Green Billionaire Climate Campaigner Tom Steyer Wants Direct Control of Future Democrat Campaigns

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

h/t Breitbart – As the Democrat blamestorm gathers, billionaire green entrepreneur Tom Steyer, whose reported $75 million of support made him one of Hillary Clinton’s largest donors, has suggested that his team should be put in charge of future political campaigns, to avoid the disastrous mistakes of 2016.

Trump’s win has shattered the Democratic Party

The Democratic Party is in total shock following President-elect Donald Trump’s win, and it is preparing for an internal self-examination that will likely take years and reshape the party in order to make gains in 2018 and 2020.

As President Barack Obama stewards the transition of his administration, it is unclear who will emerge as the de-facto leader of the Democratic Party as it looks forward to tough midterm elections and an uncertain future in 2020.

Top donors like billionaire investor Tom Steyer, who dropped an estimated $75 million on various races and ballot initiatives — much of it through his Super PAC, NextGen Climate Action — said his team is combing through voter data, trying to figure out its best course of action.

“We were both surprised and disappointed on Tuesday by the outcomes, and therefore we’re taking a look at what’s happened and trying to devise an effective plan,” Steyer said.

“We thought we were going to be in the critical places, and in the places where we were we were effective. Where we weren’t was the problem,” Steyer said.

Steyer also suggested the Democrats were ineffective at turning out the older voters it needed in key states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, two states that have been reliably blue for most presidential elections.

He added: “Maybe they should have turned over the campaign to us. I think that what you’ll see is that the analysis of what happened is the Democratic base over 35-years-old did not show up in anything like the numbers that it did in ’08 and ’12. Millennials actually did show up, but the Democratic base, it turns out — it wasn’t the millennials, that was everyone’s concern.”

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/trump-win-democratic-party-2016-11

I understand Steyer’s position. Anyone who invests $75 million of their own money has a right to expect that money will be used effectively, to deliver the outcome they want.

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SZ939
November 11, 2016 6:44 am

Tom Steyer needs to understand that the American Electoral Process is NOT supposed to be controlled by a few “monied interests”. Additionally, the reason that the Democrats lost the election is completely, totally, without question, due to the flawed nature of their Candidate!

TonyL
Reply to  SZ939
November 11, 2016 6:57 am

Not at all.
The reason was an insufficient number of properly reprogrammed electronic voting machines, absolutely.
They overestimated their strength, and correspondingly underestimated the number of machines needed for the win.

Reply to  TonyL
November 11, 2016 7:29 am

Dems in many urban areas have a frigging awesome ground game to get out the vote.
So awesome a ground game in fact that they can dig-up dead people and get them to vote.

November 11, 2016 6:53 am

If Trump rebuilds inner cities and infrastructure , gets people employed, particularly Af Americans and Latinos, rejuvenates abundant cheap energy for industry, changes all the things that moved industry out of America, ends the crazy, expensive, international money dump for the climate/marxbrothers, etc., Steyer may not live long enough to see a Democrat government. Like Maurice Strong, he may shuffle off to Benning or maybe even Brussels to live out the rest of his shattered pathetic life.

Reply to  Gary Pearse
November 11, 2016 6:55 am

Dang “Beijing”.

November 11, 2016 7:26 am

My take on why the Dems got their butt handed to them is that enough people got fed up with being lied to.
And Hillary Rodham Clinton was the Biggest Liar of All.

Randy in Ridgecrest
November 11, 2016 7:27 am

Well, Tom Steyer just proved he can be as stupid as the next progressive “oligarchic billionaire” about the reality of this election.
However, Tom Steyer smothered California with political ads, all carefully letting us know exactly that he paid for the them. Tom is on the move and building his image. He does not appear to be a lurking malignant spider like Soros. Considering the clowns that have thrown their hats in so far, I think he could easily be our next governor if he decided this is the election cycle, Would this be his start at a go for the presidency?

wws
Reply to  Randy in Ridgecrest
November 11, 2016 8:00 am

And how is Tom Steyer going to provide jobs for the displaced industrial workers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin?
Because that is what the road to the Presidency is going to require, for anyone.
(Hint – putting all the coal miners in Appalachia out of work ain’t gonna cut it)

Randy in Ridgecrest
Reply to  Randy in Ridgecrest
November 11, 2016 10:51 am

I haven’t the slightest idea what Tom S has in mind beyond using the usual democrat election machine. And maybe not that since it got opened like a can of sardines by wiki-leaks and we all got to what is really in there.
I certainly won’t vote for him. As a newly retired Kalifornia republican I just want to get away from this state. Pretty much the only thing (besides inertia) keeping me here is my 93 year old pop, still independently living in Socal. I visited weekly and while the traffic is murder it’s still better than flying in from SLC
I have to needle Antony a little. The Silicon Valley Succession should go ahead, Take the Bay Area, drive a tentacle through Davis and Sacramento, and then carefully avoiding any Central Valley farming towns on the way,go up and grab Chico. Drive an easement down the coast but west and south of the Peninsula Ranges, all the way to the Mexican border. The rest of us will be perfectly happy to see that mess become another country. Some Northern Californians might feel left out but they are an independent breed and probably don’t won’t to be dominated by the bay area anyway.

