While the other will begin dropping out…
The guy who said he wouldn’t run?
Jump’s in….
Do Democrats need a rich guy with no political experience as their nominee?
Don’t we have enough of that?
Tom Steyer, the former hedge fund investor turned impeachment activist, announced on Tuesday that he would challenge President Trump in 2020, reversing a previous decision not to enter the race.
In a video announcing his candidacy, Mr. Steyer positioned himself as a populist outsider, railing against corporate interests that he described as holding too much sway over the political system.
“Americans are deeply disappointed and hurt by the way they’re treated by what they think is the power elite in Washington, D.C.,” Mr. Steyer said in the video. “And that goes across party lines and it goes across geography.”
Included in the video were images of men who, Mr. Steyer seemed to imply, represented the excesses of corruption and greed, including Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s incarcerated former adviser; Bernard Madoff, the notorious Ponzi schemer; and Jeffrey Epstein, the investor who was indicted this week on charges of sex trafficking.
Steve Forbes redux
A couple of things and then I have to go.
While I don’t have favorite candidate at the moment, I do have a high opinion of Tom. He worked closely with my husband on the California smoking ban, and we have gotten to know he and his wife very well. The husband has consulted with him on several issues and is considering a staff position in the campaign. Tom is smart and very aggressive, and while I think this is a long shot, I wouldn’t count him out.
Steyer already has over ten million names from his campaign to impeach Trump (names that are a valuable organizing tools) and this message resonates with the activist base of the Party. He also really will finance his own campaign (he’s currently asking for only one dollar contributions on Act Blue to get into the next debate).
So I wouldn’t count him out, and I certainly wouldn’t compare him to William Randolph Hearst. It’s true Hearst, another rich Californian, never became President, in spite of all the propaganda his papers could muster, but he did make at least one person President. Hearst’s papers were instrumental in getting FDR the 1932 Democratic nomination, before he turned on Roosevelt only a few years later. I highly recommend the book Citizen Hearst, it beats Wikipedia for these kinds of facts. Because any comparison between Steyer and Hearst is ridiculous. If anything Hearst was the Trump of his day, a racist who spent all of his daddy’s money.
While it’s good to hear this about Steyer….
I don’t think most Democrats want a rich , non-expecienced political as President after the Trump fiasco…
The question I would have is that I would imagine lots of those people on Steyer mailing list are already involved with or supporting candidates like Warren, Sanders or Harris.
Will they abandon them for Steyer?
That seems unlikely to me.
However, Steyer ,due to his money, can stay around as long as he wants and could inherit the support as more peripheral candidates exit the race or one of the three aforementioned Progressive candidates drop out.
We don’t need another rich guy with no political experience ….
I think you imagine incorrectly Jack, the vast majority of Democratic activists and voters haven’t settled on a candidate yet, far from it. A good indicator will be if Steyer gets on that debate stage at the end of the month. Like I said last night he is soliciting one dollar contributions to get himself there. If he succeeds in this short time period that sort of disproves the theory that he can’t generate the type of support that will make him a viable candidate for the nomination.
I have not settled on a candidate yet (actually would like to vote for Megan Rapinoe), but find what most people are saying about Steyer unfair and uninformed — fully understanding that public impression is everything in this game. It will be up to Steyer to change the narrative.
But, I find the comment, “we don’t need another rich white guy with no political experience” funny and so very predictable. I could say that “we don’t need another old white guy with two failed campaigns behind him” as our nominee. Right?
I read comments on Political Wire today and the comparisons to Trump’s message last time and Steyer’s yesterday were the focus of the conversation. I get it. But, two things, Steyer really is a billionaire, and he already has a record of political accomplishments that exceed at least half of the people who were standing on the debate stage last time.
Forbes won a couple of primaries in 1996.
Steyer won’t come close.
Not even with ALL that money?
Forbes was a rich nerd….
Steyer seems to be embracing many of Warrens issues.
It’s difficukt to see many of her followers deserting her for him.
Steyer ALREADY spent tons of money pushing for Trump impeachment….
Nope….
His money seems to not be effecting voters…
William Randolph Hearst, Sr, (like his image as Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane) spent an enormous amount of effort and money in trying to become President. He got nowhere. (Gaining the lifelong enmity of Al Smith didn’t help.)