President-Elect Donald Trump’s latest batch of cabinet nominations is drawing fire from liberal media elites with smears like “The wealthiest cabinet in history.” But the frustration over the nominees’ financial success is made humorous when it’s other super wealthy people throwing the fit, such as Al Sharpton during MSNBC’s PoliticsNation on Sunday. “I mean, how concerned… should Democrats be about the fact that all of these multi-corporate connected Wall Street millionaires guys,” he wondered.
Most of Sharpton’s panel seemed to be there to smear Trump’s picks for their wealth, especially MSNBC analyst Joan Walsh. She praised the nomination hearings as a time for Democrats to call out Trump perceived broken campaign promises to drain the swap. Ranting about the nomination of Steve Mnuchin for treasury secretary, she argued:
I think Steve Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, Goldman Sachs guy, apparently there is a Trump voter who just discovered that she was evicted by Mnuchin's old company, One West. And she's, you know, despondent that she voted for Trump, she believed his promises, he was going to drain the swamp and now we’ve got Swamp Thing as Treasury Secretary.
The New York Times’ Yamiche Alcindor informed Sharpton that the Democrats she has been in communication with are worried about “People who have run private equity firms, who have all this money, making decisions about people…” A rather bizarre thing to report since the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton received millions in contributions from wealthy financial and Hollywood elitists. There was also no eyes batted in 2008 when then President-Elect Barack Obama was nominating Washington insiders, in fact it was praised.
And in 2008 Goldman Sachs was one of Obama’s top donators with almost $1 million. And Sharpton didn’t seem to care about what Clinton said in paid speeches to the organization when he elected to endorse her for president. It was a perfect time to stand up for the blue collar voters he now claims to care about.
Sharpton then strangely knocked Trump for not nominating any of the blue collar workers who attended his campaign rallies to his cabinet. “What happened to all of the blue collar workers, and all of the people he was rallying in key states, nobody like that is nominated for this cabinet,” he asked.
And upon being informed by Walch that former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin called Trump’s Carrier deal “crony capitalism,” Sharpton painted her as an idiot, quipping, “Oh really? She figured that out all by herself?”
Transcript below:
MSNBC
PoliticsNation
December 4, 2016
8:12:21 AM Eastern…
MATT WELCH: Just throwing up your hands in the air and saying they're all bad, or they’re all rich, or they’re all Republican, that's not going to get it done. A president gets deference with most of his cabinet.
AL SHARPTON: No, they [Democrats] can hurt themselves unless they're selective in your opinion. Joan?
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JOAN WALSH: Yeah, I agree with that. I mean, I think every hearing is an opportunity to air the things in their backgrounds that don't jive with Trump's promises. But I think Sessions will be a big one. I think Steve Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, Goldman Sachs guy, apparently there is a Trump voter who just discovered that she was evicted by Mnuchin's old company, One West. And she's, you know, despondent that she voted for Trump, she believed his promises, he was going to drain the swamp and now we’ve got Swamp Thing as Treasury Secretary. I mean, I think Tom Price will be a big target. But you're right, everyone can't be subject to the same level –
SHARPTON: Price at HHS was the one who consistently went after Obamacare. But Yamiche, I mean, how concerned—I want to go to Matt's point— should Democrats be about the fact that all of these multi-corporate connected Wall Street millionaires guys? How concerned should Democrats be about that or should it be on specific issues and specific things that much of the public may not even know about some of the nominees' background?
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: I think they should be probably concerned about both. The Democrats I'm talking to are, one, concerned about the fact that you have people who have run private equity firms, who have all this money, making decisions about people and really not going to have the kind of working class-- even working class white voters-- but working class of all races at heart when they make these decisions. But the other thing –
SHARPTON: You don't have a working class person nominated. I mean, what happened to all of the blue collar workers, and all of the people he was rallying in key states, nobody like that is nominated for this cabinet.
WALSH: And Sarah Palin is calling the Carrier bailout crony capitalism, which it is. So,--
SHARPTON: Oh really? She figured that out all by herself? I mean--
WALSH: I'm not praising her. I am just noticing that there are already cracks in the coalition. And I think the hearings are an opportunity to –
WELCH: I think there are micro-cracks at this point. I don't think people voted for Donald Trump to make sure that someone with a perfect blue collar pedigree is going to be the head of the Department of Commerce.
SHARPTON: But an understanding of blue collar people may be something that you can at least get some light in.
