Billionaire Activist Tom Steyer Is Unapologetic About His Ambitions to Impeach Trump
*By Christian Smith*
Billionaire activist Tom Steyer is not apologizing for his campaign to impeach Donald Trump.
In an interview with Cheddar Monday, he dismissed criticism from certain Democrats that focusing on impeachment will energize the Republican base.
"Standing up for the Constitution and the American people" should be more important than campaign tactics, he said.
But Steyer is focused on both the immediate and the political long term.
If Democrats don't take back the House of Representatives next month, "this year is a failure," he said.
Otherwise, Steyer said, the thousands of hours and millions of dollars pumped into this election cycle will have been for nothing.
"We've just got to say that and own it," he said of acknowledging the urgency of the midterms for Democrats.
According to an August report, Steyer has poured more than $120 million into this election cycle primarily through his two political groups ー the "NextGen America" super PAC and the "Need to Impeach" campaign.
Steyer's game plan is to mobilize the millions of millennials who don't normally vote in an attempt to undermine President Trump, whom Steyer calls a "corrupt, lawless, and dangerous president."
NextGen America has spent millions of dollars engaging young voters in key battleground states like Florida. Millennials traditionally haven't shown up to vote in the same numbers as other generations, but Steyer isn't fazed.
"I am confident," Steyer said when asked whether he thought millennials would turn up at the polls.
To some, Steyer's well-oiled political machine might resemble the early outline of a possible 2020 campaign.
But the former hedge fund manager reiterated that his focus rests solely on the midterms ー at least for now.
"We are nose down through Nov. 6, 2018," Steyer said.
"I think anyone who is thinking about themselves instead of doing what's right and doing the work over the next two weeks, or over the past two months, really is missing the point."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-billionaire-tom-steyer-plans-to-mobilize-his-political-machine).
David Stryzewski, CEO of Sound Planning Group, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says that some of the major stock positions are getting the most lift to the upside as the major indexes climb higher to begin the week.
Markets opened slightly higher to kick off the final trading week of the year as investors continue to watch the Omicron variant in the U.S. Sean O'Hara, President, Pacer ETFs joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss what drove early market activity.
Carlo and Baker kick off the weirdest week of the year with all the news you missed over the holiday weekend, including calls for the CDC to shorten its isolation window as Omicron sweeps through the country.
Former professional tennis player Patrick McEnroe joined Cheddar to discuss the troubling issues surrounding player Peng Shuai who appeared potentially to have been silenced following her social media post accusing former Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault. Shuai's subsequent disappearance, reappearance, and apparent retraction of the accusation in an interview only added to worries. "When this happened, all of us in the tennis community were very concerned. And, by the way, another thing Peng said in this interview was that she doesn't speak very good English," McEnroe noted. "Well I can assure you, she speaks darn good English, 'cause I spoke to her on many occasions over the last 15 years."
Universities like UCLA, Yale, and Duke have announced they're implementing remote learning amid the COVID omicron variant surge, despite President Biden recommending that K-12 schools should continue in-person education. Jared C. Bass, senior director for Higher Education at American Progress, joined Cheddar to break down what institutions of higher education might be considering differently. "I think some universities are allowing periods of a bit of a respite to allow students to get testing and make sure when they do return back to campus that they're healthy," he noted.
The S&P closed at a record at the major markets ended Thursday's session higher for a third straight day. Adam Coons, Portfolio Manager at Winthrop Capital Management, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he discusses what has investors feeling jolly before Christmas, and gifts investors with winning buying opportunities entering 2022.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on President Joe Biden's vaccine mandates for large companies and health care workers on January 7, 2022. The mandates will remain in place until then.
