Democratic politicians and their wealthy donors are constantly talking about how fed up they are with money in politics these days, and yet they can’t seem to resist the urge to give and receive “obscene” amount of it.
George Clooney is one of them. The Spy Kids star hosted two big-ticket fundraisers in California over the weekend, where Hollywood celebs shelled out a total of $15 million to the Hillary Clinton political machine. Couples forked over $353,400 for the pleasure of sharing a table with Clooney and Hillary. Bernie Sanders called it “obscene,” and Clooney agreed.
“It’s ridiculous that we should have this kind of money in politics, I agree,” Clooney told Chuck Todd on Meet The Press, adding that he sympathized with the Sanders supporters who literally threw money at Hillary’s motorcade outside Clooney’s mansion.
Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz concurred.
Hillary, too, has repeatedly denounced the corruptive influence of money in politics on the campaign trail. “You’re not going to find anyone more committed to aggressive campaign finance reform than me,” Clinton told supporters in February.
Meanwhile, she continues to dominate other candidates in fundraising. The Clinton campaign and its affiliated Super PACs have raised more than $220 million, including millions from rich celebs, corporations, lobbyist, and Wall Street bankers—the very interests she has pledged to reign in as president.
This does not even begin to take into account the millions she personally earned giving speeches to Wall Street banks and other corporates interests, or the billions that have poured into the Clinton Foundation via foreign governments and Fortune 500 companies.
Democratic candidates and their wealthy benefactors are constantly demanding that the system be reformed, while at that same time pouring millions upon millions of dollars into the system. ‘Give us all your money,’ the candidate says, ‘so I can use it get money out of politics.’ The donors are more than happy to comply and mingle with politicians at high-dollar fundraisiers, but they want to make sure you know how unhappy they are about it.
For all his moaning about money in politics, Bernie Sanders has raised around $140 million for his campaign, more than any Republican candidate (except Jeb Bush, who dropped out in February). He has managed to do that, however, without the help of Super PACs and Hollywood actors charging six figures for a seat at the table.
Ironically enough, Donald Trump is the candidate who has done the most to keep money out of politics this cycle. He has become the frontrunner for the GOP nomination despite raising just $36 million, mostly through personal loans and hat sales. Trump’s campaign is, generally speaking, an incoherent, demagogic clown show, but his message of taking on special interests (by refusing to take their money) is one that resonates.
Another irony in the Democratic complaints about our campaign finance system is the fact that President Obama played a key role in unleashing the floodgates of money into the political system. In 2008, he became the first presidential candidate in history to forgo public financing, and the limits it would have imposed, once it became clear that he could raise even more money outside the system.
Since then, Obama hasn’t stopped talking about how badly he wants to limit money in politics, even going so far as to chastise Supreme Court justices to their faces in 2010 over the court’s ruling in Citizens United. Two years later, he raised more than $1.1 billion for his successful reelection effort.
With the help of concerned celebrities like George Clooney, Hillary Clinton should have no problem exceeding that “obscene” amount.