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Clinton seizes opening as Trump alienates big business
| CNN | - |
In
an election already rocked by bizarre twists and turns, Donald Trump's
speech meant to galvanize working-class voters in the Rust Belt last
week exposed a yawning divide between the billionaire and the business
community -- a powerful force in U.S.
Clinton seizes opening as Trump alienates big business
Donald Trump vows to scrap trade deals, threatens China 01:41
Story highlights
- Hillary Clinton wants to take advantage of a a yawning divide between Donald Trump and the business community
- Business advocates used a speech last week to send a message: That Trump's policies would spell economic disaster
(CNN)Hillary
Clinton has an opportunity that has eluded Democratic presidential
nominees for decades: Being the candidate of big business.
In an election already rocked by bizarre twists and turns, Donald Trump's speech meant to galvanize
working-class voters in the Rust Belt last week exposed a yawning
divide between the billionaire and the business community -- a powerful
force in U.S. presidential elections that has historically aligned
itself with the Republican Party.
As
Trump railed against the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and
threatened to withdraw the U.S. from the North American Free Trade
Agreement at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce and other leading business lobbies publicly condemned the GOP
presumptive nominee. Their warning: Trump's policies would spell
economic disaster.
The
extraordinary rebuke from the business community was a reminder of just
how upside down politics are this year. It comes as Trump is looking to
garner support from the GOP establishment just weeks out from his
party's convention in Cleveland this month. It also opened the door for
Clinton to court corporate leaders and donors who, in a typical election
year, may have been inclined to back the GOP nominee.
Even
before Trump's speech in Pennsylvania last week, the Clinton campaign
was actively reaching out to industry leaders across the political
spectrum. Former Walmart executive Leslie Dach has been involved in
outreach efforts to business leaders on the campaign's behalf, according
to a source familiar with Dach's role.
Clinton
aides acknowledge the split between Trump and the business community
presents an opportunity to gain allies, winning over Republican-leaning
interests or at least persuading them to stay neutral. Clinton, who
campaigns Tuesday for the first time with President Barack Obama, used
Trump's response to the "Brexit" vote last month -- he cheered Britain's
decision to leave the European Union, which sent markets into turmoil
-- to argue that Trump is too volatile to play a leading role in the
global economy.
Former Oklahoma
Gov. Frank Keating, who until last year was head of the American Bankers
Association, said the Chamber's public scorn at Trump's economic vision
marked a "very significant" break in the alliance between big business
and the GOP.
"It's
certainly counter cultural," said Keating, a Republican who has not
endorsed Trump. The Trump campaign should be particularly wary, Keating
added, of the national Chamber's scorn trickling down to local business
groups and leaders.
"The Oklahoma
City chamber or the Natchez, Mississippi, or the Albany, New York,
chamber, a chamber of commerce in a small town California: If they think
what the Republican presidential candidate makes no sense for small
business development, I would be very concerned," Keating said.
Late
last month, the Clinton campaign rolled out endorsements from a
bipartisan group of business executives. Several of them made this
striking admission: they have never before supported a Democrat for
president.
"Since my time at the Naval
Academy and service in the Navy, I have consistently voted for
Republicans for president," Dan Akerson, former chairman of General
Motors, said in a statement shared by the campaign. "Serving as the
leader of the free world requires effective leadership, sound judgment, a
steady hand and most importantly, the temperament to deal with crises
large and small. Donald Trump lacks each of these characteristics."
Jim
Doyle, founder of the trade group Business Forward, described the depth
of public support Clinton is receiving from the business leaders this
election as "extraordinary."
"CEOs
of major corporations are growing less likely to endorse at all," said
Doyle, a former official in the Bill Clinton administration who is
married to Patti Solis Doyle, Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign manager
and a CNN contributor. "So the fact that you've got Republican CEOs
endorsing Hillary is remarkable."
But for Clinton, courting big business is also a political risk.
Clinton
only recently wrapped up a contentious Democratic primary race against
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a populist liberal who accused her of being
too close to big business. During the primary, Clinton ran to the left
on a number of policy areas, including TPP. A deal that she had once
hailed as the "gold standard" of trade agreements, Clinton declared last year that she could not support it in its current form.
Some
in the party have urged Clinton to pick a staunchly liberal running
mate, like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, to please the Democratic
base -- a move that could alienate the very business leaders who are
already rejecting Trump.
Any
perception that she is pivoting away from the progressive positions she
staked out during the primary season could agitate liberal voters,
including former Sanders supporters.
Former
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said he was disappointed when
Clinton came out against TPP. He chucked: "But I understand the dynamics
of a Democratic primary."
Kirk,
who is now co-chair of the international trade practice at the law firm
Gibson Dunn, described Trump's economic vision as "diplomatic and
economic disengagement with the rest of the world."
Even
after a primary race that pushed her to the left, Kirk said, Clinton is
much better positioned than Trump to appeal to centrist business leader
in the general election.
Republican
business leaders "for a while comforted themselves with the belief that
— 'Oh, Trump is just saying this stuff to get the nomination. He
doesn't mean it,'" Kirk said. "They are horrified at the damage that he
is already doing and the amount of time they're already having to spend
to comfort allies and customers and partners around the world."
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