The Dem's Billionaire Problem

It seems like the Democratic Party is starting to realize that it has a grassroots problem. This is a significant change from March.
However, that doesn't mean they want to change anything to address their grassroots problem.
More importantly, if money talks (and it does), it appears that the grassroots have decided to simply work around the corrupt establishment.

Both the DNC show and its organizing program are attempts to connect with a fired-up and somewhat alienated grassroots base that has largely put its energy and money into other organizations. The DNC wants to bring into the fold ahead of the midterms and 2020 presidential race some elements of The Resistance that want nothing to do with the party organization, partly based on what is perceived as the DNC's shabby, finger-on-the-scale treatment of Senator Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary against Hillary Clinton in 2016.
A sign of the problem: Last month, the DNC posted its worst April fundraising haul in eight years, even as other Democratic committees and left-leaning groups raked in cash at unprecedented rates.

The grassroots is saying that it abhors the GOP, but they wouldn't trust the DNC with a wooden nickle.
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About half (51%) of Americans have an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party, while 45% have a favorable view. In January, slightly more had a favorable than unfavorable view (51% favorable to 45% unfavorable).

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It is obvious that the alienation of the grassroots really kicked in with last year's primaries, but the further alienation since the general election is just as significant.
So it's important to look at what the Democratic establishment has done, or not done, since November.

For starters, what has not been done is anyone losing their jobs, i.e. accountability, for failure.
Secondly, is the efforts to make sure that the progressive base doesn't take over leadership positions that can modify the party agenda.
Then there is the behind the scenes moves for 2020 Democratic candidates. Read this and see if you can tell a pattern emerging.

After Trump’s victory, the Democratic Party made it clear that they would look to their billionaire donors for guidance in how to oppose him. Several Democratic leaders, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, attended a closed door conference with Democratic donors shortly after the election. Another closed-door retreat for Democratic leaders and billionaire donors occurred during Trump’s inauguration weekend. During it, the DNC chair candidates participated in a forum to win over the party’s donors. In Florida, Democratic officials made billionaire donor Stephen Bittel chair of the Florida Democratic Party, despite facing stark opposition from every other candidate running for the position.

Hmmm. That B-word keeps popping up.
You might expect it to effect Democratic policies, but you probably don't realize how far it has gone.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been floated as a potential 2020 presidential candidate. A Super PAC called Disrupt for America was recently created to entice the billionaire to run for president. His announcement that he would be visiting all 50 states this year incited speculation he was testing the waters for a future political run.

Several other billionaires have been included on lists speculating who will run against Trump in 2020. Guesses include Oprah Winfrey, Mark Cuban, Tom Steyer, Sheryl Sandberg and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Steyer has also been considered a possible candidate to run for governor of California in 2018, and billionaire J.B. Pritzker was cited as a possible candidate for governor of Illinois in 2018. The executive director of the Democratic Governor’s Association told Politico in December 2016, “There seems to be a feeling that we need to look beyond the normal folks we always look to, the normal types.” In other words, Democrats will cut out the middle man and elect wealthy donors themselves.

Mainstream media outlets and Democratic officials entertaining the viability of these billionaires making serious contentions for the presidency and other elected offices signals how much neoliberalism has degraded the Democratic Party and democracy in the United States.

I wonder where that "feeling" is coming from?
Possibly a warm feeling from a pocket full of dirty money, right next to his groin.

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Young voters, a block Democrats are increasingly reliant on, are broadly speaking far to the left of the elders. A majority of them now reject capitalism entirely, an extraordinary development in a country where socialism has long been viewed as an essentially alien ideology.

It's not just young voters, either: One 2016 poll showed that a majority of Democratic primary voters in every demographic group believed that socialism has a "positive impact on society."

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Bollox Ref's picture

Can't wait.

Also, too, does The Resistance™ get AK-47's from old, Russian stockpiles?

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

@Bollox Ref

He won't be age eligible to run for president until after 2020, regardless of his bank account status.

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“The story around the world gives a silent testimony:
— The Beresovka mammoth, frozen in mud, with buttercups in his mouth…..”

