But it literally is a sign of altruism. He told everyone he would refuse a salary and then he did. You're the one busy trying desperately to twist this into a bad thing because beep boop orange man bad.
It's a sign of him wanting you to think he's altruistic. $400,000 a year is chump change to Trump. I'll grant that not accepting a salary certainly isn't in and of itself a bad or selfish thing, but neither is it convincing evidence of his altruism.
Nice rant, shame that none of it contains credible evidence of wrongdoing...The IRS wouldn't let him get by with anything illegal
The law does indeed seem to currently be on Trump's side. He's correctly pointed out that the president is excluded from conflict-of-interest laws, and parts of the Constitution that might possibly restrict his behavior, like the Titles of Nobility Clause, are vague and have little to no case law actually putting their terms into enforceable rules. The hypothetical situation about the Chinese I outlined above would probably be perfectly legal, as long as it didn't cross the line into straight bribery. I'd argue that the legality of all this makes Trump's self-enrichment even more of a threat, not less, because it frees him to be as open and shameless about it as he likes. In any case, I'm asking you for your opinion on this subject, not the law. Do you think that Trump can reasonably set his enormous business interests aside when it comes to his policies and positions in office? As in, that he won't be influenced by how much money he stands to gain or lose with every decision that he makes?
I'm unsure of why you think having the general public eyeball tax returns they cannot understand would be any use to anyone
The general public also didn't understand the Climategate emails, or the revelations from Edward Snowden, or virtually any major leak or disclosure that involved documents of a technical or specialized nature. In situations like this, we typically rely on experts in the relevant fields to help us understand what's going on.
Also, nice "muh tax returns" narrative. I highly doubt you honestly agree with the "nothing to fear, nothing to hide" sentiment so common in today's Big Brother society, so I have to wonder why you think it should apply to Trump. He isn't required to show you tax returns and he isn't guilty by omission
Because he's the President of the United States, the most powerful person in the world. Yes, he should be scrutinized, tested, made to prove that he's truly committed to the office and duty. Every president before him has been, and every one after him will be. When you run for president, you give up the privilege of claiming to be just another guy minding his own business and wanting to be left alone to live his life in peace. You invite that scrutiny onto yourself. And by pointedly refusing to do what all his modern predecessors have to prove that they weren't bought and paid for - not simply not thinking of it, or not getting around to do it, but deliberately refusing, basically stomping his feet and yelling no, never, absolutely not, he's made himself look suspicious as hell.
Have some standards. This man's job is to run the country. It's okay to want a certain level of dedication. It's good to want a certain level of dedication. And it's absolutely good to not be satisfied with someone who refuses to meet a relatively low bar like this.
If Trump is as immoral and greedy as you claim, then it seems it'd be a lot easier for him to rake up his $400,000 salary and ignore his promise entirely.
I don't know what you mean by "easier." It's not like Trump declining a salary is something that he needs to work hard at, or even put any effort into at all. Like I said, that kind of money is loose change to him, and he probably figured that what he'd gain in convincing people (like you) that he was honest and selfless would more than offset such a small sacrifice. Of course, I'm not claiming that this was necessarily the best tactic for Trump, or the only one that would work. He probably could collect his salary tomorrow, tweet something along the lines of "I'm working my ass off here!" and his base would fall over themselves praising his diligence and work ethic, as well as accusing anyone criticizing him of supporting slavery.