Nothing is going away. This is the message that is wafting toward Donald Trump, blowing in the wind as it were. The job of news reporting is to give some narrative sense to things as they occur. Why, therefore, is the New York Times indulging in an August story in April? Does the Times not know what has been happening? It is true the tax return matter is central to the Trump narrative. It is also true that we face many events prior to the time when taxes will be decided on Capitol Hill.

It began with Trumpcare

Here is how Steve Bannon and Donald Trump figured the narrative.

Healthcare was first, then would come taxes. By then the government would be well on its way to being dismantled. Donald's popularity would move up. And Steve Bannon could out down his book about Robert McNamara and thank god that he was not like him. He would be the smart guy who survived and triumphed.

When we fizzle we fight

Trumpcare proved to be a jerry-built improvisation of Paul Ryan that Trump owned despite the fact that it was filled with spoiler alerts that he and/or Bannon should have seen. It shunted millions off the insurance rolls and was so costly that no one dared to show it to the Congressional Budget Office. The whole world of medical competence looked at it aghast. So when it flopped, what did Trump do?

He realized that if the first thing flopped everything else would too. That is the reason we will not have taxes, if ever, until August.

So, umm

So now we know well in advance that the Democrats will not rewrite the tax code until Trump opens up his tax records.

We also know that in ten days time, the government will shut down unless there can be an agreement of the two parties to keep it open. The bets on that have not even been laid down. And we know that if that hurdle is achieved we will proceed to healthcare round two.

Could Trump flip on his agenda?

If the underlying narrative is correct there was a need to start with healthcare.

Not only did it promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, it promised to make it possible to afford all those tax goodies, making for a big double victory, Trump gave his reason to his favorite news channel FOX -- the business part: “I’m saving a tremendous amount, hundreds and hundred of millions of dollars." If he flips on the healthcare priority, he will be making a desperation play because he knows that his tax plan is impossible without some achievement of economy somewhere.

The actuality

It's now, not August. Today Trump is thinking about Korea and trying to forget challenges of the weekend on Tax returns and facing an election in Georgia. Then there is the shutdown April 29. August is a forever away.
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