Back in 2015 before many voters were decided and before the current political uproar, Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump and his political campaign team decided to create the rhetoric for his specific target audience that he is a successful businessman.  Trump and his campaign have fought so hard to paint this image by discussing the success of his billion dollar companies such as the Trump Tower, Trump University and many more of his business ventures. With this narrative they purposely leave out many of his business failures and the more than four times that he has had to file bankruptcy. However, this is done to keep the enthemyme that if Donald Trump can be a successful businessman than he is fit to be a great president for the American people.

One of the first instances where he used this rhetoric was in his first campaign stop in Iowa in 2015. During this stop Trump gave his first campaign speech and announced his intent to run for presidency. It was during this stop that he also stated that “He is not a politician; he is a businessman that knows how to create jobs”. This has been the basis of his entire campaign thus far because he has also created the rhetoric that politicians are killing this country in order to sway voters from voting for the typical politician. During this campaign speech he boasted his business record and promised the American people that he will create jobs and they can guarantee that.

Ultimately, it will be up to Trump’s supporters and the undecided voters to interpret his rhetoric of being a great businessman and president for our country.

Throughout this year’s election Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has attempted and in some cases has been successful in selling himself to the American people. One of the biggest pushes of his campaign thus far has been the narrative of Trump presenting himself as being a great business man and because of this “ability” he has attempted to paint the picture that he will make a good president. However, after a long awaited time, on October 1, 2016, The New York Times leaked Trump’s 1995 tax record that revealed that “America’s business man” may have been able to legally avoid paying taxes for almost two decades. Tax experts were hired by The New York Times to investigate the tax return that was retrieved from financial records that he left behind in the 1990’s. They found that certain tax rules that mainly serve as an advantage to the wealthy may have allowed him to use a $916 million loss to cancel out an equal amount of tax income over that 18-year period. To further agitate this issue Politico reported that Mr. Trump also did not pay taxes back in 1991 and 1993. Surprisingly, this discovery does not exactly match up with his act to be the business savvy savior that he claims to be.

The reason Trump has not been paying taxes is a direct effect of the business mistakes that he has made in the past and also not to mention the six times that he has filled bankruptcy. He fortunately was able to get out many of his financial debacles mainly not because of his wonderful business techniques but because he has a very rich resource. His wealthy father.  In an attempt to fight back these allegations his supporters have come to his defense by stating that he has been open with his business failures and bankruptcies throughout his campaign. However, records have shown that he was not paying taxes well before many of the failed businesses.

It will be interesting in the next coming weeks to see how much Trump’s leaked records affect him in the polls if any since most of his supporters have been solidified. It will be difficult for Trump to continue with his “great businessman” narrative because Hillary Clinton and the rest of the Democratic party will continue to run this issue until its dry especially during the next Presidential debate.