promise.

This is why he cannot be trusted about any promises he made or makes to the LGBT community. The upside-down flag was a deception, just like his lies about the tax returns.

His promise to sign the hateful "First Amendment Defense Act," which would legalize discrimination against LGBT Americans, proves his claim to be pro-LGBT is just another in an endless parade of lies.

When a man lies hundreds of times, only a fool would continue to believe him.