Spare a thought for the billionaires? The very richest among us have been getting smacked around by the likes of presidential hopefuls Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders during this contentious run-up to the 2020 election, and the Employment Policies Institute, a Washington-based conservative think tank, has had enough:

“ ‘The wealthy Americans they attack created world-changing technologies, entertainment empires, millions of middle-class jobs and funded countless charitable endeavors. The American dream shouldn’t punish success.’ ”

That’s just a snippet from a new ad airing Monday that defends billionaires with flashing images of Berkshire Hathaway’s BRK.A, +0.43% Warren Buffett, Facebook FB, +2.12% CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon AMZN, +2.49% founder Jeff Bezos, among others.