# Elizabeth Warren campaign goes full blown populist **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 12, 2019, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335 "2019-11-12T17:25:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/1 "2019-11-12T17:25:16Z")
Wow, the Warren campaign has taken a hard ‘angry’ populist turn over the last couple days. 1. Got a fundraising email last night with ‘Stick it to the billionaires who are fighting against our movement’ as the opening line. 2. Got a text this morning, ‘Companies like Exxon shouldn’t be able to pour money into junk science and use or to lie to fed regulators.’ I assume she’s trying to grab any of the Bernie supporters that are still gettable. Still, I’m not sure this is a great strategy. She’ll have a fervent army of Twitter warriors but most us don’t wake up in the AM wanting to smack Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg in the face. It looks like the primary strategy is for her to knock out Bernie and then for Biden or Buttigieg to emerge as her competition. The drawback from this strategy is that I’m not sure Bernie will drop out when it becomes hopeless. Bernie went scorched earth in 2016 even when his campaign was all but mathematically eliminated. Whereas, I do think Biden or Buttigieg would drop out once it becomes clear that they’re not going to be the nominee. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/2 "2019-11-12T18:14:59Z")
“Goes full blown populist”? What are you referring to? Policies that she has been fronting all along and/or that are consistent with her promoted platform? Or that she uses relevant current media buzz antithetical to those policies as a jumping off point for promoting them and herself? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/3 "2019-11-12T18:20:02Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > …but most us don’t wake up in the AM wanting to smack Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg in the face. For others, it’s the only reason to get out of bed. As to the rest, I think Bernie is going to throw his unequivocal support behind Warren if/when it comes to that. ---
**Author:** ![Unreconstructed\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/76d3ee/32.png) [@Unreconstructed\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unreconstructed_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/4 "2019-11-12T18:55:08Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I assume she’s trying to grab any of the Bernie supporters that are still gettable. Still, I’m not sure this is a great strategy. She’ll have a fervent army of Twitter warriors but most us don’t wake up in the AM wanting to smack Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg in the face. We should. We’ve got people working two jobs who still have to beg for insulin money on the internet. Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos could burn a hundred billion dollars and _still_ be one of the richest billionaires in the world. That shit ain’t right. I don’t for a moment believe Warren is sincere, but the sentiment is a righteous one. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/5 "2019-11-12T19:40:26Z")
These are fundraising emails, right? You’re saying these are radically different from last month? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/6 "2019-11-12T19:51:03Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > These are fundraising emails, right? You’re saying these are radically different from last month? Yes, they are. I went back just a bit more than a month to get past the debate and post debate fundraiser emails. The one on October 8 was about pregnancy discrimination. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/7 "2019-11-12T19:54:15Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > For others, it’s the only reason to get out of bed. > > As to the rest, I think Bernie is going to throw his unequivocal support behind Warren if/when it comes to that. I’m well aware that plays well on college campuses and liberal urban blue bubbles. But, perhaps she should read a chart of soybean prices and spend some time telling voters about how awful Trump’s trade wars have been. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/8 "2019-11-12T20:35:54Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I’m well aware that plays well on college campuses and liberal urban blue bubbles. But, perhaps she should read a chart of soybean prices and spend some time telling voters about how awful Trump’s trade wars have been. Warren is believed to be a bigger hawk on trade than Trump in many ways. So she hasn’t challenged him much on it except to say [she has a plan and he doesn’t](https://twitter.com/ewarren/status/1172173640814735360). ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/9 "2019-11-12T20:59:32Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > . But, perhaps she should read a chart of soybean prices and spend some time telling voters about how awful Trump’s trade wars have been. Sounds riveting. Wh doesn’t like a good commodity price chart. The problem is that only means anything to farmers and economists, and the administration is propping up farmers to keep from getting too upset. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/10 "2019-11-12T21:14:57Z")
Although it seems weird to me to use “populist” to refer to criticism of an elite as tiny as the approximately 750 individuals who now control more wealth than the bottom 50% of all Americans, that seems to be a thing now, so OK? But I remain baffled as to what’s “populist” about objecting to corporations generating junk-science propaganda and lying to federal regulators. I mean, **everybody** except swindling crooks and liars is opposed to that kind of behavior regardless of their income level, right? Does “populist” now just mean “in the interests of literally everybody except a minuscule minority of unbelievably wealthy power-abusing oligarchs and scofflaws”? If so, sign me up for the populist movement. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/11 "2019-11-12T21:28:52Z")
