tax returns

87

A leader must go beyond first impressions—
Inauguration’s only the beginning.
He thinks that his responsibility’ll lessen
But he rides—or goes down with—his vessel.
When asked to show to all his hidden records,
He can’t imagine why these pesky checkers,
The choosing over, still would play this game.  
He claims that “no one cares” about his taxes,
Now that his win has put him past all motive,
For who would care to know the crucial facts,
When victory beyond the truth has floated.
But prudence takes more than a simple glance,
And leaders lead with diligence, not chance.
—PTL

86

A new shield of secrecy for the US:
Logs of the flume of White House traffic
Will be kept secret. Bush hid his guests,
Trump tweeted in contradiction.  Classic.
Is the Trump era about secrecy?
Where are the tax returns, the proof of claims?
Tweets mean little, Trump, at your frequency.
Give facts to us and terminate your games.
Transparency can’t be weighed against cost.
$70,000 is chump change, chump!
To save money, cease your golfing fast.
While you see children play hide-and-seek
Childish leaders seek to hide and reap.
—OS, NN

3

As postered protesters deluge the streets
Left empty by inauguration’s storm,
The presidential press-man argues tweets
That say the crowds weighed in below the norm.
Where once Trump said there was no call to gauge
The size of taxes, hands, or Russian hackers,
He now tweets Nielsen ratings in outrage,
Then flips himself, allowing all protesters.
Cavorting to “My Way” with royal feet,
Then offering a C.I.A. address,
It seems the conflict he most wants to meet
Is not with terrorism but the press.
These days, the size of things is much in doubt,
If statecraft’s larger scale he can’t make out.
—LDS, ERP, PTL