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Comment by skyyler | Hacker News Reader

I don't follow US politics. How would that help? Legitimate question.

Many suspect he is deeply in debt to and sustained by various Russian banks. A positive cash flow would dispel some of that concern.

I personally doubt he is, but it’s a more reasonable concern considering how unwilling he is to disclose his financial situation.

>Many suspect he is deeply in debt to and sustained by various Russian banks

Are there people who suspect this who are not qanon or similar nutjobs?

Why do they suspect that?

Would a positive cash flow dispel any of that concern? If people are up in arms about what seems to be suspicion, why would anything on his tax return make any suspicion go away?

For context, the main "Russian bank" that people suspect Trump of being deeply in debt to is Deutsche Bank. Releasing his tax returns wouldn't help with those concerns because they're already so tenuously related to the facts that any release would just supply more bits of information that could be spun somehow as proof of Russian ties.

The public presently has very little information about Trump’s personal financials. He has refused to release his tax returns despite long precedent and intense political pressure. His excuses for this have been very weak.

The idea is that the reason for this secrecy is that he is hiding something which would be politically damaging, such as the long-rumored (and denied) financial links to Russian oligarchs

It wouldn't. They're just trying to get their talking point in.

Their demand for his tax returns is because they've not been able to use anything else to remove him from office. They're hoping they can find a little bit of dirt with which to hang him. Good thing he's squeaky clean.

If he's squeaky clean, why is he scared shitless of people seeing his finance records

You're attributing that he's scared, when he is simply exercising his right to conduct his personal business privately.

This would be a perfectly reasonable argument for almost anyone in the world, but most certainly not for Donald Trump due to his position and his track record of statements on public record on Twitter, of all places.

By your example, I could argue that you posting publicly here in HN eliminates your right to keep your personal finances private.

You cannot authorize a different standard of law to a person without invalidating that law.

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