Wall Street Really Doesn't Want Clinton to Pick Elizabeth Warren for VP
Politico has compiled several anonymous quotes from Wall Street bankers threatening that Hillary Clinton will lose the financial sector’s support if she names Senator Elizabeth Warren her vice-presidential nominee—a somewhat dubious claim that nevertheless makes for a very funny story.
The securities and investment industry has donated $28.3 million to Clinton—more than any other industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Warren helped create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which banks do not like.
“If Clinton picked Warren, her whole base on Wall Street would leave her,” one donor, who has raised millions for the presumptive Democratic candidate, said. “They would literally just say, ‘We have no qualms with you moving left, we understand all the things you’ve had to do because of Bernie Sanders, but if you are going there with Warren, we just can’t trust you, you’ve killed it.’” From Politico:
All of the donors and senior Democrats interviewed for this story demanded that their names not be used both because they were not authorized to speak about the Clinton campaign’s internal deliberations and because they feared Warren’s wrath. “There is no upside to my talking to you on the record,” one big donor said. “Either I piss off the Clinton campaign or I piss off Warren, or both.”
Several donors said they did not really fear Warren going on the ticket because they do not believe Clinton has a strong relationship with the senator and would not trust Warren to be a loyal No. 2, either on the campaign or in the White House.
“First of all, they don’t particularly like each other,” said one prominent hedge fund manager who has raised millions for Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton before her. But, the manager added, “The absolute predicate for a vice presidential nominee is they have to understand they are No. 2 both during the campaign and once you take office, and I just don’t think Elizabeth Warren is that type of person.”
Warren’s appointment is far from assured, given her contentious history with the former secretary of state. But she’s garnered headlines of late after roasting Donald Trump repeatedly on Twitter.
“We are going to win this. Trump shouldn’t be president and he isn’t going to be president,” one senior Wall Street executive who is close to Clinton said. “Picking Warren would indicate weakness and panic for no reason and make them look like they are running scared of Trump. There will be plenty of time to galvanize the left and get them to come out. And Warren would be a nightmare to try and manage.”
