Keating Research<\/a> on Monday gave Democrat Hillary Clinton an 11-point lead over Trump following the first presidential debate.<\/p>\nHe fought back against a seemingly damning Keating Research report, which found that Trump declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns, which could have allowed him to legally avoid paying federal incomes taxes for up to 18 years. As far as an \u201cOctober surprise\u201d goes, the report likely won\u2019t have a devastating impact on the campaign, despite his opponents claiming it offers evidence that Trump is not the successful businessman that he makes himself out to be.<\/p>\n
To the contrary, Trump said Monday, \u201cI have brilliantly used those laws.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a fiduciary responsibility to pay no more taxes than is legally required, like anybody else,\u201d Trump said to a room full of cheering supporters in the Pueblo Convention Center.<\/p>\n
His fans wore red \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d hats, and T-shirts that read, \u201cProud member of the basket of deplorables,\u201d a reference to a dig made against Trump supporters by Clinton, who suggested that many are racist and sexist. Clinton later said she regreted making the sweeping statement.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Nelson, a Trump supporter from Pueblo who attended the event, said news of his taxes only proves that Trump has the business smarts to lead the country, as he was able to use the system to his advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can you pay income tax on something you\u2019ve lost?\u201d Nelson asked. \u201cI\u2019ve lost in my business. You can\u2019t pay something you don\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy not take advantage of it if the laws are like that?\u201d added Carol Trautt, of Colorado City, who also attended the Pueblo rally in support of Trump.<\/p>\n
Trump blamed the losses that year on a crumbling real estate market, which he compared to great depressions and recessions.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany business people, including many of my competitors, and some of my friends, were not able to survive. Companies, jobs and opportunities were lost and lives were destroyed, as tens of thousands of people were put out of work,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
He highlighted how he never went bankrupt and asked his fans, \u201cAre you proud of me?\u201d They hollered back in approval.<\/p>\n
Trump also used the opportunity to point to a \u201cbroken tax code,\u201d which he said only lawyers and accountants can navigate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe unfairness of the tax laws is unbelievable, it\u2019s something I\u2019ve been talking about for a long time, despite being a big beneficiary of the laws. But I\u2019m working for you now,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Across the street from the convention center, where hundreds of Trump supporters lined up to enter, a growing group of protesters held signs in support of Clinton. The signs read, \u201cDump racist Trump\u201d and \u201cWithout immigrants, Trump would have no wives.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is hiding something, and he\u2019s never going to release it because there\u2019s a lot more to his tax returns than he\u2019s actually saying,\u201d said Richard Lucero, of Pueblo.<\/p>\n
Clinton has not stopped in Colorado since an early August appearance in Adams County. Her campaign has instead relied on surrogates to stump for her in Colorado, including running mate Tim Kaine. The campaign announced a concert set for next Monday in Denver with Dave Matthews.<\/p>\n
The Clinton campaign responded to Trump\u2019s claims of having business sense and being dedicated to American workers by pointing to a Newsweek article that stated that Trump uses Chinese steel and aluminum in some of his construction projects.<\/p>\n
Pueblo, sometimes referred to as \u201cSteel City,\u201d is one of the largest steel-producing cities in the country.<\/p>\n
Local Pueblo elected officials and community leaders supporting Clinton held a news conference across the street from the Trump event to \u201cdenounce Trump\u2019s divisive campaign and hateful rhetoric\u201d and call attention to The New York Times report.<\/p>\n
But Trump quickly turned the conversation back on Clinton.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made my money as a very successful private business person, following the law all the way,\u201d he said. \u201cHillary Clinton made her money as a corrupt public official.\u201d<\/p>\n
pmarcus@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds in Pueblo cheer his business survival tactics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,266,13,664,265,315],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-68849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-election","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-hillary-clinton","tag-politics","tag-president-donald-trump"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68849"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=68849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}