Tax Return Rationale, Democracy Buy-in, and Politics of Delusion

I. Giuliani Ruins Trump Tax Return Rationale
Rudy Giuliani has blown apart President Trump's rationale on not providing tax returns. During a Fox News appearance, Giuliani said the IRS "has investigated his taxes." "They  exist to come after us if we don't pay our taxes. We know they're damn good, and they're confidential and they don't leak. If they haven't gone after him on taxes for that six-year period, than there is nothing wrong with his taxes." "They can't investigate his taxes better than the IRS." The "they" that Giuliani is referring to are Democratic lawmakers.

The question that Giuliani doesn't address is why the IRS would be investigating Trump's tax returns for six years if they weren't finding anything wrong? Trump has repeatedly said that he will release his tax returns to the public as soon as the IRS has finished his audit. Nobody, it deems, including the IRS, can't answer the audit question.

II. Democracies Depend on Buy-In
"Democracies depend on buy-in: citizens need to believe in certain basics, starting with the legitimacy of elections. Trump both runs the government and runs it down. The electoral system, he asserts, can't be trusted. Voter fraud is rampant. His contempt  for institutions ranging from the courts ('slow and political'), to the Federal Communications Commission ('so sad and unfair') to the F.B.I. ('What are they hiding?') weakens these institutions, thereby justifying his contempt." [1]

III. Politics of Delusion
"Practicing a politics of delusion, he [Trump] targets enemies in the press, the academy, and the courts. Increasingly, he finds his global allies in the ever-growing club of the Illiberal International, from the Sunni Arab leaders in his own region, to Viktor Orban, in Hungary; Jair Bolsonaro, in Brazil; and Vladimir Putin, in Russia." "Netanyahu might now seek to trade the rule of law for annexation." "Trump has provided Netanyahu with instruction on the possibilities of outrageous invective, voter repression, and disdain for the law." [2]

"His [Trump's] appointments grow worse, his resentments more inflamed. his policies more damaging. His reelection would have a catastrophic effect on the rule of law, liberal democracy, the values of tolerance, and the baseline of decency in American life. We are seeing it all over the globe: the politics of fear and division exact an inestimable price."

IV. Judge Napolitano Slams Barr
Fox News judicial analyst Napolitano accused William Barr of misleading the U.S. House when he claimed to be unsure of Mueller's concerns about the Russia investigation. Nepolitano said Barr failed the response to Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL). "Congressman Crist questioned [Barr] about whether there were objections to the tone and tenor and content of your four-page summary by failing to tell them about the complaint that Mueller had raised." Barr had falsely claimed that Mueller was concerned about the press coverage, whereas Mueller was upset by the content of the summary.

Footnotes:
[1] Elizabeth Kolbert, "That's What You Think," The New Yorker, April 22, 2019.

[2] David Remick, "Partners in Division," The New Yorker, April 22, 2019.