Dec. 20, 2019 "The power of persuasive political storytelling": Today I found this article by Judith Timson in the Star Metro:
We tell ourselves stories in order to live, American author Joan Didion famously wrote. We also tell ourselves —and others—stories in order to understand what in today’s truth-challenged political landscape, good political leadership is all about.
Whose story speaks to us? How did they tell it? Did it hold up?
Take U.S. Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s deliberately solemn and even stern face Wednesday evening as she informed the House of Representatives and more importantly the public that indeed the results showed they had voted yes on two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump. It was an historic game on.
On air commentators remarked on Pelosi’s seriousness, and how she underscored the fact that it was a “sad” day for her.
That was the most effective way she had to tell the story so far of the Democrats impeaching a corrupt Republican president.
Pelosi, who when she regained her job as Speaker of the House almost a year ago, had first presented herself as a reluctant impeacher, apparently insisted that from her side anyway (the yes votes were all Democrats) there would be no outward jubilation, no applause in the House. Her mouth twisted a bit as it does, and she demonstrated what some called “the flick” as she pre-emptively with one hand, waved away any possible cheering in the background.
Any comparison of Pelosi to a mom telling her kids or grandkids to shush misses the point.
She is a masterful political strategist and thus far kept her cool—even so much as delaying sending the now ratified articles of impeachment immediately to the Senate as she figures out how to achieve a fair trial or even sell the story of Donald Trump’s impeachment to a somewhat distracted American public.
She will need every bit of cool and strategy to outFox the fabulist-in-chief, Donald Trump, who himself stood at a rally and joked, despite being furious: “It doesn’t feel like we’re being impeached.”
That’s Trump’s story —that it’s all a “hoax”—and he’s sticking to it. Crafty use of the word “we,” in an attempt to convince his base that they are being put on trial along with him.
It may be the only strategy available to an unfit president who in abusing his power, has always only been out for himself.
The impeachment vote and how each side portrayed it reminded me, before everyone pauses briefly for that convivial holiday eggnog, that it is always how persuasively you can tell your story that determines personal and political victory.
Newly dispatched federal Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, who resigned under pressure and to avoid a Conservative party fracas, was clearly leaving out a few less than salutory details when he repeatedly told his story—that of an “ordinary” man running against an entitled and “phony” elitist prime minister Justin Trudeau.
It was an odd narrative to pick, as Scheer himself has comfortably lived in grand Ottawa houses on taxpayer money as both speaker, and then as the leader of the official opposition.
After Scheer failed to unseat Trudeau and his Liberal government, his own party exposed the cracks in his tedious “ordinary” guy story. He is now, as the party turns its attention to a leadership race, having to justify quietly using party funds to pay for his children’s private school fees.
That seems like an internal matter, approved or not by party officials, but you cannot frame your story as Mr. Everyman and have party member-subsidized private school fees undercut it.
Scheer had already come across as ineffectual and, as a social conservative not quite supportive enough on issues like LGBTQ rights.
Because he had little prowess in telling or selling his story, Scheer missed his chance to prevail over Trudeau whose own story had been spectacularly upended by past improprieties and the SNC-Lavalin affair, in which he and his government were accused of interfering in the judicial process by pressuring Jody Wilson-Raybould then Minister of Justice and Attorney General to consider a softer deal for the giant Quebec-based engineering firm accused of bribery.
The company avoided trial this week by pleading guilty to one charge of fraud and agreeing to pay a $280 million fine. They can still bid on future contracts. The deal seems similar to the one that the Trudeau government had formerly urged Wilson-Raybould to consider.
Which brings us to the story of the year, according to senior Canadian news editors, who named Wilson-Raybould as “newsmaker of the year.”
Wilson-Raybould, the first Indigenous woman to be Justice Minister was eventually turfed out of the Liberal caucus and ran and won as an Independent in her Vancouver riding.
Her story was not without its own problems—including the fact that as a member of the cabinet she had covertly taped a conversation she had with a Trudeau government official.
More recently, there was the odd matter of Wilson-Raybould refusing to vacate her ministerial suite of offices after the election even though she had zero claim on them. Was that a sign of her own overgrown sense of entitlement?
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Sept. 28, 2020 "Five key revelations from Donald Trump's tax returns":
Trump earned money from foreign officials, wrote off haircuts and even got a multi-million-dollar tax refund from the IRS
U.S. President Donald Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in both 2016 and 2017, an investigation by the New York Times published Sunday revealed. Trump has spent his entire tenure as president avoiding inquiries into his financial affairs by journalists, opposition politicians and prosecutors. Here are five key revelations from the Times’ investigation:
1. The president has paid virtually $0 in federal taxes in the past two decades
In 11 of the past 18 years, the president did not pay any income taxes to the federal government. In addition, for 2016 and 2017, he paid $750.
Despite an overall decline in how much the ultra-wealthy pay in federal taxes, America’s affluent still contribute a substantial portion to federal income tax. In 2017, the average federal income tax rate for the top 0.001 per cent of America’s highest earning tax filers was 24.1 per cent.
Each year for the past two decades the Times investigation examined, Trump paid $400 million less in combined federal income tax than those in the highest tax bracket. While in office, Barack Obama and George W. Bush paid more than $100,000 a year.
2. Trump received a $72.9-million refund from the IRS
Trump earned huge success with his reality TV show “The Apprentice,” which saw his tax bill rise. He initially paid $95 million in federal income taxes over the 18 years, but later recouped most of that money starting in 2010. The president applied for and received a $72.9 million tax refund, which also included interest.
In 2011, the IRS began an audit of the refund but nearly a decade later, the case remains unsolved for unknown reasons.
3. The report indicates Trump leveraged his business losses to avoid paying taxes
Trump found large success in selling his image of an ultra-wealthy businessman who made his fortune through shrewd business management. From 2004 to 2018, the Times calculated he made $427.4 million from selling his image — through his show “The Apprentice” and other firms paying for rights to use his name, especially in real estate.
At the same time, since 2000, Trump has reported losing more than $315 million at his golf courses, the heart of his real estate empire. He has also posted large losses from his businesses.
He has used his business losses to offset the fat profits from selling his brand. The Trump Organization — a collection of more than 500 entities, nearly all owned entirely by Trump — then used the losses to claim the organization earned no money and therefore does not owe taxes.
4. Many personal expenses were written off as the cost of business, including $70,000 for hair styling
When filing taxes, companies can write off business expenses, which ultimately reduce their tax bills.
Trump’s residences are part of the family business, including his golf courses. The cost of his private aircraft, used to take him to his homes around the country, has been written off as a business expense. Haircuts were also written down as a business expense, including $70,000 to style his hair during his reality TV show and $100,000 paid to the hair and makeup artist of his daughter, Ivanka Trump.
5. Trump received money from lobbyists, politicians and foreign officials
As a private businessman, Trump has received large amounts of money from lobbyists, politicians and foreign officials.
Since 2015, a surge in new members at the famous Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida brought in an additional $5 million each year. In 2017, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association paid at least $397,000 to Trump’s Washington hotel, where it held at least one event during the World Summit in Defence of Persecuted Christians.
In 2016 and 2017, Trump received $3 million from the Philippines, $2.3 million from India and $1 million from Turkey for projects in those countries.
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