Another Trump triumph

Rachel Maddow is President Donald Trump's latest victim. After taking to Twitter to announce what turned out to be a flop, even she had to admit that there was no there...well, there. Getting access to the president's tax information would supposedly bury him at last. It turned out to be more of an awakening than a funeral.

The MSNBC host tweeted, "BREAKING: We've got Trump tax returns. Tonight, 9pm ET. MSNBC."

Of course, that was intended to get folks fired up and tuned in because some have been waiting for an opportunity to see something -- anything -- in his taxes. Well, they got something all right. What the public got were two pages of taxes that revealed that Trump earned $150 million and paid $38 million in income taxes in 2005. What people learned is that he is as successful as he says he is and that in 2005, he paid about 25 percent of his income in taxes, which is a higher percentage than most very wealthy people paid.

There goes the theory Hillary Clinton threw out there during the first presidential debate. "Maybe he's not as rich as he says he is," she said, then made the suggestion that "he's paid nothing in federal taxes."

Whoever leaked the taxes should be ashamed, but so should those who luxuriated in Maddow's rush to announce what also turned out to be a shame--hers. Her dud of a story made her the butt of jokes and judgment. It was so bad she felt the need to defend herself: "Because I have information about the president doesn't mean that it's necessarily a scandal," she said. "It doesn't mean that it's damning information. If other people leapt to that conclusion without me indicating that it was, that hype is external to what we did."

"If people leapt to that conclusion"? "That hype is external"? It seems to me that she has been in the business long enough to know that her all-caps "BREAKING" didn't scream, "Carry on! This ain't important!" And anyone with half an eyeball who has been watching the political climate over the last two years knows that most of the people who pay attention to her expect "damning information" and certainly know she was not likely going to provide glowing praise for the president.

Also, waiting for a subsequent tweet to indicate that what she had were two pages, not full tax returns, did not help her cause at all. Thus, it was a loss for her side. And trust me, she has a side, as do the giddy, hyperventilating, waiting anti-Trumpers, who got nothing for their patience but a ringside seat to another Trump knockout.

President Trump's tax information showed him to be quite the success and certainly quite the taxpayer. But we all know those who are determined to undermine and refuse to accept his presidency will not be satisfied. They have already crafted new narratives. On social media, I summed it up this way: "President Trump wasn't releasing his taxes because 'he didn't pay the taxes he should have.' Now that someone leaked them (which is sick), everyone knows he paid a boatload of taxes. So now, they're scrambling for new narratives, and they came up with two more: 1) Trump is actually the one who leaked his own taxes to make himself look good (with the same tax info they were convinced would make him look bad) and 2) he hasn't released his full taxes because they show ties to -- wait for it! -- Russia. So RussiaGate continues. When you've got nothing, blame Russia. I want to make sure I have it all straight: Trump didn't release his taxes because he's a tax cheat, but now that he's clearly not a tax cheat, he leaked his taxes because he's not a tax cheat! Does that sum it up? This Trump-derangement syndrome stuff and chronic denial of reality are so unattractive, and as the saying goes, 'God don't like ugly.' It backfired. Let it go. His tax info came out, he paid an abundance, and guess what: Hillary is still not president. Move forward."

Adrienne Ross is an editor, writer, public speaker, former teacher and coach, Southeast Missourian editorial board member and owner of Adrienne Ross Communications.