US election: Democrats drip with hypocrisy as they challenge Trump

It’s amusing to watch millionaire Dems try to deny they consort with other millionaires, much less dastardly billionaires.

Democratic presidential hopefuls Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. Picture: AFP

Few political spectacles are more amusing than watching Democrats who are millionaires attempting to deny that they consort with other millionaires, much less with dastardly billionaires. This was on extended display at Thursday’s presidential debate, and it offers a lesson about money and politics.

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg has been raising millions of dollars in Silicon Valley, New York, Hollywood and other well-to-do progressive enclaves. This has riled Elizabeth Warren, who used to be a favourite of the wealthy liberal class but as a presidential candidate has taken a vow of non-association with the rich. Ms Warren accused the young mayor of holding a fundraiser “in a wine cave full of crystals” and $900-a-bottle wine.

That’s probably less than the hourly rate Ms Warren charged her corporate clients when she was a Harvard professor. The Ivy League populist likes to play pauper during debates, but she has raked in $1.9 million as a corporate consultant over her career and earned nearly $1 million in income last year. She has also hob-nobbed with the rich and famous.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell last year held a fundraiser for Ms Warren’s Senate re-election at a steakhouse where a Philadelphia cheese-steak (with foie gras and Wagyu ribeye) costs $120 . Her other Senate financiers included “Lost” creator Damon Lindelof, Nasdaq vice president Meyer Frucher and Democratic philanthropists Henry and Marsha Laufer.

Ms Warren has since transferred $10 million from her Senate campaign to her presidential campaign while running on a wealth tax. As Mr Buttigieg rejoined, “Senator, your presidential campaign right now as we speak is funded in part by money you transferred, having raised it at those exact same big-ticket fundraisers you now denounce. Did it corrupt you, Senator?”

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar interjected that while “I have never even been to a wine cave, I’ve been to the wind cave in South Dakota.” This wasn’t another corny joke. There really is a South Dakota wind cave. The National Park Service says the price of a tour is $12. Perhaps Mayor Pete could hold a fundraiser there.

Did someone say wind? “I am rather proud, maybe, I don’t know, the only candidate up here that doesn’t have any billionaire contributions,” Bernie Sanders exclaimed. “My good friend, Joe [ Biden ], and he is a good friend, he’s received contributions from 44 billionaires ...

Pete, on the other hand, he’s trailing, Pete. You only got 39 billionaires contributing.”

Meanwhile, at the end of the stage stood Tom Steyer, who really is trying to buy the Democratic nomination. The self-funding billionaire last year donated $74 million to Democratic candidates and groups, the third top donor in the country.

The second largest donor was Michael Bloomberg ($95 million), who is also running for the nomination and perhaps was watching at home while enjoying a $900 bottle. We wish we had one to dull the pain of watching the debates. Mr Bloomberg recently promised $10 million to re-elect House Democrats who voted to impeach President Trump, and we haven’t heard anyone turn down the cash.

The larger point here is that money is inevitable in politics. As the Supreme Court has ruled, money is a means to influence politics and is thus protected speech under the First Amendment. Democrats pretend to hate money but chase it nonetheless in their private and political lives. They’d look less foolish if, like Mr Buttigieg, they admitted the reality and enjoyed the cabernet.

Wall Street Journal