Lloyd Blankfein: 'The Democrats would be working very hard to find someone who is as divisive as Trump. But with Bernie they would have succeeded.”
in an advertisement by Elizabeth Warren, the other left-leaning Democratic candidate, to which he again reacted on Twitter. He clearly enjoys getting under their skin — and vice versa. Blankfein says he is a lifelong Democrat and donated to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.
We are meeting just two days after Trump was acquitted by the Senate. Many Democrats are warning that a second Trump term would jeopardize the U.S. republic, I say. Some, including Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York and a friend of Blankfein’s, have pledged to support whoever becomes the nominee — even if it’s Sanders. Removing Trump is their overriding priority.
Just to be clear, I press, you do not share the Democratic Party’s fears about Trump’s autocratic leanings? “Look, it’s crazy not to acknowledge the economy has expanded under Trump,” Blankfein says. “Some of this is related to tax reform. The cheapest stimulus is getting rid of dopey regulations [including on Wall Street]. All I’m saying is that Democrats would have a far stronger case if they conceded what was good.
But you would say that, I reply, because you are a billionaire. Sanders is proposing a wealth tax on people like you. “Look, you have to commit a crime to go to jail,” Blankfein says. People accuse Wall Street both of “being too clever by half” and of complete stupidity, he says: “Which is it? I think they [bankers] were stupid,” he continues. “Stupidity isn’t a crime. In fact, it’s a defense. Evil intent is necessary in criminal law. If you’re stupid, how did you have intent?”
I am still trying to digest the image of Blankfein and his peers as antelopes. The idea that they are unfairly dishonored samurai is a mental leap too far. But if all the world’s a stage, as Shakespeare says, doesn’t society need the closure of justice, I press? “People need culprits,” Blankfein says. “Who was responsible for this earthquake? Maybe earthquakes just happen. They [post-crash investigators] went through 250,000 of my emails and they found nothing.
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