At long last, the elusive Donald Trump tax returns have become public thanks to a lengthy weekend exposé published by the New York Times.

In a big picture sense, the reporting simply confirms much of what we already knew: Donald Trump is a serial fraud and grifter whose swaggering New York tycoon schtick is more mirage than reality. Beneath the glitzy image Trump crafted through decades of media harlotry was a teetering commercial empire hemorrhaging money every year.

And, of course, he paid almost no federal income tax.