Trump vs. Biden

The first presidential debate, taxes and all that other stuff

Should there even be more presidential debates? That’s the raging question after Tuesday’s initial confrontation between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. Here’s what several opinion writers have to say about that:

• Conservative commentator George Will noted “putrescence of America’s public life” in calling for the cancellation of the final two debates.
• Liberal Frank Bruni came to the same conclusion, calling Tuesday’s show “chaotic, counterproductive and outright offensive.”

Meanwhile, Amazon removed merchandise sold by a white supremacist group from its site after the group calling themselves “Proud Boys” took President Trump’s words to them — “Stand back and stand by” — as a call to arms.

Taxes? We don’t need (to pay) no stinkin’ taxes!

The New York Times released findings from a large investigative report into President Trump’s taxes Sunday. Needless to say, the findings are pretty dense, resulting in an interactive web page filled with information from Times’ journalists.

The major article opened with a shocking number, “Donald J. Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency. In his first year in the White House, he paid another $750. Had had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years — largely because he reported losing much more money than he made,” said journalists Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig and Mike McIntire.

$750 in 2016 and 2017.

@emilyesenn

##greenscreen The best part is they won’t even care ##Biden2020 ##voteblue ##voteviden ##trumpstaxereturns ##democrat ##votebiden2020 ##fyp ##singer ##whatsup

♬ original sound – Emily Senn

Social media and privately-owned merchandise companies jumped on this number fast; check out this commemorative T-Shirt you can purchase to remember that you, or your parents, probably, paid more taxes than the President of the United States.

Now that we’ve gotten over the initial shock and had a good laugh (thank you, TikTok), let’s look at some key points The New York Times thinks you should know. Quill and Scroll has selected a few from that list:

• President Trump is under financial pressure as millions of dollars in loans are soon to be due
• President Trump has taken tax deductions on residences, aircrafts and haircuts
• Ivanka Trump received “consulting fees” as an employee of the Trump Organization
• Many of Trump’s businesses continue to lose money

After word of Trump’s tax reports was released Sunday, Democratic nominee former Vice President of the United States Joe Biden released his 2019 tax returns. Trump’s tax information for 2019 was not released, nor did Biden release his tax information from prior years.

Biden’s campaign released the documents mere hours before the first presidential debate Tuesday. The documents showed that the Biden’s paid $346,204 in taxes in 2019 and received a refund of $46,858. In total, the Biden’s paid $299,346 in taxes of their reported $944, 737 taxable income.

Democratic Vice President nominee Kamala Harris also released her tax information.

Voter Registration

WWYSOD? – a.k.a., “what would your state officials do?”

It’s no secret that there’s been A LOT of controversy over the number of mail-in ballots that are expected to go out during this election period because of health concerns brought by COVID-19. Even so, across the nation in-person registration deadlines are scattered. Many in-person registration dates are similar to mail-in and online registration, but make sure to check your state’s voter registration website for specific dates for all types of registration.

Here is a list of in-person registration deadlines provided by Journalist’s Resource:

Oct. 3  (SC)
Oct. 4  (AK, RI)
Oct. 5  (AZ, AR, FL, GA, IN, KY, LA, MS, OH, TN, TX)
Oct. 6  (NV, NM)
Oct. 7  (MO)
Oct. 9  (NY, NC, OK)
Oct. 10 (DE)
Oct. 13 (KS, NJ, NC, OK, OR, VA, WV)
Oct. 19 (AL, PA, SD, WY)
Oct. 23 (NE, UT)
Oct. 24 (IA, MA)
Oct. 30 (WI)
Nov. 3  Election Day (CA, CO, CT, DC, HI, ID, IL, MN, MI, MT, NH, ND, VT, WA)

MediaWise

How to find reliable sources regarding elections for first-time voters

The Poynter Institute launched MediaWise in 2018 to encourage media viewers of all ages to be critical regarding the content the consume online. Their MediaWise Voter Project focuses on giving first-time voters reliable and accurate information regarding the 2020 election.

Their content is geared toward soon-to-be- voters – that’s you! – and preparing them with necessary and helpful tools that will help them feel informed and prepared to vote come November.

Here are some of the programs they offer for free:

• Face the Facts – Election 2020 Youth Town Hall online event
• Prep for the Polls – 10 day text message course
• Fact-Checking 101 from the MediaWise Voter Project live class Oct. 5

Make sure you use the hashtag #MVP when you engage with MediaWise’s content! Check out their introduction video below.