Hollywood Reacts to Bombshell Report About Trump Tax Returns: ‘Dude Is Broke’

Donald Trump attends a campaign rally. (Credit: Shutterstock)

On the eve of his first presidential debate with Democratic nominee Joe Biden, President Donald Trump is under fire after a stunning report about his income taxes in The New York Times.

In the article titled The President’s Taxes published on Sunday, Sept. 27, the publication dropped a bombshell about the president’s tax returns, including the claim that he only payed $750 in federal income taxes in 2016, the year he was elected to the White House.

According to the article, Trump paid no income taxes in 10 of the previous 15 years, largely because he reported losing more money than he made. The Times obtained years worth of tax return data.

The president responded to the article on Twitter, writing: “FAKE NEWS!” On Monday morning, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told Fox & Friends that Democrats are using “the same playbook they tried in 2016 — the same playbook that the American people rejected and will do so again.”

The President has long fought to keep his tax returns private, and this latest news has been met with major scrutiny from public figures.

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The View  co-host Sunny Hostin called Trump a fake billionaire.

“Donald Trump is not a billionaire,” she wrote on Twitter. “He only portrayed one on TV. He lied. Continues to do so. And people believe him.”

Joy Reid, host of MSNBC’s The Reid Out, did a play-by-play of the article on Twitter, and detailed her response to many of the details in the NYT article.

She wrote, “Where to even begin with this ? @nytimes Trump taxes bombshell…I mean this bottom line may be the understatement if the century: ‘Ultimately, Mr. Trump has been more successful playing a business mogul than being one in real life.’ Dude is broke.”

Two and a Half Men actor Jon Cryer, who has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration, made a comparison between the president’s claims about his wealth and how he’s treated the American people.

“It was all a con. The deals, the books, the Apprentice, all of it,” he wrote. “All he’s good at is taking viable businesses and running them into the ground. Just like what he did to America.”

Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi called Trump a “fraud.” She tweeted, “He’s the fraud we knew he was. ‘In 2018… Trump announced in his disclosure that he had made at least $434.9 million. The tax records deliver a very different portrait of his bottom line: $47.4 million in losses.'”

Director Ava DuVernay called the president and his family “crooks” and tweeted a link to another NYT article that discusses in detail some of the revelations from his tax records.

“Just finished the full NYT article on Trump’s many years of tax frauding and evading,” she wrote. “But if you want a briefer overview, read this. Has jewels like how Ivanka racks up consultant fees from the Trump Organization while also being a paid executive. Crooks.”

Journalist Jemele Hill called out Trump supporters for lacking outrage at the new allegations against the president.

Writing, “The more than 50 percent of white people who support Donald Trump find this to be endearing, not eliminating.”

Read the tweets below.