Clinton And Trump Are Both Cash Cow Candidates
Despite their rhetoric, neither Clinton nor Trump will say goodbye to Citizens United.
There are many types of communities that make up America, from the rustbelt, rural working-class, evangelical, urban, college towns, to the major cities. The one thing that unites this diversity: Ending Citizens United.
The moment the Supreme Court in 2008 ruled in Citizens United’s favor, the disparity for the average man grew more robust than ever before. The Supreme Court assented that our government could enable and grant (essentially) that the wealthy (and corporations) two votes, not one, in elections. Adding insult to injury, The Supreme Court gave two thumbs up that campaigns could raise unlimited money and do so in secrecy. After all, why, decrease the disparity and contention between classes when you can enrich it? Nevermind the fact that Americans were already frustrated with politicians currying favor for the wealthy with regards to tax breaks and Wall Street evading criminal charges for money laundering and ruining our economy under George W. Bush’s presidency.
The day of the Citizens United ruling was a sad day in America, and stupid us for holding the Supreme Court in such high regard.
Our series explores how money from abroad has entered the 2016 presidential election thanks to Citizens United: https://t.co/VgMia20Vde
— The Intercept (@theintercept) August 4, 2016
The conservatives on the bench, Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy, and Alito, forever cemented that money was speech. Thus, if you have a lot of money, your political speech is unlimited and oh so powerful. But if you’re poor or from middle America, well your political speech is limited because your financial means are limited. Welcome to politics in America.
Amanda Hollis-Brusky of the LA Times covered Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissent of the Hobby Lobby case after Citizens United. Ginsburg wrote about the aftereffects of corruption due to Citizens United that played a significant role in the Hobby Lobby case.
“The idea that ‘corporations are people’ has spread from campaign finance law into the sphere of religious liberty. And there is no reason to believe it will stop there.”
Thus when Donald Trump decided to run for president as an anti-establishment candidate who would represent rural America, evangelicals, and the rustbelt, I about died from laughter. The man whose father gave him a million dollar loan to start a business was going to “Make America Great Again?” The man with multiple bankruptcies, whose fortune got saved from the backs of middle-class Americans tax dollars, was now our savior? The same man who declared he’s going to create jobs in America, yet he creates jobs for China and Mexico. The same man who refuses to release his taxes because they’re under “Audit,” is the same person to trust with our economy, our democracy? Oh, give me a break.
Trump will not make America great, but surely he will profit from the American dream as president.
Donald Trump's campaign to make America great again may not be so great for his businesses https://t.co/dIG0cMkgRR pic.twitter.com/ruFPe8Aaqj
— CNN (@CNN) August 4, 2016
Shane Goldmacher of Politico writes that Trump’s biggest donors are his economic advisers. Surprise, surprise.
“After spending months scolding his rivals for being beholden to their financial backers, Donald Trump unveiled an economic advisory council last week — and filled it with some of his biggest donors. Of the 13 men — and they are all men — that Trump touted as economic advisers for their “unparalleled experience and success,” five are major donors whose families combined to give Trump’s campaign and his joint fundraising account with the Republican Party more than $2 million. Two more have been pursued for campaign contributions.”
John Haskins of Townhall too has noted the establishment surrounds Trump, begging the question, “If Donald Trump is ‘anti-establishment,’ then what the heck does ‘establishment’ look like?”
Steve Deace, a conservatives activist in Iowa on the topic of Trump’s candidacy, told Politico, “It is complete and total hypocrisy.”
“He got a lot of mileage out of taking advantage of a lot of low-information voters who are rightfully frustrated that government left them behind,” Deace said of Trump proclaiming he’s the anti-establishment candidate. “They were an easy mark for a P.T. Barnum con man.”
Trump isn’t the only phony baloney candidate on the subject of fighting for the common man and restoring our faith in fair elections.
Clinton, in all her glory, believes the key to ending Citizens United is having more democracy in our country.
“Citizens United and its aftermath have twisted and perverted our democratic system. Now the deck is stacked even more in favor of those at the top. But as Al Smith, another Democrat from New York, once said, ‘All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.’ So that’s what we need now: more transparency, more accountability, and above all, more citizens exercising their right to vote.”
If Clinton thought Citizens United is “twisted” as she wrote in an op-ed to CNN, then why isn’t repealing it a part of the Democratic platform for 2016?
Why a constitutional amendment is, in fact, necessary to overturn Citizens United https://t.co/iGjeyxuvfg
— Anti-Establishment (@NCForBernie) August 4, 2016
The truth is, like Trump, Clinton is all about that money. They’re both cash cow candidates.
The Clinton campaign is courting young Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. On a May 13 episode of Morning-Joe, they reported millionaires preferred Clinton 44 percent to Trump’s 31 percent. That isn’t minuscule or a coincidence. The worst about Clinton is her reaching out to wealthy Republicans who refuse to support Trump. Why court people who don’t share the same liberal values as you do?
Oh, that’s right, Clinton like Trump doesn’t care about democracy, they care about winning, and will say and do anything to achieve that feat, even to the peril of the working-class Americans who created the Amerian dream.
[Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images]