Hasn’t “populist” always meant that? Against whichever group one can muster a popular negative sentiment. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/12 "2019-11-12T22:29:09Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Sounds riveting. Wh doesn’t like a good commodity price chart. The problem is that only means anything to farmers and economists, and the administration is propping up farmers to keep from getting too upset. I could make a damn good commercial about how Trump’s trade wars are destroying the family farms. Yes, I’d run in it in farm states, not in Manhattan. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2019, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/13 "2019-11-13T00:27:21Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Hasn’t “populist” always meant that? Against whichever group one can muster a popular negative sentiment. Not AFAICT. The [original self-described Populists of the late 19th-century People’s Party](https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/01/populism-douglas-hofstadter-donald-trump-democracy) pitted tenant farmers against local landlords and merchants, for example. And self-identified Trumpian “populists” are mad at a huge variety of so-called “elites” including pretty much all Democrats, schoolteachers, journalists, academics, etc. The OP is the first time I’ve ever seen such tightly targeted criticism of such a minuscule bunch of super-wealthy and corporate bad actors labeled “populism”. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2019, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/14 "2019-11-13T03:30:19Z")
Going after “those fat cats in Washington” is a pretty common populist refrain. That’s a pretty small group of people. Afaik, populism is merely positioning yourself as the defender of the common man against the elite. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2019, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/15 "2019-11-13T10:53:14Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Wow, the Warren campaign has taken a hard ‘angry’ populist turn over the last couple days. Why do you say that like it’s a _bad_ thing…? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2019, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/16 "2019-11-13T14:14:19Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Why do you say that like it’s a _bad_ thing…? Well, as a supporter of Buttigieg, I’m happy for Warren’s campaign to make mistakes. But, Democrats should be focusing their ire on Donald Trump and the Republican Party. I get the impression that some of Warren’s supporters would happily take 4 more years of Trump in exchange for the opportunity to bend Bezos or Zuckerberg over their knee, take the belt off and give them a good hard spanking. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/17 "2019-11-13T14:43:39Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Well, as a supporter of Buttigieg, I’m happy for Warren’s campaign to make mistakes. > > But, Democrats should be focusing their ire on Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Actually history shows that just focusing on the hate of the opponent \*\*and \*\*forgetting to offer better solutions is a recipe for failure. > [@dalej42](#): > > I get the impression that some of Warren’s supporters would happily take 4 more years of Trump in exchange for the opportunity to bend Bezos or Zuckerberg over their knee, take the belt off and give them a good hard spanking. Maybe you did not get a recent memo from Buttigieg. > **[Buttigieg calls Facebook's political ad policy a 'mistake'](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/buttigieg-calls-facebooks-political-ad-173109754.html)** > > The social media giant has "a responsibility to pull false advertising and ... to intervene when there is advertising that would contribute to voter suppression," Butttigieg told reporters after hosting an economic policy event in New Hampshire. The... > [@](#): > > NASHUA, New Hampshire (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said Thursday that he believes Facebook’s policy to not filter out phony political ads is “a mistake” and that breaking up big tech companies should be “on the table.” > > The social media giant has “a responsibility to pull false advertising and … to intervene when there is advertising that would contribute to voter suppression,” Butttigieg told reporters after hosting an economic policy event in New Hampshire. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/18 "2019-11-14T04:18:52Z")
Just saw on the official Warren Twitter account that they’re selling Billionaire Tears coffee mugs. > Well, it’s a campaign strategy. ---
**Author:** ![Unreconstructed\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/76d3ee/32.png) [@Unreconstructed\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unreconstructed_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/19 "2019-11-14T09:54:53Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Just saw on the official Warren Twitter account that they’re selling Billionaire Tears coffee mugs. > > [https://twitter.com/teamwarren/status/1194783777597333505?s=21](https://twitter.com/teamwarren/status/1194783777597333505?s=21) > > Well, it’s a campaign strategy. Liz Warren utilising the awesome power of 2015 memes to prove she’s got her finger on the pulse :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335/20 "2019-11-14T15:37:08Z")
Her strategy is not appealing to me. Yes, I think Bezos and Zuckerberg and other very wealthy folks should be paying more in taxes. A lot more. Because for whatever reason, they benefited the most from the society we all built and all pay into. They need to give back and I think there are institutional problems that occur when individuals are allowed to accumulate the kind of wealth associated with nations, like wealth corrupting the political system. But I don’t hate or even particularly dislike these people. In fact, many of them have qualities that I admire. I know many of these ultra-wealthy people personally and they are people. Some are assholes and some are genuine and kind. And I don’t want to “stick it to them”. I just want them to pay their fair share, which is way more than they pay now. I also hate the term “economic inequality”. I don’t think it adequately describes the issues and I don’t think it’s inherently wrong that some of us have more than others. I prefer the term economic injustice when addressing the systemic problems [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-campaign-goes-full-blown-populist/843335.md?page=2)