As Twitchy reported, on hearing that someone had smuggled Donald Trump’s tax returns to Rachel Maddow at MSNBC, the forces of the resistance were dancing around Tuesday night like Ewoks celebrating the death of the galactic emperor.
Despite a couple of follow-up tweets that seemed intended to lower sky-high expectations while ensuring that ratings bump, people were glued to their TVs to find out what secrets would possibly end up in the history books as having taken down Trump at last.
She is about to go through a rich guy's tax returns. This should be powerful television.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) March 15, 2017
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) March 15, 2017
— Micah Grimes (@MicahGrimes) March 15, 2017
Evidently this 2005 gun ain't smoking.
— John Donvan (@JohnDonvan) March 15, 2017
Not even a half-hour into the broadcast, and Hillary Clinton’s former press secretary was already advising Democrats to drop the whole thing and pivot back to telling the American public that the Obamacare replacement will result in millions of people losing insurance by no longer being forced to buy it.
Dems should return focus to Trumpcare tomorrow & the millions it will leave uninsured, not get distracted by two pages from '05 tax return
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) March 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/EF517_V2/status/841825487852822529
It looks like people forgot for a minute just how boring tax returns and Maddow can be. After a windup that had many experiencing flashbacks to Geraldo Rivera stalling while workers drilled into Al Capone’s empty vault, viewers were left wondering if Trump hadn’t leaked the tax return himself, seeing as he came across looking pretty good.
BREAKING MSNBC NEWS: Trump paid millions of dollars in taxes in 2005.
— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) March 15, 2017
So Trump apparently paid 25% income tax rate overall in federal taxes in 2005. Low, but higher than Romney or many finance tycoons.
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) March 15, 2017
President Trump's tax rate from 2005, 25.3% of his $150 million income, is higher than the tax rate Bernie Sanders paid in 2014 at 13.5%. pic.twitter.com/6b537m14E3
— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) March 15, 2017
OK, so Trump had to have leaked these himself, right?
"It's entirely possible that Donald sent this to me." -David Cay Johnston, trolling right off the bat
— Matt Pearce ? (@mattdpearce) March 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/KatzOnEarth/status/841822815925989377
https://twitter.com/KatzOnEarth/status/841823273491025920
Excuse us … why are you watching this? We’re watching everyone else react to it, and it’s much more fun.
https://twitter.com/AprilDRyan/status/841823139730493440
Wait, did Trump leak this himself? He paid $38 million on $150 million in income? After all that stuff about his $1 billion carry forward?
— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) March 15, 2017
And there it is: David Johnston says Trump may have leaked the return to him, or someone close to him on his behalf
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) March 15, 2017
Why would someone leak a portion of a single year of a tax return?
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) March 15, 2017
My bet: Someone at the White House put this portion of a single tax return in this guy's mailbox as a way to make the issue look ridiculous
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) March 15, 2017
What is going on right now.
— Megan Murphy (@meganmurp) March 15, 2017
Nothing, vigorously
— ? Bryan O'Nolan ? (@BryanONolan) March 15, 2017
A disappointment, in 536 acts
— ?.?. ?????? (@intelwire) March 15, 2017
Sorry, Rosie.
– 2005? seriously
— ROSIE (@Rosie) March 15, 2017
well we got a tweet from her saying she had his taxes – heart pounding -SERIOUSLY she tweeted – not 2005 – dont lie @mercedesv76 @maddow #
— ROSIE (@Rosie) March 15, 2017
MSNBC’s choice to hype its half-hour broadcast of deflating balloon sound effects was enough to make people nostalgic for the last time a leaked tax return was going to take down Trump.
https://twitter.com/lpolgreen/status/841822321400782848
This Maddow "scoop" on 2005 tax return is totally insignificant compared to @nytimes previous tax disclosure https://t.co/CU1bkkZ9Me
— Dan Abrams (@danabrams) March 15, 2017
the NYT had a much bigger Trump tax scoop with much less annoying wind-up and irresponsible and unhelpful speculation
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) March 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/anirvanghosh/status/841823797091143682
.@brianefallon: I never could've predicted that I would be throwing cold water on a report about Trump's tax returns https://t.co/KbqC5Qktp6
— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) March 15, 2017
It appears @MSNBC / @Maddow decided one great night of ratings was worth weeks (months?) of mockery….
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) March 15, 2017
This is how she sets up her show EVERY NIGHT. It's not new.
— Kris☔ (@KrisandBugachi) March 15, 2017
'I think it is reasonable to expect that there's more out there' – Watch @Maddow's final thoughts on #TrumpTaxes pic.twitter.com/dnr1w2sxNo
— Variety (@Variety) March 15, 2017
So be sure to stay tuned right here in case some of it turns up for real, OK?
Join the conversation as a VIP Member