Trump's "Self-Made Stable Genius" Bubble Burst in Brilliant NYT Investigation.

Throughout his life, Donald Trump has always fostered his image as a "self-made" entrepreneur. The New York Times burst that bubble this week, but his adoring throngs who fill auditoriums in his stronghold states probably won't pick up a copy of the Times, with it being the "fake news". They should if they really wanted to understand their idol.

Three dogged and determined Journalists, David Barstow, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner started a year ago by obtaining Trump's 1995 tax returns, and followed the paper trail and spoke to people closest to the heart of the story. Now, we're getting the clearest picture yet of the mountain of questionable tax schemes, unpaid loans and familial subterfuge that helped to build the tenuous Trump mystique.

New York TImes: " All told, The Times documented 295 streams of revenue that Fred Trump created over five decades to enrich his son. In most cases his four other children benefited equally. But over time, as Donald Trump careened from one financial disaster to the next, his father found ways to give him substantially more money, records show. Even so, in 1990, according to previously secret depositions, Mr. Trump tried to have his father’s will rewritten in a way that Fred Trump, alarmed and angered, feared could result in his empire’s being used to bail out his son’s failing businesses. "

What's most striking about this exposé may not be the actual revelations, but the reaction of the president himself. He doesn't deny embellishing his history with the story of how he started his career with one small loan that he had to repay with interest, and he doesn't deny getting tens of millions dollars in loans from his father, Fred Trump, much of which he never repaid. His reaction: This is a "boring old story".

So, as the president tosses off these latest revelations, his supporters, who may have just been looking to hire a successful businessman to lead their country, should note that his humble beginnings apparently weren't so humble. Indeed, he represents the epitomy of class privelege. And his fortune may well have been built on the back of the U.S. taxpayer, the NYC taxpayer, and perhaps most notably, the common unemployed worker in the State of New York who long ago gave up looking for a job with reasonable wages. Will this discouraged worker still believe that the president will Make American Great Again for him or her? Or will this worker wonder how his/her life might be so much better if the millions and millions of tax dollars lost in the Trump tax shell games could have been used to support economic and job initiatives and safety net programs? The president could indeed be forced to return these riches to the tax coffers if statutes of limitation allow.

If the president's supporters could take a moment to examine with clear eyes the facts concerning the president's fame & fortune, they are unlikely to continue to identify with him. And once congress wakes up to this reality, it may be too late for his allies in the House & Senate to repel the coming blue wave.

There certainly is no statute of limitations on big fat lies, and we may soon see the president held to account for his serious deficit in honesty. As the leader of the Republican party, he may also be leading his obediant lemmings over a edge of the political cliff.

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