NYTimes: Trump Used $885M in Taxpayer Subsidies To Get Rich

[PeteB]

The issue is NOT that Trump somehow changed or abandoned his moral or ideological stripes.  He has pretty much confessed to be ideology free, beholden only to making as much money as possible.  In principle there is nothing legally wrong with getting tax subsidies, nor will it hurt him with his supporters who probably wish they could have a similar tax windfall.

The real issue IS whether the nation can trust someone who is a self confessed opportunist to suddenly grow up, change and look after the common interest.  Who is to say that decisions made by a potential Trump administration would not be in the long-term interest of Trump family, as opposed to the US? 

This is where his most ardent supporters need to look and figure out if they can trust that a millionaire, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, who has never looked charitably at another human being (outside his family), will suddenly become a humanitarian, helping the common man. 

[PeteB]

I said he was a welfare queen, not a criminal. He knows how to secure unfair advantages by manipulating the system -- legally.

I don't understand how taking advantage of tax incentives available to all developers is securing an "unfair advantage".  The tax incentives are there for a reason - to get developers to build more housing, including subsidized housing.  Every major real estate developer is incentivized by those tax incentives.  That's the whole purpose of them.

Fair enough, but I think he did more than that. I don't think he was just passively raking in the tax breaks that were sitting there in the tax code. He bought government properties and so forth, and did a lot of lobbying.

Even if he squeezed the tax opportunities to the max, I don't see why anyone should blame him for that.

But, on the flip side, I also don't see why anyone should believe him that, if elected President, he would somehow transform his personal greed into a "welfare greed" for all.  If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

[PeteB]

The issue is NOT that Trump somehow changed or abandoned his moral or ideological stripes.  He has pretty much confessed to be ideology free, beholden only to making as much money as possible.  In principle there is nothing legally wrong with getting tax subsidies, nor will it hurt him with his supporters who probably wish they could have a similar tax windfall.

The real issue IS whether the nation can trust someone who is a self confessed opportunist to suddenly grow up, change and look after the common interest.  Who is to say that decisions made by a potential Trump administration would not be in the long-term interest of Trump family, as opposed to the US? 

This is where his most ardent supporters need to look and figure out if they can trust that a millionaire, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, who has never looked charitably at another human being (outside his family), will suddenly become a humanitarian, helping the common man. 

In your entire post you have captured the real issue here very well. It's not about a businessman getting the most tax breaks he can out of a system that allows it, (if you manipulate the system right).

It's about the kind of person Trump is, having been brought up in privilege, always looking out for himself only, being able to do a sudden turn around at age 70 and start thinking about what's good for the entire country, not just his personal bank account.

That's where the problem lies. Many of us see no road connecting one state to the other, given Trump's behavior down through the years, up to today.

Thank you but Atlas is hardly a cross section of the country. The thing that is so puzzling to me is exactly the support he has from the have-nots. People who get bilked on a daily basis by mini-Trumps, who mistrust people outside their community really believe that Trump will give two hoots about them, if he gets elected? Like I said, there is a definite market for selling the Brooklyn bridge.