The Adam and Eve Story, Chan Thomas 1963

Pricknick's picture

@ovals49
He would be 35 at the time of being sworn in.
Totally legit.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

dance you monster's picture

@Bollox Ref

You're losing young people? "I know, let's get that facebook guy, he knows something about the computer stuff kids are into. And the serious people at CNBC will love him, too!"

Pity Zuckerberg is narcissistic enough to think it's a good idea. Or maybe not a pity, maybe just the party's death knell we're waiting for.

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lotlizard's picture

@dance you monster @dance you monster  

They hated Trump for being so narcissistic

So for salvation they turned to Mark Zuckerberg

 
Also too:
Facebook founder called trusting users dumb f*cks

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@dance you monster n/t

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Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

( Quick! Call up that ad agency and get us some average looking voter types....go...shoo!)

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k9disc's picture

Firesale America!

TINA to This Plan , and Democrats are going to roll right down that slippery slope.

I'm going to do a pice on this "Infrastructure Fact Sheet". The euphemism and slippery slope are just begging to be uncovered. It really is a breathtaking political evolution. It's a watershed document, IMO, and the Democrats are going to ignore it, completely.

Putin! Boo!

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Trump to host fundraiser for Booker
By REBECCA ELLIOTT 07/16/2013 04:17 PM EDT

Ivanka Trump, the daughter of Republican real estate mogul Donald Trump, will host a fundraiser for Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s Senate bid next Wednesday, a campaign source familiar with the event said.

The event, with a suggested contribution of $5,200 per person, will be held at Ivanka Trump’s home on Park Avenue in Manhattan.

She and her husband, Jared Kushner, had bundled $41,000 for Booker’s Senate campaign as of May. Booker has raised raised $6.5 million so far this year.

Booker is running to replace the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) in a special election. The primary is on August 13 and the general election is on Oct. 16. Booker leads the Democratic field with 52 percent, according to a Quinnipiac poll out last week. Just 10 percent said they would vote for Booker’s leading Democratic opponent, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), whom the Lautenberg family endorsed.

Ivanka Trump endorsed Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

snoopydawg's picture

@dkmich
there was a diary on DK about Booker coming out and saying that Jared Kushner's security clearance shouldn't be provoked because there isn't any proof that he broke any law or if he colluded with Russia before the nomination.
The person who wrote it said that this was the 3rd time that he pissed off the base.
But it makes sense, right? If he calls for his clearance to be revoked, Mrs. Kushner might not do the fundraiser for him.
Ah, the decisions one has to make before they sell out their conscience.

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Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.

thanatokephaloides's picture

@snoopydawg

Ah, the decisions one has to make before they sell out their conscience.

More like:

O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!

-- Sir Walter Scott source

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

article to my 3 friends who may still have hopes for Democrats or the Resistance. Perfect piece for explaining that, he does a lot better job than I do and they really do need to hear from someone other than me. I am sure there are days they think I'm just being WAY too cynical, but he lays it all out nicely. Sickeningly.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

ggersh's picture

the parties represent class, not the people.

that needs to change asap.

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

snoopydawg's picture

I appreciate the essays you've been writing lately.

This new trend of wealthy billionaires in government reflects that America’s democracy is transitioning to an oligarchy for the wealthiest one percent.

Is? Is? Honey, we aren't transitioning to an oligarchy, we have arrived.

Anyone remember how people reacted to the Koch brothers taking over the Tea party? They ridiculed them and made fun of their moniker because of what that name represented. Now along comes the Hillary super PAC to round up the pussy hats into her orbit and make sure that they do what she wants them to do. Does anyone think that they will see the irony or the hypocrisy if they allow this?

Hey, maybe it's a good idea if Hillary's super PAC takes over the grassroots resistance to Trump?

In Hillary Clinton’s unveiling of her Super PAC Onward Together, she claimed it would “support this wave of grassroots organizing.” However, nothing suppresses grassroots movements more than astroturfing them

Yep, great idea! Smile

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Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.


Hillary launches astonishing conspiracy claim that Trump won the election because he 'colluded' with 1,000 Russian agents who filled Facebook with 'lies' and Twitter with 'bots'

But she added: 'The Russians in my opinion - and based on intelligence and counterintelligence people I have spoken to - could not have known best how to weaponize that information unless they had been guided by a specific group of people. By Americans.'