Crispin in Waterloo
November 11, 2016 7:35 am

“Anyone who invests $75 million of their own money has a right to expect that money will be used effectively, to deliver the outcome they want.”
Well, the idea is that Americans should have the best politicians money can buy, right?
Two dramatic changes would dramatically change things: ban electioneering and ban parties.
The illness on display is the result of having a ‘party system’. If all Representatives and Senators were independents, first, they could vote their conscience on all matters (also known as ‘democracy’), and second, they would not be beholding to vested interests leveraging through the ‘party elders’ or whatever they are called. The concept of perpetual conflict embedded in the government directed by people outside the government itself (party elders) is truly dangerous, principally because it allows wealthy groups to co-opt the entire system, leverage by leverage. Obviously the banks are most aware of this and use the knowledge effectively.
The electioneering is truly sicko stuff. “Vote for me because that person is a rat.” Why should people be restricted to choosing between a bunch of photogenic rats? The US is full of respectable people who are not of the ‘me-me-me’ kind. Let’s see some of them in positions of responsibility and power.
I admit to being surprised that 6m Americans voted for 3rd and 4th party candidates because the media pretends there were only two options – so compromised are they in their factional camps.
America, you can do better. The Demos retreating to camp to plan how to ‘take over’ is just a form of scheduled, legal, coup attempts. Perhaps it is time to consider giving up partocracy and trying democracy.

Tom in Florida
Reply to  Crispin in Waterloo
November 11, 2016 8:55 am

I don’t think that would work. Every politician would work back room, out of site deals that would result in the same thing only it would not be transparent. The only real solution is to place term limits on the members of Congress. Also get rid of the $300 million in election money Congress has bestowed on the two major parties that comes out of the Treasury.

Rhoda R
Reply to  Tom in Florida
November 11, 2016 2:58 pm

Make senators direct appointees again and band funding for representatives that doesn’t come from individuals (not businesses, PACs, unions, trade groups, bundlers, etc.) living withing the district and who are not registered to vote in any other district.

Patrick B
November 11, 2016 7:43 am

Steyer thinks you live too large and is demanding that the government use its police powers to force you to reduce your carbon footprint. Meanwhile, Steyer’s primary home overlooks the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco — on each of its three stories. With an estimated value of $11.7 million, the home sits on a cliff with beautiful vistas, wrecking the area for all wildlife. He also has a second home in San Francisco for a total combined 11,000 square feet in the city. Add to that his humble, $8.5 million beach home in Marin County, his $2.6 million Sugar Bowl ski resort home in California and two homes at a Lake Tahoe ski resort, respectively valued at $15 million and a more modest $1.1 million. And last, but not least, Steyer owns a 2,000-acre California ranch — worth an estimated $23 to $50 million — where his wife keeps her show horses.

Tom in Florida
Reply to  Patrick B
November 11, 2016 8:51 am

C’mon man. You know that some people are more equal than others.

Richard of NZ
Reply to  Patrick B
November 11, 2016 8:55 am

Perhaps these pseudo-marxists should have the maxim popularised by Marx applied to them “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need”. The loss of everything according to “progressive” theory and the receipt of , say 200$ per week might, just might, focus their minds on reality.

ralfellis
November 11, 2016 8:10 am

Its disconcerting that US presidential elections can be ‘bought’.
I know the US governmental system is based upon ancient Rome in so many respects, including the institutions and iconography, but did they have to copy Roman senators and emperors ‘buying’ their influence and therefore positions?
Romo-American iconography includes the spread eagle with stars, Lady Libertas (Liberty), and the fasc es (the bundle of rods symbolising judicial power). The Brits took the seated Britannia (the Greek Athena) from Greece and Rome, while the French took the Liberty cap (the phrygian cap).
The Roman Fasc es in the US House of Representatives.
http://i.cdn.turner.com/ireport/sm/prod/2011/09/15/WE00636053/1840935/Bronzefascesjpg-1840935_p9.jpg

Reply to  ralfellis
November 11, 2016 8:28 pm

ralfellas:
That is a rather gross assumption and glosses over the truth.
The American Bald eagle was voted as the American symbol; over the objection of Benjamin Franklin who suggested the American wild turkey.
Greek philosopher and mathematicians’ knowledge was well learned by many of our founding fathers and subsequent Presidents, along with Roman expansions in architecture; possibly through Masonic education.
A number of the founding fathers were very well educated in types and histories of governments, which is evident in American government conflictions and oppositions.
Both in the power of people joined together and in states joined together;comment image
And Ben Franklin’s famous quote:

“Yes, we must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

For in unity there is great strength which is where the fasces symbol comes into bearing:

“The reverse of the coin depicts the fasces, an ancient symbol of authority, with a battle-ax atop it to represent preparedness and an olive branch beside it to signify the desire for peace. With World War I raging in Europe, these were emotional themes in 1916.”

