Just thinking about releasing his tax returns gives him a sad

Apparently the presumptive Republican nominee is not going to release any of his tax returns. “Nothing to see here, move along,” is his attitude. He doesn’t think voters are interested. Voters have a funny way of making that decision for themselves, of course. By way of contrast, Hillary Clinton’s tax records dating back to 1977 are already a matter of public record.

The way to deal with this is for our side to put the word out that Trump is lying about his wealth. We must make him either release the returns to prove the rumors false—in which case, mission accomplished—or, if he doesn’t, double down by citing his continued refusal as a confirmation that the rumors are true.

This needs to become something the media doesn’t stop talking about, like the swift-boating of John Kerry, for example. I don’t advocate such an approach lightly, but it was perfected by Trump and his birther acolytes, so, screw him, to be frank.

Moreover, we should specifically highlight the birther tactics as part of spreading these rumors about Trump’s actual wealth. Doing so not only justifies what we are doing—in politics, turnabout is fair play, after all—but it also reminds people of the fact that Trump was the biggest figure in a disgusting, bigoted movement that, without merit, sought to discredit the Americanness of the first African American president. This can be a double whammy. Trump lied about President Obama and it looks like he’s lying about his own wealth, among so many other documented lies. We have to ask: What else is he lying about?

Donald Trump has already shown that he fights dirty. Democrats need to be prepared to do what is necessary to make sure that our next president isn’t a fascist. Simple as that.