When Rachel Maddow tweeted on the night of March 14 that she had President Trump's tax returns, great jubilation broke out online among the left in general and by the Democratic Underground in particular. They anxiously awaited her MSNBC show less than an hour and a half later in joyful anticipation that finally, FINALLY they would see the downfall of Trump. Unfortunately, soon after her broadcast began, a horrible realization set in among them that this was nothing more that Maddow's version of opening Al Capone's vault since the income tax revelation showed that Trump paid a respectable $38 million on a 2005 income of $150 million.
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You can see the minute by minute DU reaction to the news about Maddow show starting from the celebratory mood both before and at the beginning of the 9 PM broadcast until the final depressing deflation about a half hour into it in this upbeat to downbeat DU thread, Official Rachel Maddow Show Watch Party thread!
BREAKING: We've got Trump tax returns. Tonight, 9pm ET. MSNBC.
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) March 14, 2017
(Seriously).
I just ordered a bottle of whiskey.
That was posted at 8:21 PM EDT and in the minutes leading up to Maddow's show, other similar joyous sentiments were expressed on the same thread:
I may get some popcorn.
I'm making a whiskey on the rocks.
I'm so excited. We've been waiting for this - ANY tax news really.
Several minutes into the Maddow show was when doubts began creeping in:
Long overture. Nothing new yet, nine minutes in. She is teasing, I think, showing how the tax records could enlighten us regarding many of the sweet deals that we already know about.
She doesn't sound like she's winging it. But, she does seem like she's building up to something. She keeps asking questions and concluding that the tax returns might be able to provide information.
Finally after almost a half hour of buildup hype, came the horrifying realization that Maddow had conned them:
This is a YUGE NOTHINGBURGER!
Big zero. No useful information.
Following the big depressing letdown, recriminations directed toward Rachel Maddow began including a thread with the most poisonous charge of all, Could Rachel actually be a republican?
So we wait wait and wait. And the breaking news was that he actually paid $38 MILLION in tax. My first reaction was, "Wow that is Huge". The repugs reaction, would probably be the same.
Her mistake was in hyping it 90 minutes beforehand on twitter....when in fact, she had nothing of real value.
Rachel is just a slave to ratings like everyone else on TV news.
You can see an even more detailed collection of comedy gold DUer reaction at the DUmmie FUnnies.
