Since 9 November, much of the world has scanned the news with bated breath, waiting cautiously for the other shoe to drop. That's exactly why headlines blew up on Tuesday night with Rachel Maddow's Twitter announcement: that she's "got Trump tax returns" and would be discussing them on her MSNBC show that very evening.
Maddow spent a solid 15 minutes giving background information on President Donald Trump's refusal to release his tax returns, but what appeared to be a case of milking an exclusive scoop turned out to be more of a nothingburger.
Maddow did, indeed, obtain part of Trump's 2005 federal tax returns that revealed $38 million paid in taxes out of an annual $150 million made. An anonymous source allegedly released the first two pages of the president's 2005 returns to Trump biographer and The Daily Beast contributor David Cay Johnston, who discussed the leak to Maddow on her show.
This, as Maddow noted, raises questions about Trump's claim that his being under audit is the reason he hasn't released the returns. However, many essential questions remained glaringly unanswered, including the source of the president's income. In addition, Johnston pointed out that it's entirely possible that Trump leaked the returns himself, considering that Johnston found the returns in his mailbox.
The White House responded in a heated statement before the episode even aired, claiming that "it is totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns" and calling MSNBC "desperate for ratings."
The media is undeniably essential, particularly in this administration. However, leaning too heavily on the shock and awe factor is a distraction at best and an exploitation of the nation's fear at worst.
And after all that, in the end, we didn't learn anything we didn't already know. Fun, huh?
