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).
Dems race for a deal on President Biden's economic agenda ahead of his big foreign trip. What to make of the latest threat assessment in Afghanistan. Plus, the meme cryptocurrency of the moment that's now worth more than many Fortune 500 companies.
The U.S. has now joined a handful of countries that allow a gender designation other than 'male' or 'female' on passports. Chris Johnson, White House Reporter for the Washington Blade, joined Cheddar to discuss.
As negotiations drag on in Washington, DC over President Biden's social spending bills, Senate Democrats have introduced a new idea to fund Biden's plans: taxing the unrealized capital gains held by billionaires. Barron's reporter Sabrina Escobar joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where she explains what's in the billionaire tax proposal, who it will impact, and why it's on the table.
Hunter Walker joins Cheddar News to talk about his report in Rolling Stone that revealed how members of Congress and the White House helped plan the protest that turned violent on January 6.
Jill and Carlo discuss the pending approval for Pfizer's vaccine for kids, the state of anti-Semitism three years after Tree of Life, potential criminal charges in the 'Rust' prop gun shooting and more.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed a bill into law on Tuesday that restricts transgender students from playing on sports teams that correspond with their gender identity. Democratic State Representative Mary E. Gonzalez joined Cheddar to discuss the ramifications for transgender youth the new law represents. She also disputed the bill's proponents who argue that the measure is a matter of fairness for girls in sports, noting that various medical groups have affirmed that transgender athletes do not inherently hold an advantage over cisgender ones.
COP26 been dealt a blow as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose countries are responsible for a third of the world's annual greenhouse gas emissions, will not be in attendance. Bertrand Piccard, Chairman and Founder of the Solar Impulse Foundation, joins Cheddar Climate, where he discusses what he expects to see when the summit commences in Glasgow.
