Nancy Pelosi says that “the Constitution” considers her to be the equal of President Trump. Given that her statement comes from a hagiographic piece in the New York Times, it isn’t surprising that there is no explanation of what she meant. If she meant that the Speaker of the House is equal, constitutionally, to the president, her claim is absurd. Congress as a whole is equal to the executive under the Constitution, but not a single officer thereof.

Still, her claim gets one thinking. A reader points out that if Pelosi claims equal stature, she should expect equal scrutiny. Let’s start with this headline: Democrats take aim at presidential tax returns, conflicts of interest in new ethics proposal. I had lunch recently with a friend who thinks the first order of business in the new Congress should be subpoenaing President Trump’s tax returns. Well, all right then. Our reader writes:

Since she is the “president’s equal”…. on her own telling!…. …let’s do exactly the same thing for the Speaker of the House. Let’s see ten years of tax returns from Paul and Nancy Pelosi. He is a big time real estate developer in San Francisco. It is almost impossible for there NOT to be extremely low effective tax rates, special writeoffs, credits and subsidies…not to mention ugly political special deals and finagling. Hey! Exactly like Trump! Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander. And while we’re at it let’s apply this to House and Senate committee chairs…and then…

Yes, exactly. Financial disclosure is a good thing, right? Tax dodges! Low effective rates! Conflicts of interest! Let’s see them all–let a thousand tax returns bloom! My guess is that disclosing the Pelosis’ income tax returns would have about the same effect as publicizing the results of Elizabeth Warren’s DNA test.

How about it, Nancy? Are you willing to make your tax returns public? If not, you probably should stop yammering about President Trump’s.