As Twitchy reported, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow announced not long ago that she had “Trump tax returns,” which sent just about the whole of social media into a frenzy as members of the resistance tried to work out with paper and crayon just how steps lay between Tuesday night’s broadcast and Hillary Clinton’s inauguration.
SIREN https://t.co/qAgAez0SM6
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) March 14, 2017
Sweet. https://t.co/lYlAUv7r71
— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) March 14, 2017
Maddow now has her own countdown clock pic.twitter.com/0nFcLKi9Gp
— Joshua Hoyos (@JoshuaHoyos) March 15, 2017
Oh lol just have to wait through a few commercial breaks to learn THE FATE OF DEMOCRACY
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) March 15, 2017
Trying to decide between Drudge sirens or "whoa if true" https://t.co/y5YbbRkXCQ
— Anthony Zurcher (@awzurcher) March 14, 2017
This is huge. #Trumptaxreturns @maddow
— Mia Farrow (@MiaFarrow) March 15, 2017
The holy grailhttps://t.co/h3in4N1lyK
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) March 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/841801609956986880
Before running to light up the Hillary signal, though, a lot of journalists and pundits took a moment to breathe into a paper bag and parse that tweet. Maddow has “Trump tax returns”?
https://twitter.com/nickbilton/status/841798744915890176
every millennial pic.twitter.com/jQdov07oF8
— Matt Petronzio (@mattpetronzio) March 15, 2017
Goes without saying that @maddow really has to deliver here… Big build up.
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) March 14, 2017
Can I just say that if Maddow actually had the tax returns, there's no way MSNBC is holding them for an hour?
— Kate Feldman (@kateefeldman) March 14, 2017
If anyone over at @MSNBC had whiff of Trump's tax returns, do you really think they would wait until 9pm to show it?#CommonSense #Ratings
— Wayne Dupree ?? (@WayneDupreeShow) March 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/jacobperry/status/841801410329116676
And now, following the jumping around like toddlers on a sugar high, comes the time for the slow but steady lowering of expectations.
https://twitter.com/jbillinson/status/841799407146303489
https://twitter.com/jbillinson/status/841802689268842497
https://twitter.com/RunGomez/status/841803685856337920
I hope this isn't like the vault Geraldo opened…
— brian wise (@bridwise) March 14, 2017
Um… @maddow? Does "We've got Trump tax returns" mean the same thing as "We've got Donald Trump's tax returns"? Asking for a country.
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) March 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/malonebarry/status/841798033620754433
https://twitter.com/kashanacauley/status/841798896544301056
Everyone is going to be so mad when she devotes her whole show to Bob Trump's tax returns. https://t.co/LHGJt5v13u
— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) March 14, 2017
I'm gonna place my marker on tax returns that Trump filed with some government regulator back in the day as part of a business deal
— Matt Pearce ? (@mattdpearce) March 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/841804857443028992
Well this ought to be interesting. My guess is that they have A set of tax returns from one year. Still should be interesting. https://t.co/wlI43eAOOT
— Meredith W (@EmergentRisk) March 14, 2017
What’s more interesting than a tax return, except maybe an old tax return?
One closer inspection, maybe even claiming “tax returns” was overselling tonight’s episode?
On @maddow I'll break a big story about Trump and his taxes – 9PM eastern via @DCReportMedia Ill be on @lawrence, too.
— David Cay Johnston (@DavidCayJ) March 15, 2017
It appears to be "a" tax return — one year: https://t.co/0QnwefTd8B
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) March 15, 2017
#BREAKING We have a Trump tax return . @DavidCayJ will be on @maddow @MSNBC at 9pm & @Lawrence at 10pm EST to discuss it
— DCReport (@DCReportMedia) March 15, 2017
2005 1040 is unlikely to be as informational as folks want, unless there are supporting documents.
— Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) March 15, 2017
OK, even Maddow is resetting expectations at this point.
What we've got is from 2005… the President's 1040 form… details to come tonight 9PM ET, MSNBC.
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) March 15, 2017
Booooo https://t.co/rPfGDN03vL
— ?.?. ?????? (@intelwire) March 15, 2017
Just the 1040 from 11 years ago? That's a bit underwhelming. https://t.co/UmhpaaDxtT
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) March 15, 2017
Just for context, this tax return is from a year that Trump was still a Democrat.
— Steven Rich (@dataeditor) March 15, 2017
The media when Maddow tweeted that she was going to release Trump's tax returns tonight only to clarify it's just his 1040 from 2005. pic.twitter.com/qLdSGa5LWz
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) March 15, 2017
If Trump isn’t removed from office by Thursday at the latest, people are gonna be ticked.
In related news, the phones at Peter Fonda’s house still have hooks.
Wow! @maddow, I put time aside for your show but now I'm taking all the phones off their hooks. TAX RETURNS!
?— Peter Henry Fonda (@iamfonda) March 15, 2017
* * *
Update:
It didn’t take long for the White House to respond:
WH responds to MSNBC report on Trump tax returns: "you know you are desperate when you willing to violate the law…" pic.twitter.com/DCedFdxWCc
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) March 15, 2017
trying to make journalists look like criminals for publishing something that Trump should have released willingly https://t.co/tE9HFnXBgm
— Matt Pearce ? (@mattdpearce) March 15, 2017
Dishonest media?
He promised to release his taxes and didn't. https://t.co/2pQ9wMCBmn
— Ron Fournier (@ron_fournier) March 15, 2017
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