After ruling out a presidential run just seven months ago, the billionaire Democratic donor Tom Steyer reversed course and announced he was entering the 2020 Democratic presidential primary with a video he posted to Twitter.
Featured prominently in the ad is Steyer’s TomKat ranch in Pescadero, California. Not only does the four-minute spot open with a fly-over shot of the country property, it also features Steyer delivering his message to voters seated in the middle of a rustic barn.
From the earliest days of American political campaigns – candidates have focused on backdrop and symbolism – particularly presidential candidates as they launch their campaigns. So, the backdrop of Steyer’s multi-million dollar estate as his launchpad is certainly interesting.
The images of Steyer in jeans chatting with the neighbors in a barn seems an effort to position himself as the everyman best suited to take on the corporate malfeasance he claims has ruined America’s political system. Left unsaid in the video, but not unnoticed by the pundits, is that Steyer gained his billions (and his weekend ranch retreat) in exactly that system of corporate greed.
Taking a page from the Sanders-Warren wing of the party, the former hedge fund manager boldly proclaims in one dramatic clip that America “is a banana republic with a few very, very rich people and everybody else living in misery.” Steyer’s populist message does not spare his Democratic rivals, either. Steyer tells us that Americans have been “hurt and disappointed by the power elite” in Washington, an issue that “goes across party lines and across geography.”
A dramatic piano tone frames the urgency of Steyer’s diagnosis that “almost every single major intractable problem” can be traced to “a big money interest for whom stopping progress, stopping justice is really important to their bottom line.” The ad cycles between images of Steyer engaged with voters comprising the Democratic rainbow coalition and men like Donald Trump, Jr. or Mitch McConnell who represent those corrupting, moneyed interests.
Curiously, for a man so singularly focused on impeaching President Donald Trump, Steyer never brings up the issue once.
Only time will tell whether this campaign can energize anyone outside of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
Featured prominently in the ad is Steyer’s TomKat ranch in Pescadero, California. Not only does the four-minute spot open with a fly-over shot of the country property, it also features Steyer delivering his message to voters seated in the middle of a rustic barn.
From the earliest days of American political campaigns – candidates have focused on backdrop and symbolism – particularly presidential candidates as they launch their campaigns. So, the backdrop of Steyer’s multi-million dollar estate as his launchpad is certainly interesting.
The images of Steyer in jeans chatting with the neighbors in a barn seems an effort to position himself as the everyman best suited to take on the corporate malfeasance he claims has ruined America’s political system. Left unsaid in the video, but not unnoticed by the pundits, is that Steyer gained his billions (and his weekend ranch retreat) in exactly that system of corporate greed.
Taking a page from the Sanders-Warren wing of the party, the former hedge fund manager boldly proclaims in one dramatic clip that America “is a banana republic with a few very, very rich people and everybody else living in misery.” Steyer’s populist message does not spare his Democratic rivals, either. Steyer tells us that Americans have been “hurt and disappointed by the power elite” in Washington, an issue that “goes across party lines and across geography.”
A dramatic piano tone frames the urgency of Steyer’s diagnosis that “almost every single major intractable problem” can be traced to “a big money interest for whom stopping progress, stopping justice is really important to their bottom line.” The ad cycles between images of Steyer engaged with voters comprising the Democratic rainbow coalition and men like Donald Trump, Jr. or Mitch McConnell who represent those corrupting, moneyed interests.
Curiously, for a man so singularly focused on impeaching President Donald Trump, Steyer never brings up the issue once.
Only time will tell whether this campaign can energize anyone outside of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.