Democratic mega-donor Tom Steyer is doubling down on his impeachment push against President Trump.
Despite veiled pushback from party leaders on impeachment talk, Steyer is spending another $10 million on cable TV advertisements carrying his message of removing Trump from office.
Steyer plans to fund two new advertisements with the $10 million investment, Politico reported. The new ads will be in addition to one that’s already been circulating on cable news for weeks. Nearly 2 million people have already signed Steyer’s impeachment petition, he told reporters on a conference call, according to Politico.
The advertisement has even caught an audience with the President himself, likely after it aired on Fox News for the first time on Oct. 27. Trump called Steyer “wacky” and “totally unhinged.”
Fox News pulled the advertisement from its airwaves four day later. The network told TPM it pulled the ad because of “strong negative reaction” from its viewers.
Steyer, a billionaire who invested more than $160 million in Democrats in the 2014 and 2016 election cycles, isn’t backing down from his impeachment campaign, despite pushback from not only Trump, but also leaders of his party.
While she didn’t directly criticize Steyer’s advertisement, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Sunday on CNN that talks of impeachment are “not someplace that I think we should go.”
Good for Mr. Steyer. He’s not wrong, imho. Nah gunna happen under the present House/Senate leadership, but let’s start considering it, shall we?
While I’m happy to see talk of impeaching der Furor, who richly deserves it, I agree with Democratic leaders that for the party to be taking the position that he should be turned out of office is likely to prove counter-productive, at least now. It may well be that public opinion will sour much more on Trump, so that before Americans head to the polls next year impeachment is a topic of general discussion. But that time is not now, and Democrats should not play into Trump’s hands by pushing issues that will further divide then nation.
Could say it’s just the “money is free speech” thing cutting the other way for a change and even add that, compared with the billions the Kochs et al have spent on mouth organs, think tanks, lobbying groups, etc, a measly $10MM doesn’t really amount to much.
But it’d be more accurate to say that the push for impeachment absolutely needs to be out there full frontal because that’s where authoritarianism and white supremacy now is.
Me three. If it comes from some billionaire, well, that’s his opinion. And it gets the idea out there, which is great. But from the Democrats the same thing could provoke a Trump-protective backlash. The GOP voters are demoralized right now, let’s keep it that way.
It’s Mr. Steyer’s money, of course, and he can spend it any way he wants. If I had that kind of money I think I’d drop $5 million on my pet project (in his case impeachment ads), and use the other $5 mil to fund Dem campaigns in GOP districts where the incumbent is resigning.