Michael Hiltzik: Wall Street Democrats' fear of Elizabeth Warren reminds us that they opposed the New Deal too
The least surprising political news in this newsy week may be that the Democrats' Wall Street donors are so fearful of Elizabeth Warren's surge to the presidential nomination that they're threatening to back Donald Trump for reelection.
After all, it's hardly a shock that the wealthy will go to the mat to protect their fortunes, which Warren has placed squarely in the crosshairs through her advocacy of progressive economic policies, especially a wealth tax.
But the outburst of fear and loathing reported this week by CNBC should remind us that the Democratic Party's plutocrat wing dates back decades and has always presented a powerful counterweight to its liberal impulses. Most notably, the Democrats' wealthiest supporters were so opposed to the New Deal that they almost ripped the party apart to kill it.
Although they included such elite figures as steel and auto executives, heirs to the Astor and Du Pont fortunes and Wall Street figures such as James Paul Warburg, they were not above
