Steyer by all accounts is paying—and playing—to win; the coveted prize, however, is not yet clear.
If you’ve watched the evening news since Election 2016, then you’ve probably seen ads featuring billionaire Tom Steyer. The purported goal: to fulfill the “need to impeach” Donald Trump. But is Tom Steyer really running to win the White House, or otherwise oust the current POTUS in 2020?
While Steyer has turned down runs for senator or governor of California in 2018 and has already spent nearly $2oo million bankrolling Democrats’ in recent election cycles, POLITICO reports the hedge fund manager-turned-political activist plans to drop $30 million into flipping the House this year by ratcheting up millennial votes in 10 states. The Hill notes Steyer has already singled out House Speaker Paul Ryan (Wis.), Reps. Darrell Issa (Calif.) and Barbara Comstock (Va.) for defeat in the upcoming midterms.
Key to this midterm maneuver is Steyer’s political organization, NextGen, which has a clutch swing state footprint, including a 4-million strong email list of like-minded (anti-Trump) grassroots activists – thanks for the most part to his impeachment “campaign” ads.
Steyer’s anti-Trump and midterm election efforts may well just be self-promotion to buy, literally or figuratively, his way onto the presidential ticket in 2020. Also in his favor, Steyer himself personally has friends in high places, including Bill Clinton, and on his payroll – including former Obama and Hillary Clinton campaign and polling aides.
Though, it may come down to Steyer’s own ambitions, whether to win for himself or buy the margin of error for someone else.
What should be at least one especially loud concern of the GOP is the possibility of Steyer – or another candidate – running in Ross Perot fashion to lower the threshold for a Democrat victory in 2020, a possible 2020 tactic pointed out by POLITICO to defeat Donald Trump. Though, it may come down to Steyer’s own ambitions, whether to win for himself or buy the margin of error for someone else.
This is, of course, despite the irony of Steyer being a hedge fund millionaire and paying big money to pay power politics on a ticket, or at least in the shadows of one for now, that loudly condemns the capitalist system. It is also possibly irrelevant speculation should Oprah Winfrey decide to put her name on the ballot.
Regardless, Steyer by all accounts is paying—and playing—to win; the coveted prize, however, is not yet clear. Given his organic ability to drive as well as buy the narrative (in line with the mainstream media’s largely anti-Trump stance), he should be regarded if nothing else as a shark circling around the flailing gaggle of swimmers otherwise known as the Republican Establishment.
