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posted by martyb on Friday September 16 2016, @12:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the need-better-pipes? dept.

http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37364189

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has reportedly called Republican nominee Donald Trump a "national disgrace," according to leaked emails. The Republican retired four-star general's comments were revealed in a hack on his personal emails. The emails were posted on DCLeaks.com, which has reportedly been tied to other recent high-profile hacks. Mr. Powell, who has been quiet during the election, said he had "no further comment" but was "not denying it".

[...] Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who crossed party lines in 2008 to endorse Democratic [candidate] Barack Obama, has tried to float above this year's tendentious presidential election. So much for that. First the government released his note to Democrat Hillary Clinton advising her on how to use personal email for back-channel communications while secretary of state. Now - in an ironic twist - his personal email has been hacked, revealing sweeping denunciations of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and some sharp criticisms of Democrat Hillary Clinton.

[...] "Yup, the whole birther movement was racist," the email read. "That's what the 99% believe. When Trump couldn't keep that up he said he also wanted to see if the certificate noted that he was a Muslim." But the leaked emails also revealed Mr Powell's frustrations with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her handling of her use of private email while at the State Department. "Sad thing... HRC could have killed this two years ago by merely telling everyone honestly what she had done and not tie me into it," the email read, referring to Mrs Clinton. "I told her staff three times not to try that gambit. I had to throw a mini tantrum at a Hampton's party to get their attention."


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  • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday September 16 2016, @02:47PM

    by tangomargarine (667) on Friday September 16 2016, @02:47PM (#402806)

    - He's hiding his personal finances [time.com] in a way no presidential candidate has for 40 years.

    Is this a thing we really need to be caring about? It seems like the last 3 or 4 elections in a row somebody's been whining about a candidate not releasing their blah blah blah and it never means anything.

    If Trump is actually running on the merits of his business savvy, not doing so reads like a bad joke, but I doubt we'd find anything particularly shocking if he did release them.

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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16 2016, @03:27PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16 2016, @03:27PM (#402831)

    Except that he pays a likely tax rate of near 0% (which isnt uncommon for land developers) and it would likely piss some voters off.

    Though if forced he'd pull the usual huckster trick:

    "See!? The system is so corrupt that rich guys dont even have to pay taxes! A Trump Presidency means a more honest tax code because I'll simply instate a 0% tax on the ultra-wealthy instead of them having to do it through accounting tricks and loopholes. Honesty and transparency folks!"

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday September 16 2016, @04:21PM

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Friday September 16 2016, @04:21PM (#402856) Journal

    If Trump is actually running on the merits of his business savvy, not doing so reads like a bad joke, but I doubt we'd find anything particularly shocking if he did release them.

    A few things:

    (1) We'd likely see Trump's net worth is a LOT less than he claims. Quite a few experienced folks have questioned Trump's own estimates of his net worth over the years -- not just in this election cycle. How big is the disparity? We can't know, though some people think it's pretty significant. There was a well-known 2005 incident when Trump was claiming a net worth of $5-6 billion -- and in some brochures closer to $10 billion, which is about what he claims these days -- but those with intimate knowledge of his finances told the New York Times [nytimes.com] that his net worth was more like $150-250 million. Trump sued for libel, but lost the case largely partly because he refused to turn over unredacted financial documents to prove his actual net worth. Is that actually shocking news? Probably not. But a large disparity (which is likely) speaks to Trump's continuing pattern of misrepresenting the truth. What if Trump isn't actually even a billionaire? (He certainly owns more than a billion dollars in assets, but estimates on his loans and debts vary widely.) If the New York Times piece was close to true in 2005, Trump was then inflating his claimed wealth to be 20-40 times what it actually was.
    (2) We'd likely see how little Trump pays in taxes and how he avoids them. Again, not a particularly shocking thing for a rich person, but to average folks who support him, will they really feel it's okay if he's paying half or a third or less of what they pay (in terms of income percentage)?
    (3) Trump has claimed to have donated to various causes during the election, for example his support of veterans. Perhaps those numbers are much lower or less significant than what he has claimed.

    Is any of this likely to change the mind of a die-hard Trump supporter? Probably not, unless perhaps it could be shown Trump isn't even a billionaire. (Unlikely, but seems possible given his known past manipulations of his net worth.) But for those still on the fence, it's cause for more doubt with the propensity for exaggerating, misleading statements, and sometimes outright lies from Trump.

  • (Score: 1) by shipofgold on Friday September 16 2016, @09:06PM

    by shipofgold (4696) on Friday September 16 2016, @09:06PM (#402940)

    I doubt we'd find anything particularly shocking if he did release them.

    I disagree....I am guessing there is some bombshell that he doesn't want reported. Perhaps a loan from Russia or some other leverage they have on him, but could be a lot of places/things where his finances would show he is campaigning on one thing and doing something else.

    The guy has no morals, and will say anything he thinks you want to hear..