Take a seat, Tom Steyer. Preferably one off the presidential campaign stage, and at your house. Last week marked one year until the 2020 election. It’s the countdown to November, and there simply isn’t time for Quixotic quests or immoderate indulgences. This upcoming election is serious business, and you are muddying up the waters.
I haven’t always felt this way. I was intrigued when you first popped up in political ads two years ago, calling for the impeachment of the president through your organization Need to Impeach. Plenty of other people thought you were a bit kooky. Doesn’t matter. With an unlimited budget, you’ve been able to continue to push your point, stumping in many states and in an onslaught of ever-changing TV ads. Back in July, Politico reported that your TV advertising campaign was the single largest television ad buy among all Democrats.
I appreciate how you put your money where your mouth is and said the word impeachment out loud when a lot of people were only murmuring it behind closed doors. Like you, they worried that some of the president’s actions were undermining America’s democratic principles. But they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, say it publicly — they had political futures and livelihoods to protect. Of course, you didn’t need to worry about any of that because you’re rich — really rich. And lucky for you, in these days of deep-dive digging for political dirt, you don’t have a political record to defend. By all accounts, you are a sincere guy who, just as your ads say, wants to make positive change as you did by building a successful youth voter mobilization project. That’s definitely admirable.
But not many people know the name Tom Steyer outside of the financial investment arena, where hedge funds helped you rack up billions — months of round-the-clock political advertising notwithstanding. So, what’s the point? Nobody is paying attention to your candidacy. You were singularly underwhelming in your first debate in October, and you only made the stage in the first place because you had a lot of money to pump up your visibility to make the cutoff. Ironic, since apparently one of your issues is getting corporate money out of politics. I guess your corporate money doesn’t count. And really, who am I to tell you how to spend money I’d love to have?
But I’m frustrated that you are taking debate time away time from candidates who are running real campaigns. So annoyed, I can’t watch your ads anymore because I keep thinking about the myriad grassroots efforts that could use an infusion of cash.
You told USA Today that it’s all about the "message. ... If I don’t have that then I’m not a viable candidate period. The end.” Tom Steyer, I’m sorry to tell you, I don’t know what your message is — beyond impeaching the president. And while I agree that having a message is important, I also know that we voters care about the messenger, too. Your latest ad ends with your warning about too much talk. You emphasize, “We need action.” In light of that, here’s the action I suggest for you: Please exit the campaign, refocus, and put your considerable resources to work blocking voter suppression, amping up cybersecurity against Russian interference, and making sure people get to the polls. I’d vote for that.