Way to go Hill. Accuse everybody who didn't vote for you of being a dupe of Russia. That's sure to win a lot of people over.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4560344/Hillary-Trump-colluded-R...

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native

@native

Hillary launches astonishing conspiracy claim that Trump won the election because he 'colluded' with 1,000 Russian agents who filled Facebook with 'lies' and Twitter with 'bots'

As opposed to the lies and bots spread by David Brock and Correct the Record on Her behalf. Could this woman be any less self-aware?

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Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

Lily O Lady's picture

with a scary Trump face on it. It's a waste of postage. That party has nothing to offer me, and I certainly won't send them any money. Still, like spoiled children, they continue to make demands.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

thanatokephaloides's picture

@Lily O Lady

Just a few things you can stuff in those envelopes before returning them -- sans stamps, of course.

Wink

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Pricknick's picture

@thanatokephaloides
for beating me .
Minds.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Pricknick's picture

@Lily O Lady
Insure you stuff the usually postage paid return envelope with other trash mail.
Also insure that the envelope is considered unbendable by sorting machines. This actually gets more money for the postal service on return of the envelope. Tongue depressors, wood shims, hell even flat sticks will insure this.
Send that shit back at a cost.
This has been a public service announcement.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

riverlover's picture

@Pricknick so two good deeds at no price but envelope stuffing.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

@Lily O Lady
a waste of postage. Sending it to you removes the chance that it could go to someone who would react positively.

I don't even open the ones I get. I tear them in half and toss them in the recycle bin.

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This has been the mantra for the Democrats, especially the Clinton wing, every time they get a little introspective. It's never that they are an out of touch corporate donor class party that supports policies that make the lives of the voters worse. It's that their message isn't connecting with the voters who are apparently too stupid to understand they just need to shut up and vote for them. Every time when they aren't pointing the finger at someone else, from Hillary's '08 crash and burn until now, it's always "we need to do a better job getting our message out", sometimes literally using the phrase re-branding, rather than realizing what they're trying to sell is junk and the people know it.

As the old saying goes, you can't polish a turd.

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Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

Saw this from a Greenwald tweet. This just more and more confirms Thomas Franks book about the current state of the democratic party. Not only a millionaire and billionare class, but a class of people below them in the professional upper middle classes.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/opinion/democratic-party-rich-thomas-...
Has the Democratic Party Gotten Too Rich for Its Own Good?

In rhetoric reminiscent of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman, Sanders declared:

We must send a message to the billionaire class: “you can’t have it all.” You can’t get huge tax breaks while children in this country go hungry.

But Sanders spoke to the Democratic Party of 2016, not the Democratic Party of the Great Depression.

In days past, a proposal to slam the rich to reward the working and middle classes meant hitting Republicans to benefit Democrats.

Even as recently as 1976, according to data from American National Election Studies, the most affluent voters, the top 5 percent, were solidly in the Republican camp, 77-23. Those in the bottom third of the income distribution were solidly Democratic, 64-36.

In other words, 41 years ago, the year Jimmy Carter won the presidency, the Sanders proposal would have made political sense.

But what about now?

In the 2016 election, the economic elite was essentially half Democratic, according to exit polls: Those in the top 10 percent of the income distribution voted 47 percent for Clinton and 46 percent for Trump. Half the voters Sanders would hit hardest are members of the party from which he sought the nomination.

The problem for the Democratic Party is that “them” has become “us.”

In the past, Democrats could support progressive, redistributive policies knowing that the costs would fall largely on Republicans. That is no longer the case. Now supporting these policies requires the party to depend on the altruistic idealism of millions of supporters who, despite being relatively well off, often feel financially pressed themselves.

This problem applies not only to tax policy, but even more to social policies concerning education and housing.

What this is saying from a pessimistic point of view is that the democratic party cannot be ever be again be for the working classes as structurally that is NOT the majority of the party. The party cannot be argued into progressive policies for the working classes.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

expect to pick up a national park or toll road or two themselves along with the Blackstone Group facilitated sale of American citizen's assets to Saudi Arabia (which I find very troubling to say the least).

http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/21/news/companies/saudi-arabia-blackstone-d...

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa