On her MSNBC show Tuesday morning, anchor Stephanie Ruhle was upset by news that some normally liberal-leaning Wall Street executives were distancing themselves from the field of 2020 Democratic candidates, fearing their far-left, socialist views. Rather than acknowledge that several of the presidential contenders were out of the mainstream, Ruhle instead blamed the “far-right” for creating the “narrative.”
“Democrats pitching an anti-Wall Street, anti-corporate message, they’re hoping it wins over lower and middle class Americans who see the economy as stacked against them,” Ruhle declared as she outlined their strategy going into 2020. However, the host worried “that message may also be pushing Democratic business leaders off the fence and into the President’s camp.”
New York Magazine national correspondent Gabriel Debenedetti admitted: “Yeah, that’s exactly right. They’re basically terrified right now, broadly speaking, of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders both, because of what they see as really anti-Wall Street, anti-capitalist in some ways, rhetoric.”
Ruhle fretted over Debenedetti quoting “an investment professional who has voted Democrat his whole career” considering voting for Trump and asking: “‘What matters more? My social values or my paycheck.’” She decried: “Why are we framing it like this? Why are we framing it in a way it has to be one or the other?...Why are they allowing the far right to frame it this way? That your only choice is full socialist if you don’t vote with Trump?”
Turning to Politico reporter Laura Barron-Lopez, Ruhle continued to complain: “Laura, again, are we – are they allowing someone else to create the narrative?” The anchor whined over Blackstone equity firm co-founder Steve Schwarzman, a Trump supporter, warning against voting for Democrats:
Steve Schwarzman....says yesterday, “If there is a dramatic change in the tax area if Democrats win, that would a disincentive, it could be a shock to the economy.” They’re allowing massive Republican donors to push this narrative that Democrats are going to tax the hell out of them and shock the system. And your average voter out there, while they might not be a Democrat or a Republican, are saying, “Well, I don’t want to shock the system.” Why are these Democratic candidates not shutting it down completely?
Barron-Lopez agreed: “I think that on the trail they are trying to do that.” She also downplayed recent impressive economic growth numbers:
So while the good headlines of good GDP numbers and this economy that’s booming may sound – have good soundbites for Trump and may let him shift the message a bit when it comes to Democrats, on the trail, voters are saying, you know, “Our wages are still down, health care costs are still soaring, we still want to see action on prescription drug prices that are high.” And so that’s where Democrats are really trying to hammer their message and focus on that because we saw that in 2018 it worked for them and they’re hoping to carry that momentum with them into 2020.
On Friday, when the new GDP number came out, ABC’s World News Tonight and CBS Evening News completely skipped the story. Meanwhile, NBC Nightly News only managed to provide 10 seconds.
Democrats are being viewed as socialist because numerous members of the party, including 2020 candidates, are preaching socialism. It’s as simple as that.
Here are excerpts of the April 30 segment:
9:31 AM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Welcome back. I'm Stephanie Ruhle. Democrats pitching an anti-Wall Street, anti-corporate message, they’re hoping it wins over lower and middle class Americans who see the economy as stacked against them. But that message may also be pushing Democratic business leaders off the fence and into the President’s camp.
Laura Barron-Lopez is a political reporter for Politico, Gabe Debenedetti is a national correspondent for New York Magazine. Gabe, this is amazing to me, because President Trump, he railed against Wall Street. He railed against corporate America and Wall Street didn’t vote for him. And now quietly, many Wall Street donors are saying, “I can’t stand Trump. I think he’s a whack-a-do. But if my choice is Elizabeth Warren or Trump, I’m not buying a MAGA hat, but I’m quietly going to vote for him.”
GABRIEL DEBENEDETTI [NEW YORK MAGAZINE NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT]: Yeah, that’s exactly right. They’re basically terrified right now, broadly speaking, of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders both, because of what they see as really anti-Wall Street, anti-capitalist in some ways, rhetoric. So they’re not necessarily saying, “We gotta go for Trump,” but they’re trying to find a candidate right now that they think can actually win and that can actually beat Donald Trump and not be too hostile to them right now. And a lot of them are finding that pretty difficult.
(...)
RUHLE: So you actually wrote in your piece, you quoted an investment professional who has voted Democrat his whole career. But suddenly he’s saying, “What matters more? My social values or my paycheck.” Why are we framing it like this? Why are we framing it in a way it has to be one or the other? There are plenty of candidates – you’ve got Joe – you have a former congressman from Maryland, you’ve got Joe Biden. You’ve got a string – you’ve got John Hickenlooper. You have a string of Democratic candidates that are not, “You’re a capitalist or a socialist.” Why are they allowing the far right to frame it this way? That your only choice is full socialist if you don’t vote with Trump?
DEBENEDETTI: And you’ve exactly hit on something that’s actually frustrating for a lot –
RUHLE: John Delaney. Couldn’t find his name for a moment.
DEBENEDETTI: You’ve hit on something that’s frustrating to a lot of the, you know, committed Democrats on Wall Street, including folks who have been donors to Democratic candidates and presidents in the past. Which is like, this is not a – you know, this is not really a competition between Dem – between socialism and capitalism, as we’re letting it turn into in this sort of national conversation, but they’re trying to meet with a lot of these folks. I think one of the frustrations that you’re hearing from some of these people is Wall Street is being used as a boogeyman. Not necessarily as much as it has in previous cycles or by some candidates, but they’re really nervous about someone like Bernie Sanders.
(...)
RUHLE: But, Laura, again, are we – are they allowing someone else to create the narrative? Steve Schwarzman, co-founder of Blackstone, who went with President Trump to Saudi Arabia and on that trip raised a $40 billion infrastructure fund. Steve Schwarzman, who benefitted immensely from the fact that carried interest, though the President promised to get rid of it, remained in our tax code, which is an extraordinary hook up for the private equity industry, says yesterday, “If there is a dramatic change in the tax area if Democrats win, that would a disincentive, it could be a shock to the economy.” They’re allowing massive Republican donors to push this narrative that Democrats are going to tax the hell out of them and shock the system. And your average voter out there, while they might not be a Democrat or a Republican, are saying, “Well, I don’t want to shock the system.” Why are these Democratic candidates not shutting it down completely.
LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ [POLITICO]: I think that on the trail they are trying to do that. And on the trail, a lot of voters aren’t necessarily listening to Trump when it comes to that. They still feel as though the economy has not gotten better for them. So while the good headlines of good GDP numbers and this economy that’s booming may sound – have good soundbites for Trump and may let him shift the message a bit when it comes to Democrats, on the trail, voters are saying, you know, “Our wages are still down, health care costs are still soaring, we still want to see action on prescription drug prices that are high.” And so that’s where Democrats are really trying to hammer their message and focus on that because we saw that in 2018 it worked for them and they’re hoping to carry that momentum with them into 2020.
(...)
