While the establishment media is all over the ginned-up scandal over Donald Trump’s federal taxes, it has gone largely unmentioned that the big New York Times saga provides a timely smokescreen. Alicia Machado, the former Miss Universe who was cruelly victimized by the mean, mean man has virtually disappeared from headlines.

It is an unexpected turn of events for a woman who figured prominently in Clinton’s debate performance against Trump and briefly served as the new face of the racist war on women – even being featured in a Hillary campaign video. That was until a bit of digging into Machado’s tawdry past revealed such things as her allegedly threatening to murder a judge, having a Mexican drug lord baby daddy and appearing in porn videos. Hardly the wholesome image that Team Hillary was seeking to portray and another example of sloppy vetting and lack of attention to detail that has plagued her operation.

It was a good time to change horses in midstream and the Clinton flacks in the media are providing an assist be flogging the tax story for all that they’re worth today.

The Hill kinda, sorta explains the exiled Latina in the story “Trump’s taxes bump Miss Universe from headlines”:

The spotlight shifted on Sunday to Donald Trump’s tax returns, after a report surfaced showing the GOP nominee could have legally avoided paying federal income tax for up to 18 years.

The New York Times report quickly bumped the controversy surrounding his treatment of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado from the headlines, as the GOP nominee’s supporters sought to defend him, arguing the new information shows Trump’s genius.

But Democrats and supporters of Hillary Clinton said the fact that a $916 million loss Trump reported on his 1995 income tax returns could have allowed him to legally avoid paying any federal income tax for up to 18 years reveals a corrupt system and a candidate who only cares about himself.

The latest average of polls from RealClearPolitics shows Clinton ahead of Trump by 2.5 points and it remains to be seen how the information about Trump’s taxes will sit with voters.

The best bet is that the NYT “bombshell” won’t muss a hair on Trump’s head and considering that Mrs. Clinton herself has used the operating loss provision it will be a blip on the radar.

There also is the possibility of blowback with the Times choosing to selectively publish the tax details of a then private citizen as a politically motivated hit job. The tidbit that the small sample of Trump’s 1995 tax return was mailed to the paper by a mole inside Trump Tower just doesn’t pass the smell test. It’s far from a remote possibility that the documents came from within the bowels of Obama’s politicized IRS and were dropped down a mail slot in New York as a disinformation ploy. The Democrats are just the type of sleazy bastards who would do such a thing.

No matter though, by later this week the entire income tax smear campaign will be replaced by some new fake outrage and ‘Miss Piggy’ will have been swept away with it.