TeeWee
November 11, 2016 8:27 am

What a great idea. The corrupt DNC should put him in charge of the next campaign. Then the party will be even more on the outside looking in than they are now.

Tom Judd
November 11, 2016 9:13 am

Steyer’s 75 million dollars wasn’t really an investment. It was a bet. But, he didn’t know it at the time. He did not put up seventy five mil because he’s a nice guy, or because he cares, or he’s an altruist, or he has beliefs. He’s a stinkin’ rich paper shuffler, that’s all. He expected his seventy five mil backing Hillary to be paid back handsomely in tax payer backed funding for otherwise risky high yield investments that he’d be right in on the inside track.
He didn’t realize that, unlike with politicians, there simply wasn’t enough money to buy the people. He was subjected to the hands of fate; to the roulette wheel. Trump had placed the bet so many times he had a better feel for where the rolling ball was going to drop on the wheel.
By now wanting to run the campaign Steyer is simply stating that he now realizes it was a bet and now wants wants to run the casino. The odds always favor the house.
Or, so he thinks.

goldminor
Reply to  Tom Judd
November 11, 2016 3:00 pm

Many of these high rollers have invested considerable amounts of money into renewable energy projects and companies. They are going to lose big money as a result of this. They all thought that the fix was in, and that there was no way for them to lose. Now it is bye bye for the 500 million installed solar panels which Hillary was going to force the US to install. Al Gore has considerable money tied up in the AGW cause. I would imagine that he was counting all of the money he was going to make in his dreams every night.

Joel Snider
November 11, 2016 9:26 am

And the would-be dictators rear their ugly heads, showing their true colors. If nothing else, this election is poking some of the ‘real bad boys move in silence’ out into the daylight.

Bruce Cobb
November 11, 2016 9:48 am

So Steyer’s “answer” to the large hole they’ve dug for themselves is – a bigger shovel!
Ba-hahahahahahaha!

Javert Chip
November 11, 2016 10:03 am

Hey, I thoroughly agree with Tom!
Put this total political novice and his anonymous bureaucratic minions in charge of the socialist agenda. Yea, how hard can it be? What could possibly go wrong?
Memo to Tom & the minions: there is no “clean” end of the socialist political dog turd.

Tom Halla
November 11, 2016 10:04 am

Oh well, George Soros is getting old, and the role of boogey man for the right needs to be filled (The Koch brothers are the same for the left). Steyer is the sort who one would expect only in really bad fiction like the James Bond series (Goldfinger, anyone?), as he seems to pick transparently bad politicians to fund. The Canadian greens at least picked someone cute as their boy.

Reply to  Tom Halla
November 14, 2016 9:08 am

Steyer is not a bogey man (nor is Soros since the truth is revealed in Wikileaks). Steyer is heavily invested in Indonesian Coal. He wants to get richer. So how do you drive up the price in a market you do not corner? Reduce the supply. And that is what his actions are all about. Killing the American Coal industry so his holdings shoot up.
It is not about any noble cause. It is simple greed.

mpaul
November 11, 2016 10:10 am

Maybe it’s time for them to consider whether there’s something about smug self-righteousness, shouted from a position of high social status, that turns people away.

November 11, 2016 11:06 am

I’m not sure why everyone is so gleeful — it’s not like Donald Trump is the messiah or anything.
No matter how you shake it, Trump barely won. If he spends his time blowing apart agencies with petty revenge, we will be right back in the same spot next election when a Democrat wins.
We will be much better served if he focuses his energy on the economy.

Marcus
Reply to  lorcanbonda
November 11, 2016 12:11 pm

Ummm, would you like some cheese to go with that whine ?? Trump is saving the great U.S. of A. from destroying itself from within…The fact that he stood solid against the bias liberal media, the corrupt liberal political machine and the pathetic Republican Rino’s in congress, and still won, is in itself, a miracle….God bless America,…

Reply to  lorcanbonda
November 11, 2016 12:37 pm

Considering a large part of our economic troubles comes from the mounds of red tape the administrative state piles on businesses, I would have to say blowing apart agencies IS focusing on the economy.

