During the presidential campaign of 2016, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton demeaned middle class voters as a “basket of deplorables.” She ultimately expressed “regret” for her comments but this week, on a trip to India, she continued to display remarkable ignorance about the country she wanted to represent.
Mrs. Clinton said that the states that supported her candidacy were “dynamic” and “moving forward,” while those that did not were backwards. The states she won, Mrs. Clinton said, represent two-thirds of the country’s wealth and continued her insults against those in flyover country that opposed her candidacy. She said that middle Americans supported Donald Trump because they were motivated by racism and the women that voted against her did so because their husbands told them to.
Let’s be honest, Mrs. Clinton’s remarks, while insulting to half the country, reflect the mainstream view of most liberals from coast to coast. To liberal voters in Manhattan and Hollywood, Mrs. Clinton has stated exactly what they believe. That’s because the Democratic Party is no longer the party of the middle class. It is the party of the wealthy.
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While Democrats routinely denounce the rich and their influence on the political process, they would be nowhere without them. Their biggest supporters are the uber-rich. Tom Steyer, the billionaire mega-donor, has spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the past half-decade attempting to elect Democrats to Congress and the White House. George Soros, one of the richest men in the world, bankrolls most liberal causes. Warren Buffett was more than happy to join with fellow billionaire Bill Gates of Microsoft fame to push for higher taxes. From Oprah to Mark Cuban, the Democratic Party has become the party of the elites.
The influence of the rich liberals is not limited to political contributions. Their progressive policies are funded and promoted by a network of progressive uber-rich donors. Mike Bloomberg, for instance, the New York billionaire, funds most of the anti-gun movement. The Democracy Alliance is a network of progressive donors who pledge to contribute at least $200,000 a year toward liberal causes. The group brags about spending over half a billion dollars toward left-wing causes since their founding.
The latest player on the progressive playing field is the Arnold Foundation. Founded by a former Enron trader who parlayed his millions into billions after starting a hedge fund, John Arnold and his foundation have begun to enter the political fray. The Arnold Foundation is bankrolling an army of progressive activists seeking to reform America’s criminal justice system and has provided millions of dollars to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and their fight against policing in cities like Baltimore.
Since the 1930s, the GOP has been tarred as the political party of the rich. Now, the richest of the rich bankroll liberal causes and the progressive movement, while Republicans champion the ideas and causes of those at the bottom.
Hillary Clinton, after decades of raising money and hobnobbing with the uber-rich at Martha’s Vineyard, represents the snobbery and arrogance of those in the top 1%. These elitists look with disdain at the working class in middle America. From steelworkers to coal miners, these “deplorables” are not rich enough, smart enough, or productive enough to earn the respect of Mrs. Clinton and her ilk.
There is little debate. The Democratic Party and their billionaire allies are the party of the rich.
