Tom Steyer photo: Gage Skidmore, Michale Bloomberg photo: Gage Skidmore
Former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer (left) and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (right) could soon be fighting head-to-head for the Democratic nomination.
Three months before any votes are cast, no one really knows who will win the Democratic presidential nomination. But as Democrats campaign on expanding affordable health care and reducing taxes on working Americans by reversing enormous Republican tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, let’s go out on a limb and say the party is unlikely to nominate a billionaire who opposes raising taxes on the wealthy.
Donald Trump may have poisoned the well for another billionaire president for years to come. Trump campaigned on the lie that as an extremely wealthy man who used every trick in the book to pay as little in taxes as possible, he alone could reform the tax system. He would force billionaires, especially Democratic hedge fund managers, to pay more and relieve the tax burden on “forgotten” working Americans in dying industries. Maybe an honest rich man could do that. But as president, Trump promptly forgot “forgotten” Americans and passed a massive, 10-year, $1.5 trillion tax cut going overwhelmingly to wealthy Americans, including himself and his family.
Let’s be clear: There are legions of admirable billionaires in America whose family fortunes, business empires and tax-sheltered foundations underwrite invaluable political reforms, medical research, educational institutions and non-profits that save the lives of the desperate and vulnerable. The Rockefeller Foundation helped finance the civil rights movement of Martin Luther King Jr. and historic black colleges. The Trump Foundation, on the other hand, settled lawsuits over Trump’s unlawful business practices, bought a six-foot-tall portrait of Trump to hang in one of his country clubs and paid Don Jr.’s Boy Scout dues.
Billionaires for Social Progress
Two socially conscious billionaires, former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, could soon be fighting head-to-head for the Democratic nomination. They’re not just egotistical, “look-at-me-and-my-money” billionaires. Democrats should be grateful to both.
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Steyer founded NextGen in 2013 to organize millennials to fight climate change and increase young voter participation. He contributed more than $234 million to progressive Democratic congressional candidates in 2014, 2016 and 2018 before most voters ever heard of him. Bloomberg, a Democrat most of his life, served three terms as a primarily progressive New York City mayor, initially elected as a Republican then as an independent before returning to the Democratic Party. He became one of the world’s richest men running a financial services, software and business media company and uses that fortune to finance important Democratic causes, including fighting gun violence and Republican voter suppression.
But, but, but... Steyer’s candidacy and Bloomberg’s potential candidacy (he says he may announce within days) already are disrupting the Democratic race in problematic ways. Bloomberg says he’ll stay out of the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada primaries that otherwise might sort out the Democratic field and create momentum for frontrunners. Then, he plans to use massive national advertising aimed at the Super Tuesday primaries March 3, when 14 states choose delegates. If his late entry totally upends the race, a long multi-candidate contest could prevent anyone from securing a delegate majority and create a chaotic, anything-can-happen Milwaukee convention.
On Sunday, Bloomberg began cleaning up his Democratic political liabilities. He apologized to an African American congregation at a black megachurch for his past support of “stop and frisk” practices by New York City police primarily targeting young blacks and Latinos. “Far too many innocent people were being stopped,” Bloomberg said. “That may have included, I’m sorry to say, some of you here today.”
What About Taxes?
But Bloomberg is unlikely to repudiate another stand putting him out of step with many Democrats and possibly even a majority of voters. Most middle-class voters in both parties agree the wealthy pay far less in taxes than they should. Billionaire Bloomberg disagrees. Bloomberg denounces the “wealth taxes” of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders as a threat to the nation’s economy. He sounds positively Trumpian claiming such taxes would destroy capitalism and turn the U.S. into Venezuela.
At least fellow billionaire Steyer admits wealthy people like himself don’t pay their fair share in taxes. He says he’ll propose his own wealth tax. But there are other ways Steyer uses his wealth to manipulate the political system. Because Bloomberg would fund his own campaign, he won’t qualify for candidate debates, which currently require participants to have 165,000 individual donors in a wide number of diverse states. So how did billionaire Steyer get into the debates? He bought his way in by spending millions of dollars on Facebook ads soliciting $1 contributions. That’s the direct opposite of the substantial grassroots financial support intended by the requirement.
Billionaires will always have a lot of advantages in our society ordinary Americans don’t. But billionaires will never be able to buy a brand-new democracy after all the Constitutional wreckage Trump will leave in his wake. Only a majority of decent American voters can create that.
