Donald J. Trump says only the media are concerned about his tax returns.

I beg to differ.

A lot of Americans way outside the mainstream media have become interested in those returns. You see, it’s that Russian hacking issue that has re-energized the interest in Trump’s returns. Specifically, it centers on whether he has business dealings in Russia. Trump denies it. But if prior presidential scandals have shown — such as, say, Watergate — we’ve all learned that we cannot take a president solely, exclusively at his word.

Trump keeps yammering about a “routine audit” that kept him from releasing the returns during the campaign. It was yet another “tradition” he tossed aside; presidential candidates have released those records every election cycle since 1976.

Trump won the election despite his refusal to comply with that tradition, not to mention all the other traditions he tossed over the cliff.

The taxman’s audit doesn’t preclude releasing these returns. Trump knows it. His accountants know it. So do his lawyers.

For that matter, Trump still hasn’t even provided proof that he, in fact, is even being audited by the Internal Revenue Service.

Come clean, Mr. President-elect. This inquiring mind — along with millions of others — want to know the unvarnished truth about those alleged Russian business dealings.