Trump to Russia: “Mr. Putin: Release my tax returns!”

Donald Trump calling on Russian intelligence yesterday to hack into IRS servers and release his tax returns (Image: AFP)

In a remarkable volte-face, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appealed to Russian state hackers to break into IRS servers and release his 30,000 missing tax returns. He has claimed until now that because of an ongoing IRS audit, he is not able to release them himself. This was considered a significant break with an unwritten tradition followed by all presidential contenders for decades, and a hint that Trump may have something really yuge to hide.

As to who leaked the internal emails of the Democratic Party, Trump said "If it is Russia – nobody knows. It could be China. It could be somebody sitting in his bed." The last observation was widely thought by insiders to be an allusion to our own Creditanstalt Intelligence Bureau.

Historians think that Trump’s “Mr. Putin: Release my tax returns!” may go down in history with Ronald Reagan’s immortal 1987 “Mr. Gorbachev: Tear down this wall!” speech.

Will Donald Trump’s “Mr. Putin: Release my tax returns!” speech join Reagan’s 1987 “Mr. Gorbachev: Tear down this wall!” speech as a defining event in American history? (Image: Wikimedia Commons)