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nappy

The performance of the IRS is a strong counterargument to this.

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Actually, no, it isn't. Many conservative organizations were targeted by the IRS under the previous administration.

https://www.npr.org/2017/10/27/560308997/irs-apologizes-for-...

Is it possible that it was due to warranted concerns that these groups were misusing the tax-exempt status?

It seems possible until you realize that the IRS publicly apologized for targeting them and paid a settlement to 427 of the organizations. Four hundred twenty-seven is far beyond any random accident or mistake.

Without knowing how many groups applied, there is no way that you can tell if 427 is an unreasonable number. There are about 1.5 million non-profits in the US. If we assume an average lifetime of a non-profit is 25 years, then we expect about 60000 new non-profits per year. How many of those were conservative groups that did not get targeted?

No, I mean sure, if you think a conservative administration settling with conservative groups is a valid admission of guilt, go for it! But for many of us, it just seems like Trump trying to define truth unilaterally to pander to his base. See: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy

Spoiler: both liberal and conservative groups were subject to extra scrutiny via keyword triggers, but only conservative groups got a settlement for whatever reason only Trump knows. Trump was smart enough not to let it go to court (lest any facts get argued for real).

> No, I mean sure, if you think a conservative administration settling with conservative groups is a valid admission of guilt,

For the actions committed under the previous liberal administration.

Trump campaign: the IRS under Obama is corrupt!

Trump becomes president: see, I told you, the IRS under Obama was corrupt! Let’s settle everything and withdraw all criminal charges (because you can’t just say people are guilty) so a judge/jury doesn’t actually determine anything.

But maybe this is valid under Trump supporter logic, I guess.

So totally non-political?

Maybe or maybe not. But a political decision to admit guilt does not really decide anything.

The IRS has done this exact thing.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy

"In January 2014, James Comey, who at the time was the FBI director, told Fox News that its investigation had found no evidence so far warranting the filing of federal criminal charges in connection with the controversy, as it had not found any evidence of "enemy hunting", and that the investigation continued. On October 23, 2015, the Justice Department declared that no criminal charges would be filed. On September 8, 2017, the Trump Justice Department declined to reopen the criminal investigation into Lois Lerner, a central figure in the controversy."

By this standard, Jeffrey Epstein is innocent since he died before any trial started and Nixon was innocent since he wasn’t removed from office.

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