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Donald Trump’s Fear-Mongering
All this month, Donald Trump has been attempting to drum up fear among voters that a migrant caravan hundreds of miles from the border is a grave threat to their lives, and that only he and his fellow Republicans can protect them. Two weeks ago, he claimed, without any evidence, that “criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in” with the group. Later, to heighten the drama, he dispatched thousands of troops to “secure” the border and deny the migrants entry, despite the fact that 1) they’re traveling on foot and weeks away, 2) the military doesn’t actually have the power to do anything once they’re there, and 3) the group plans to surrender at a port of entry and seek amnesty, which is the only way they can do so under current U.S. law.
Perhaps worried that voters were not sufficiently scared enough to stave off a “blue wave,” though, on Wednesday, he pulled out the big guns and the mother of all dog whistles: a conspiracy theory about George Soros, a favorite bogeyman among white nationalists and neo-Nazis:
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As even presidential boot-licker Anthony Scaramucci will tell you, George Soros is not paying the people headed for the U.S. border. You know who else probably knows that? Donald Trump. But with less than a week until the midterms, it’s apparently too difficult for him not to stoke anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about the financier—just like the one included in a campaign ad during the 2016 election. That some of his more violent supporters might view this as him giving them the green light to put a bomb in Soros’ mailbox—or shoot up a synagogue—is apparently of little import.
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Wall Street is hoping to make a few new friends in Washington
And, obviously, they know the best way to make friends in this town:
- For the first time in a decade, the securities and investment industries are spending more on Democrats than Republicans ahead of the November 6 midterm elections.
- Bankers are also giving to Democrats.
A big part of that is anti-Trump, but a lot of the money is flowing to moderate Democrats, a sign Wall Street is seeking Washington allies to temper the impact of progressives such as Representative Maxine Waters and Senator Elizabeth Warren, who are poised to hit the industry with subpoenas and tougher oversight. . The securities and investment industry has given $56.8 million to Democratic congressional candidates and $33.4 million to Republicans this election cycle, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
- “It’s going to be a very thin majority,” Paul Merski, a lobbyist for the Independent Community Bankers Association, told Bloomberg. Moderate Democrats “will be the deciding factor. And they agree with us on a lot of things.”
Jamie Dimon: Of course pulling out of the Saudi conference was a total P.R. move
You didn’t actually think the bank had any plans to stop doing business with the kingdom in the wake of a journalist being dismembered, did you? That’s adorable.
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Dimon acknowledged during yesterday’s Axios event at U.C.L.A. that pulling out of his speaking role at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh was basically a P.R. move that won’t affect Saudi government behavior, adding it was done because JPMorgan “couldn’t be seen in any way condoning” the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Dimon made a similar “you need to be at the table to engage” argument that he’s made when it comes to meeting with President Trump, despite their public disagreements.
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The JPMorgan C.E.O. added that there are no plans to pull employees out of Saudi Arabia and that the bank would only stop doing business in the country if the American government put some sort of restrictions in place, a move that appears highly unlikely given how little Trump appears to care about the death of Khashoggi, and how fond his son-in-law is of Bone Saw bin Salman.
