Donald Trump Takes On The Corporate Class
The GOP frontrunner sharpens his rhetoric, calling out defense contractors, Big Oil, insurance companies and corporate “bloodsuckers”.
Move over Bernie Sanders.
Donald Trump has just dropped an avalanche of populist rhetoric against the corporate class. As conservative journalist Byron York of the Washington Times reports, speaking at a rally in Plymouth, NH, the iconic real estate developer went on a tirade calling out defense contractors, oil companies, pharmaceutical companies and the “big-money corporate bloodsuckers” that “control the government with campaign contributions.”
The populist rhetoric is not new for Trump. His campaign has been calling out the donor class and special interests since his first speech last July, tapping into widespread working class anger.
But the tone of the rhetoric has sharpened these last few days leading up to this week’s primary in New Hampshire.
“Whether it’s the insurance companies, or the drug companies, or the oil companies, it’s all the same thing,” Trump said.
He then went on to call out the military industrial complex, though he stopped short of using those exact words to describe it.
“I hear stories, like they’re ordering missiles they don’t want because of politics, because of special interests, because the company that makes the missiles is a contributor.”
Trump went on to position himself as a certain kind of ‘traitor to his class’ claiming he will alienate his wealthy friends if he gets elected. “You know who my friends are? You’re my friends,” he exclaimed to loud applause.
York’s article made a point to note that Trump’s recent escalation of populist rhetoric was accompanied by the hit Beatles’ song, Revolution, which began and ended his hour-long speech, adding to the anti-establishment feeling permeating the campaign.
Other news sites have also picked up on the story of the GOP frontrunner upping the ante against the corporate elite. Influential liberal commentator Jonathan Chait just penned a piece this afternoon for New York Magazine entitled, “Donald Trump Is Getting Serious About Populism”.
Quoting York’s reporting, Chait made a case that Trump is courting Bernie Sanders’ supporters, shifting his rhetoric away from the GOP’s “intellectual and financial vanguard” toward repositioning himself “increasingly as the candidate of the populist, disaffected center.” He even pondered out loud if Trump is preparing himself for a third party run should his GOP primary run fail.
Also citing York’s reporting, liberal Salon.com published an article today with the headline, “The Real Threat to Wall Street is Not Bernie Sanders — It’s Donald Trump.” The article even went on to make the case that Trump’s rhetoric against the moneyed interests, was too harsh, and even dangerous.
And libertarian news website Reason.com published a piece by it’s influential editor, Nick Gillespie, praising Trump’s recent attack on defense contractors and Pentagon spending.
Gillespie, while touching on Trump’s opposition from neoconservatives, wondered if Rand Paul’s supporters will be attracted to the new rhetoric enough to vote for him tomorrow. Though Gillespie stopped short of an endorsement, saying he can’t see himself voting for Trump, he did finish with a subtle jab at Ted Cruz branding him as a DC insider with “twice as many Ivy League degrees” than the real estate mogul.
True to the candidate’s cross ideological appeal, Trump’s recent vitriol against the corporations has garnered some favorable coverage from a wide spectrum of political news sites. We’ll know soon enough if the strategy pays off in New Hampshire.
This article is also featured at HeartlandDaily.com