TWEET THIS
[This post was updated on Friday, October 27, 2017.]
Hedge fund manager turned environmental billionaire Tom Steyer is spending $10 million on a national ad campaign calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment. A one-minute television ad, launched by Steyer last Friday, accuses Trump of raising the likelihood of nuclear war with North Korea, obstructing justice in his termination of former FBI director James Comey, and violating the Constitution by taking money from foreign governments and threatening to shut down press organizations.
“Like you, I’m a citizen who knows it’s up to us to do something,” Steyer says in the ad, directing viewers to his website, NeedToImpeach.com. The site includes an open letter from Steyer as well as a petition that visitors can sign to support impeachment. Steyer is the first billionaire to come out loud and strong, spending millions of dollars in an effort to get President Trump impeached.
An aide to Steyer said in an e-mail that the $10 million television ad buy will also be accompanied by a multi-million dollar digital advertising campaign. Steyer has yet to determine how long the ads will run for.
In addition to financing the advertising campaign, Steyer also spoke at a rally at San Francisco City Hall on Tuesday and called for a resolution introduced by San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Sandra Lee Fewer to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump.
Recommended by Forbes
Since as early as May, city governments have passed similar resolutions in support of impeachment proceedings, including the city councils of Los Angeles and Chicago.
A political megadonor, Steyer spent some $65 million during the 2016 election cycle supporting environmental causes and Democratic politicians, including presidential candidate Martin O'Malley.
Steyer’s petition comes on the heels of ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org, a campaign run by non-profit organizations Free Speech For People and RootsAction, which has so far recruited 1.2 million signatures. In August, the Impeach Donald Trump Now campaign crowd-funded just over $5,000 for a billboard less than a mile away from President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Florida, calling for petition signatures.
Steyer’s ad, which calls Trump “mentally unstable [and] armed with nuclear weapons," has received support on Twitter from Hollywood stars including Judd Apatow and will.i.am. No other billionaires have openly expressed support for Steyer’s campaignso far.
In July, Democratic Congressmen Brad Sherman of California and Al Green of Texas filed an article for impeachment against Trump for obstruction of justice, the first lawmakers to formally introduce impeachment proceedings against Trump on the congressional floor. Given that the House and the Senate are controlled by the Republican Party, the odds of a Republican-led impeachment of Trump are not high.
After the publication of this article and the Fox News Channel airing, President Trump responded to Steyer's impeachment campaign on Twitter:
Steyer responded, also on the social media platform:
You’re right about one thing, Mr. Trump. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Steyer then followed his Twitter response to Trump with another series of tweets, addressing citizens and politicians to support his impeachment campaign: "I have been fighting your racism and corporate groveling from the beginning and always will. Americans deserve much better. Americans across the board know you're a danger to the people of this country. @NancyPelosi @SenSchumer it's time to take a stand. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are adding voices to the movement to impeach this President. It's only a matter of time until he is gone. Sign our petition today and tell Congress to impeach Impresident Trump."
Email her at aau-yeung@forbes.com or follow her on Twitter: @AngelAuYeung.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment