"I think we have good reason to believe that there's a bombshell in Donald Trump's taxes. I think there is something there," Mitt Romney told Fox news on Wednesday.
"We could find he doesn't have anywhere near as much income as we might think he would have with a $10 billion net worth, or he doesn't pay any taxes or he pays very, very low taxes," Mr Romney added.
Trump, of course, immediately went into binary mode, calling Romney "One of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of American politics".
So why doesn't Trump release his tax returns?
"As far as my return, I want to file it, except for many years, I've been audited every year,” Trump said. “Twelve years or something like that. Every year they audit me, audit me, audit me . . . I will absolutely give my return, but I'm being audited now for two or three [years' worth] now so I can't.”
Except he can. There is no legal reason that he can't. Being audited does nothing to change that. But perhaps there is a deeper, more sinister motivation for his being audited?
Asked by CNN’s Chris Cuomo to explain his troubles with the IRS, Trump reasoned, “Maybe because of the fact that I am a strong Christian ... you see what's happened, you have many religious groups complaining about that."
So there you have it folks. Donald Trump speculates the reason he is audited is because he is a strong Christian.
Patriotism used to be the last refuge of a scoundrel. Now it's religion.