Donald J. Trump declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns, a tax deduction so substantial it could have allowed him to legally avoid paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years.

The mainstream media trumpeted the storyline incessantly without mentioning simple truths buried in the Times’ report: The hit piece was based on just three pages of the voluminous tax returns Trump filed in that year; his taxable income in future years is unknown; tax experts consulted by the Times “said nothing in [those pages from 1995] suggested any wrongdoing”; that donations Trump might have made to charity in 1995 are unknown; that nothing provided by those three front pages “suggest that Mr. ...