Why is Billionaire Tom Steyer Running for President?

Deconstructed

The Intercept

News

4.8 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2020

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With the Iowa caucuses less than two weeks away, the Democratic primary increasingly seems like a two-way contest between former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. The latest polls show Biden leading in Iowa and Sanders leading nationally, and calls are getting louder for the lower-tier candidates to drop out and allow support to coalesce around the leaders. Despite failing to poll above 4% nationally, California billionaire and philanthropist Tom Steyer insists he still has a path to the nomination, citing relatively strong recent polls in Nevada and South Carolina. Analysts estimate that Steyer’s campaign has already spent over $100 million on radio, TV, and digital advertising since launching back in July. Mehdi Hasan talks to the candidate about what he’s getting for all that money, and whether it might be better spent on house and Senate races around the country.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Is there a upper limit to how much you're willing to spend on this presentures before you give up?
0:03.1	Look, I will give up if I don't think I can win.
0:05.7	And I think I can...
0:06.3	How much you will spend that I'm the person who can take on Mr Trump on the economy, which is what he's trying to say.
0:10.6	I appreciate that. I'll ask him how much you will get on the top stage with him.
0:13.4	And take him there.
0:14.2	How much are you willing to spend?
0:15.6	Top. Top, we're going to run out of time.
0:17.1	How much are you willing to spend? Is there an upper limit?
0:24.7	Welcome to Deconstructed.
0:26.2	I'm Mehdi Hassan.
0:27.4	Is a billionaire the right person to take on Donald Trump in November and beat him?
0:32.7	My guess today certainly thinks so.
0:35.1	We have a broken government in Washington, DC.
0:37.7	It's been bought by corporations and that's the question.
0:40.3	Can we break the corporate stranglehold on our government and take back government of buying for the people?
0:45.3	That's Democratic presidential candidate, liberal billionaire and philanthropist Tom Steyer,
0:51.2	who's made fighting climate change and corporate control of Washington his signature issues.
0:57.0	But given he's polling at 2% nationally and 3% in Iowa,
1:01.3	is this anything other than a vanity campaign?
1:04.4	I'll ask him.
1:09.0	17 days to the Iowa caucuses.
	...

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