If you’re like me when that Trump “Goldengate” story broke you immediately started searching the internet for pertinent information.  Also if you’re like me, when you found it you realized fairly quickly it was so bazaar it was in need of some serious fact checking.  In case you are fortunate enough to somehow be unaware of the sordid details, just google “Buzzfeed golden shower”.  You can find how the media handled the situation here.  Personally I don’t think CNN can claim to be totally blameless for the blowback.  True, what they reported was factual, but they opened the door that BuzzFeed saw as opportunity to release the entirety of the salacious document.  Maybe there is something to this story, maybe not.  But our media had better resist the temptation to be first on the block to disclose a story when it is unsubstantiated.

Of course this story is not without irony.  As explained here President Trump is a notorious liar and this can easily be considered a case of receiving a deserved dose of his own medicine.  But it has never been more important that the fourth estate kept us informed of that which is fact.    It’s bad enough when the president and his surrogates make their “alternative facts” seem believable, but passing  them a blatant lie on a silver platter is something they will absolutely feast on.  Zeke Miller! Get your head out of your ass.

It is apparent to most that President Trump has trouble dwelling in the realm of truth.  Take for instance his insistence that no one cares about his tax returns. Total bull shit.  I know because i did my very own survey just the other day.  I got pretty riled up after I heard him once again dodge and deflect about that during his pre-inageral news conference.  I laced up my shoes and went door to door on my block and asked my neighbors how they felt about the issue.  And I didn’t just collect information from the left. I wanted to be fair and hear from both sides, so I weaved my way right, then left, then right and so on till I reached the end of the block.   It’s a long block too.  More like two blocks.  There is sort of an alleyway halfway down that intersects our street at a right angle.  It doesn’t go through though,  It just ends at our street.  I don’t know what the fuck it’s doing there, but it comes in handy sometimes.

Now on my way back I noticed the left was now on my right.  So just to make sure opinions hadn’t changed I solicited each house again.  And sure enough nothing changed.  Each of my neighbors gave me the same answer they had previously.  Actually I didn’t get a second answer from everyone.  About half way back I decided since I was so consistently receiving the same answer from everybody the second time, continuing on with my questioning seemed pointless.  But just to make sure everything stayed on the up and up, I walked the rest of the way home backwards.  That way my left was still on my left and my right was on my right, just as it was when I departed. I wanted to be sure no one would think I was tampering with the results of my survey.  It’s important people know I wasn’t dicking around with facts.

Just as I suspected, overwhelmingly the public wants Mr. Trump to release his tax returns.  Of the 21 people I surveyed, none said absolutely not, 2 said it didn’t matter one way or the other, and 18 said yes, he should cough them up.  And all 18 were vehemently adamant about it.  Actually one of the 18 was a little more vehement about  Joey “No Socks”   than Mr. Trump and his tax returns.  That was a guy we call Bugsy.  He lives five houses down the block and kind of keeps to himself.  After I got a “yes” out of him he went on a rampaging dialog about Mr. “No Socks” owing him 30 G’s for some kind of painting he found somewhere and how he was going to take care of Mr. No Socks as soon as he completed his house arrest.  I couldn’t quite follow the whole thing but thought it would be more prudent to get the hell out of there than ask for clarification.

Trump and Mr. No Socks

You’re probably wondering about that one person that is unaccounted for.  Number 21 would be Marlborough Man.  He’s a stay at home dad and no one has ever seen him without a lit cigarette.  He lives clear at the end of the block and his yard is strewn with dog shit and dead animal parts.  The entire environment shouts stay away.  Another thing in his yard, even to this day, is a “Vote for Trump” sign, so to eliminate the risk of defiling my shoes with something untoward,  I just chalked  Marlborough Man up to a big NO that is duly logged, though that result is properly marked with an asterisk.

So as you can see Mr. Trump, people absolutely DO want to see your tax returns and by saying we are not interested you are promoting fake news.  And speaking of fake, those fake folders you displayed during that January 11th news conference were quite the nice touch.  If nothing else at least your well polished skills as a con-man remain factually consistent.   I look forward to seeing just how far you can push that envelope of public gullibility now that you are actually our president.