Javert Chip
Reply to  lorcanbonda
November 11, 2016 1:43 pm

lorcanbonda
Gee. Crocodile tears for Federal agencies.
An uncomfortable number of those agencies (e.g.: IRS, Justice – remember the gun running?, State, EPA) have been involved in what appear to be illegal or fatally incompetent activities. It’s about time congress got back to their constitutional role of effective oversight.
Too bad for the snowflakes that work there…

Resourceguy
November 11, 2016 11:45 am

Now call it the Tom Steyer Party, not the Democrat Party.

November 11, 2016 12:21 pm

What disturbs me most is the indication that Mr. Steyer is abandoning even the appearance of influence as a donor for the reality of control over messages, actions, and events by and around his figurehead donation recipients. If he controls the campaign rather than just influencing and manipulating it, how much more likely will it be that he’ll control the newly elected official rather than “just” exercise influence and manipulation?

Stephen Richards
November 11, 2016 1:14 pm

The rich libtards do not understand the little people and never will. They are totally incapable of ever being in the same place as us. Steyer is one such idiot. Carry on chucking your money away, idiot. A fool and his money are soon parted.

November 11, 2016 1:37 pm

When you consider the speed with which Steyer went from making billions from Australian and Indo coal to warring against coal (after its price tanked)…well, he could give St Paul lessons in sudden conversions.
And no horses were injured in the production of his new convictions!

Resourceguy
November 11, 2016 1:43 pm

He has four years to ramp up the fake news machine.

Editor
November 11, 2016 1:45 pm

Blame Canada!
Factoid… so far this millenium…
* When a Conservative Canadian prime minister is in office, a Democrat US president is elected.
* When a Liberal Canadian prime minister is in office, a Republican US president is elected.
Here’s the list of elections…
1997/06/02 Canada Liberal (Jean Chretien)
2000/11/07 USA Republican (George W Bush)
2000/11/27 Canada Liberal (Jean Chretien)
2004/06/28 Canada Liberal (Paul Martin)
2004/11/02 USA Republican (George W Bush)
2006/01/23 Canada Conservative (Stepeh Harper)
2008/10/14 Canada Conservative (Stepeh Harper)
2008/11/04 USA Democrat (Barack Obama)
2011/05/02 Canada Conservative (Stepeh Harper)
2012/11/06 USA Democrat (Barack Obama)
2015/10/19 Canada Liberal (Justin Trudeau)
2016/11/08 USA Republican (Donald Trump)
Up here in Canada we’re always hearing Democrats threatening to move Canada if the Republican gets elected, and Republicans threatening to move to Canada if the Democrat gets elected. If Trump wants to get re-elected in 2020, he should be nice to Trudeau, to help him get re-elected in 2019.

rogerthesurf
Reply to  Walter Dnes
November 11, 2016 1:59 pm

Well having personally succesfully gone through the Canadian immigration process, (albeit some time ago), I suspect its not that easy to change move permanently north of the border because of ones political views and outcomes at home.
Unless you happen to enjoy dual citizenship that is.
Cheers
Roger
http://www.thedemiseofchristchurch.com

Nash
Reply to  Walter Dnes
November 12, 2016 2:37 am

Before 1997, Ronald Reagan and H. Bush was in office so was Brian Mulroney a conservative. Good old days …. gosh, I am old. And it’s Stephen Harper not Stepheh

rogerthesurf
November 11, 2016 1:55 pm

““We thought we were going to be in the critical places, and in the places where we were we were effective. Where we weren’t was the problem,” “
Maybe Mr Steyer needs a reasonable policy which benefits he people of America before he wastes his money again:)
Roger
http://www.thedemiseofchristchurch.com

JB Say
November 11, 2016 4:12 pm

Climate change consistently ranks at or near the bottom of voter concerns. So if he wants to take over the party and push that narrative more epic losses at the polls are predictable.

LarryD
November 11, 2016 5:34 pm

Oh yes, please kill the out-of-date stereotype that the Democrats are the party of the working man, and the Republicans are the party of the plutocrats.
I am reminded of that line from the original Ghostbusters.
Dr. Raymond Stantz: Personally, I liked the university. They gave us money and facilities, we didn’t have to produce anything! You’ve never been out of college! You don’t know what it’s like out there! I’ve WORKED in the private sector. They expect *results*. “

Resourceguy
Reply to  LarryD
November 12, 2016 9:18 am

That was also the movie that openly demonized the EPA.The writers were way ahead of their time on that one.

Old Ranga
November 11, 2016 6:52 pm

I trust the Democrats will continue to follow the Tom Steyer line. That should effectively keep them out of office until the message gets through that Americans want something else. Democracy means listening if you want to be elected. PC force-feeding is out.

Resourceguy
Reply to  Old Ranga
November 12, 2016 9:17 am

+10