 Approximately two months have passed since Bernie Sanders promised to release 10 years worth of tax returns in a CNN town hall with Wolf Blitzer and the media has gone out of their way to remind you that he still has not released his tax returns. You have VT Digger reminding you that he has not yet released his tax returns. WCAX reminding you that he has still not released his tax returns. You have CNN reminding you in a six-minute segment that he has not released his tax returns. Trevor Noah asking him about it in an appearance on The Daily Show. CNN dedicating another six-minute segment reminding Americans that he hasn't released his tax returns and the problem is that as time passes by it's fueling more and more speculation about whether or not Bernie Sanders even wants to release his tax returns at all because most likely he's a millionaire for selling lots of books and maybe it's the case that he wants to hide that fact from us and as MSNBC asks, could Bernie Sanders' tax returns drive his supporters away? So basically what we're seeing with the media really harping away on this issue is them trying to make something that's not a thing, a thing and it's evident that they're actively trying to increase the salience of this issue for us. Now to be clear, do I believe that Bernie Sanders should release his tax returns? Absolutely. Do I believe that it's kind of Bernie's own fault that the media is even speculating in the first place? Because if you just released the tax returns then you shut them up? Absolutely. Bernie shouldn't have taken this long to release his tax returns. But with that being said, is it also the case that Bernie Sanders is unfairly being held to a different standard than pretty much every other presidential candidate? Yeah, that's also the case because there's just been what four candidates so far that actually have released their tax returns. Jay Inslee, Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten Gillibrand and Elizabeth Warren. So when you have more than a dozen other candidates who haven't released their tax returns, why is all of the focus being put on Bernie here? Why is the spotlight on him and not being equally distributed to the rest of the candidates? Well, you have to remember that the media is currently trying to construct this narrative that equates Bernie Sanders with Donald Trump. If you'll recall, last week we talked about a Washington Post article by Dana Milbang where he claimed Bernie Sanders is the Trump of the left. So by specifically focusing on Bernie Sanders not releasing his tax returns, this adds to the narrative that maybe he isn't too different from Donald Trump. Maybe since Donald Trump refuses to release his tax returns because he's obviously hiding something, maybe the same is also true for Bernie Sanders. But I'm here to tell the media on behalf of all progressives. And if you think that I don't speak for you too bad, because I'm going to do it here now, that we do not care what's in Bernie Sanders tax returns and they're trying to promise to believe that there's going to be some bombshell, namely a bombshell that he's a millionaire. But no shit. He sold millions of dollars worth of books, millions of dollars worth. So I'm not going to be surprised if his tax returns prove that he's a millionaire. I'm expecting him to now be a millionaire. What I care about is that he's consistent with regard to policy that he doesn't suddenly say, Well, you know what? Now that I'm a millionaire, fuck you, I got mine. I'm no longer in favor of taxing millionaires. If he suddenly changed his policy positions, then that'd be an issue because what we care about is millionaires paying their fair share. And so long as he is going to hold himself to that same standard, there's no problem here. But again, the media is trying to make you think or at least arouse suspicion about the possibility that Bernie Sanders maybe isn't delaying the release of his tax returns just because you know, this is something that his wife Jane is doing by herself and they don't have an accountant. Maybe he's doing it to actively hide something. And I think that that is it's disingenuous. And it shows that you know, they really don't have very much to hammer Bernie Sanders for. So they've kind of carved out this area where they feel as if they can attack him. And I think justifiably so, because again, he should have released his tax returns by now. But basically, this is the response that they're expecting. They're trying to get you to believe that something as suspicious as there. And then once he puts out his tax returns, and it shows that he's a millionaire, then they're going to say, Well, would you look at that progressives? He's a millionaire. But again, it's not going to be surprising to progressives. And I don't think it's going to be an issue. So now he recently talked about when he will be releasing his tax returns, he gave us an updated timeframe as to when he's going to do this to put all of the criticism and speculation to rest. And as Zach Budrick of the Hill reports, quote, we are going to release 10 years of our tax returns. And we hope that on that day, Donald Trump will do the same. He continued. Sanders acknowledged in the interview that he is a millionaire, attributing it to his book sales. The newspaper noted that his most recent book, Where Do We Go From Here was published last year, quote, I wrote a best selling book, he told the Times, if you write a best selling book, you can be a millionaire too. Sanders and other Democratic presidential candidates have sought to release their own financial information in an effort to push Trump to release his tax returns. During the 2016 election, Trump cited an IRS audit as his reason for not releasing his tax returns. The agency has said audits don't prohibit individuals from releasing information about their own finances. So there's no reason to speculate. He says, I'm a millionaire because again, sold a lot of books, and we're going to release them on Monday. So I'm glad that he's finally doing this. I hope he actually does it because if he doesn't then pundits in the mainstream media will have a conniption fit, but he he needs to do it. And I think he will. And I'm glad that he is finally going to do it and understand that a lot of the information that we want that the media seeks about his finances, it's available in Senate financial disclosures, disclosures already. So you know, this desire to fuel speculation is especially disingenuous knowing that the media is already cognizant of this fact that they can look up this information. And back in 2014, when he was running for president, he released his 2014 tax returns and Politico described it as just as boring as Bernie Sanders claimed it would be. So really, there's no there there and it's frustrating that the media is obviously trying to make this an issue. But at the same time, I've got to call it like I see it and say it's kind of Bernie's fault because before he announced that he was going to run, if he didn't have his tax returns already prepared, he knew this would be an issue. And he should have done more to kind of quell the criticisms he should have foreseen. But with that being said, the fact that it's going to happen is important. I'm just curious to see what the media will move on to next, because it's not like this is going to put to rest all of the criticisms of Bernie Sanders. They're going to still continue to attack him because obviously he poses a threat to the status quo and the elite class, which media pundits are part of. So don't don't think that this is going to be the end of the media's criticisms of Bernie Sanders. Simply put, they're just going to move on to the next thing. And it's as simple as that. Subscribe if you like this video, folks. Mike's tremendous and he's doing a really, really good job. Many people are telling me about how wonderful the humanist report is. Bigly.