Bearing signs that spoke of staggering incompetence in the White House, peaceful demonstrators yesterday demanded that president Donald Trump release his Tax returns. In addition, the demonstrators showed that Trump is wrong when he says Americans no longer care about the matter. There were marches in 150 cities. The largest were in Los Angeles and New York City. Reuters reports that these cities drew about 5000 marchers each.

Criticism and intent

On Twitter Trump supporters were quick to suggest that because Russia was no longer an issue, the demonstrators were simply moving back to a dead issue, But both Russia and tax returns remain key elements that will come into play as efforts to build a legal basis for challenging the president continue.

One tweet did it

The power of social media was shown by the fact that the Saturday demonstrations were launched with a single tweet, Reuters reports. Following the huge anti-Trump women's march on January 21, comedy writer Frank Lesser tweeted, "Trump claims no one cares about his taxes. The next mass protest should be on Tax Day to prove him wrong." There were 21,000 retweets. The message reached beyond US borders. Demonstrations were also seen in Europe, Japan, and New Zealand.

A growing sense

There is a more and more a feeling that Trump's tax returns will reveal that he may have paid no federal income tax and perhaps never will.

If this was the case there would be no harm in releasing the returns. It would simply show that the President was right during the campaign when he frequently indicated that the system is rigged to favor the wealthy.Thus this argument may not be the real story. Those who believe there was collusion between Trump and Russia during the campaign also believe proof may lie in the hidden returns.

The elusive subpoena

Those who seek to achieve Trump's removal from office generally seek a legal basis similar to the precedents that were set when President Nixon was forced to resign. Such an effort requires subpoena power. This can only be obtained by the majority in the congress. Ultimately, the power of the law is dependent on the will of the people expressed at the polls.

Nonviolence won the day

The 150 city tax marches were nonviolent in contrast to a clash that took place in Berkeley on Holy Saturday, The likelihood is that the pressure will build. As pressure builds on the health care front, as the president's agenda faces serious delays, the matter of tax returns may not be his greatest worry but they will not go away.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED