The billionaire class are propping up Elizabeth Warren by theatrically feigning fear of her candidacy — while ignoring the one candidate, Bernie Sanders, who poses a real threat. Paul Ashburn Follow Nov 7, 2019 · 3 min read

Billionaire Leon Cooperman cries on the air about Elizabeth Warren’s wealth tax

Anti-endorsements are being used as a tool to influence voters, since it’s known the electorate want an anti-establishment candidate.

Elizabeth Warren has been capitalizing on the media’s coverage of her campaign, where last month, the campaign released an ad emphasizing her anti-endorsements. And while people in high places have had a few choice words about Sanders as well, so much so that Sanders put up his own list of anti-endorsements very early on in the campaign, the red flag is that the media seems only interested in heavily promoting these anti-endorsements when they’re made concerning Warren. The reason is simple: the political establishment realizes that they themselves are unpopular — even hated — among many voters, so one of the strategies they’re using is to pretend to fear the candidate they actually support — or by heavily publicizing those instances where fear is expressed.

Why are we seeing so many of these anti-endorsements now, especially over the past couple days?

Elizabeth Warren is going down in the polls, as Bernie Sanders rises, so these anti-endorsements have been pumped out over the last couple days in an attempt to make up for lost ground.

After a long upward trend, Warren’s polling numbers have fallen dramatically, according to the RCP average.

Recent early primary state polls show Sanders in 1st or tied for 1st

Sanders is the only major candidate showing an upward trend in national polls

The idea is to invoke support in the media consumer for Elizabeth Warren, because the political establishment knows that voters to a certain extent want to do the opposite of what the billionaire class wants. That’s why you don’t see a bunch of pieces likewise similarly promoted talking about how much these billionaires are afraid of Bernie: because they know it will only help his campaign more. Or, when you do see one of these pieces on Bernie, it’s frequently posed as “Billionaires fear Sanders and Warren,” because tying the two figures together gives Warren more credibility and cross-appeal by making her synonymous with Sanders’ brand.

The point isn’t that many of Warren’s policies aren’t progressive, though they don’t go as far as Sanders. The point is that Sanders is polling similarly or better in all the early primary states, is the only major candidate on an upward polling trend, does best in polls showing head to head match-ups with Trump, and has a movement to back up his plans so they actually stand a chance of passing. Given all that, the promoted “billionaire fear” over Warren, especially as polling shows her campaign on a downward trend, seems highly disproportional — not to mention, not in tune with the reality of the current state of the presidential race — and therefore is worth looking at more skeptically.

Examples of “billionaires being afraid of Warren” from just over the past couple of days, as she falls dramatically in the polls.

Here are some of the statements that have captured the media’s attention over the past two days, from which you’ll find all manner of media coverage overwhelmingly pushing the “billionaires fear Warren” narrative:

Billionaire Leon Cooperman cries on the air about Elizabeth Warren’s wealth tax

Bill Gates criticizes Warren’s plans to increase taxes on the rich

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, says Sen. Elizabeth Warren ‘vilifies successful people’