Billionaire Tom Steyer is putting his personal fortune behind an effort to get President Trump out of office. The "Need to Impeach" initiative started with a YouTube video, and now more than 4.7 Million people have signed its petition. Tom Steyer, Founder and President of "Need to Impeach," explains how he is trying to influence the political landscape.
"We are trying to enable the voice of the American people to be organized and heard by elected officials," said Steyer.
On whether this initiative is about electing more Democrats to Congress, Steyer says he does not have a specific step by step plan for how this is going to work out because "events are going to overtake all of this."
"It's like we are on a wild horse, and that horse is going to take us to some places we never expected," said Steyer. On Friday Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged thirteen Russians in a plot to interfere the 2016 U.S. presidential election through social media propaganda. President Trump tweeted in response, "Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!"
"The big question for this president is why is he not protecting the American people--why is he allowing a hostile foreign power to attack us," argued Steyer.
In a post-election press conference, President Trump vacillated between subdued and combative as he called Tuesday's election ー in which Democrats took control of the House and several pivotal governorships ー a "very close-to-complete victory."
The Democrats may not have gotten quite the blue wave they were hoping for ー but for women in politics, Election Day was an indisputable success. "I think the night was better than you thought it would be going in. I'm seeing something like a pink tsunami, compared to that Democratic blue wave," Bustle senior political correspondent Erin Delmore told Cheddar on Wednesday.
Microsoft will continue to provide technology to U.S. agencies and the military, despite the objections raised by employees over how the products are being used, specifically with regard to immigration and border control. "We will be proactive in using our voice," said Microsoft President Brad Smith, speaking to Cheddar from the 2018 Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal. "We think we'll be more persuasive if we're engaged than if we withdraw."
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The 2018 Midterms may well go down in U.S. history as an election of firsts, with historic wins for Muslims, women, and LGBTQ candidates.
Michigan became the first Midwestern state to fully legalize recreational marijuana on Tuesday ー one of four states with marijuana-related legislation on the ballot in the 2018 midterms. Marijuana was one of the key issues up for review on multiple state ballots on Election Day Tuesday alongside criminal justice reform.
Americans woke up on Wednesday to a different political landscape ー if not the blue wave Democrats had hoped for. On the strength of female candidates and first-time voters, the Democrats successfully flipped the House of Representatives, gaining at least 23 seats, with more than a dozen yet to be called, according to the latest race calls from the Associated Press as of Wednesday morning.
Cheddar is following the election returns as they come in.
Political fixer-turned VC Bradley Tusk doesn't think it's sufficient to just bring voters to the polls ー he wants to bring the polls to them. "We know, fundamentally, democracy works when a lot of people vote, and it really doesn't work when very few people vote," Tusk told Cheddar on Tuesday.
The nation may get greener on Tuesday night. "There's a lot more senate and congressional races in which marijuana has become an issue than ever before," Cannabis Voter Project Director Sam D'Arcangelo told Cheddar's CannaBiz on Tuesday. "Marijuana now more than ever has become an issue that politicians are talking about."
