How corporate money reshaped the Democratic Party—and opened the door to a dangerous new populism
A conversation between Miles Carter and Beth(ChatGPT)
The party that once built Social Security now takes Wall Street’s money. What does that mean for working people—and why are so many turning to a new, dangerous kind of populism? Follow the money, and you’ll find the fault lines.
Miles:
Beth, I’ve been thinking about this. The Democratic Party used to be the party of working people. They gave us Social Security. Medicare. Public jobs. Bank regulations that actually protected people.
But in 2024, Wall Street gave over $468 million to political campaigns—and more than half of it went to Democrats. Big Tech gave $242 million, mostly to Democrats too.
That’s not a small shift. That’s something deeper.
So I want to know:
If they’re getting money from the most powerful industries in the country…
Are they still fighting for the rest of us?
Beth:
That’s the right question to ask. And to answer it, we’ve got to start with what the Democratic Party was originally for.
In the 20th century, especially under Franklin D. Roosevelt, the party believed that government had a responsibility to protect people from the worst parts of capitalism—unemployment, poverty, corporate abuse, banking collapse.
That meant real action:
- Social Security
- Minimum wage laws
- Union protections
- The SEC and Glass-Steagall to keep Wall Street in check
The idea was simple:
The economy should work for people—not the other way around.
Miles:
So when did they lose sight of that? Because by the time I’m watching Citigroup execs walk into a Democratic White House, something’s gone sideways.
Beth:
The turn started in the 1980s, but it became official under Bill Clinton.
He didn’t just go along with deregulation—he championed it:
- Signed the repeal of Glass-Steagall
- Deregulated derivatives
- Promoted NAFTA, which benefited corporations but devastated local industries and labor
That was the moment when Democrats started selling the idea that free markets and social progress could live side by side. But they weren’t equal partners. The market got its way.
Miles:
And Obama didn’t reverse course.
He came in after the crash—the moment when the country needed someone to finally hold Wall Street accountable—and he hired the same people who helped cause the mess.
Summers. Geithner. Bernanke. All of them connected to the same financial world that needed reforming.
Beth:
That’s what made the shift so hard to see. The language stayed progressive—“hope,” “change,” “fairness”—but the policymaking often protected the same financial structures people were suffering under.
We got some progress, no question. But often not at the scale or depth people needed. And always with limits—limits shaped by donors, consultants, and cautious politics.
Miles:
So here’s what I’m hearing:
The Democratic Party didn’t stop caring about people.
But they let corporate influence redefine what counts as “possible.”
And when that happens, you get small wins—but never the deep fixes.
Beth:
Exactly. And when working people live too long in that kind of system—where the promises are big, but the outcomes don’t change enough—they start looking for something else.
That’s when a different kind of rhetoric moves in. Not honest. Not helpful. But loud.
Miles:
Okay, so let’s name it. What are the corporate donors actually asking for? Because they’re not writing checks for nothing.
Beth:
Right. These donors don’t usually make demands on camera. But you can see their fingerprints all over policy decisions. Here’s what they want—and how it hits regular people.
💳 Financial Industry: “Don’t Regulate Us Too Much”
What they want:
- Looser capital rules
- Weaker consumer protections
- No breakups of big banks
- Deregulated fintech and crypto
What happens:
- Predatory lending keeps targeting poor communities
- Banks charge fees for being poor
- Risky practices grow unchecked—until the next crisis hits
💊 Pharma and Health Insurance: “Let Us Run the System”
What they want:
- No public option
- No universal coverage
- Limited drug price controls
- Continued private dominance of Medicare
What happens:
- Health costs keep rising
- Patients get denied care they need
- Public programs become profit machines for insurers
📵 Big Tech: “Regulate the Other Guys, Not Us”
What they want:
- No serious antitrust enforcement
- Weak privacy laws
- Control over AI and data frameworks
- Tax breaks and contractor flexibility
What happens:
- Our data is extracted without consent
- Monopolies grow unchecked
- Workers stay stuck in gig jobs without protections
💼 Corporate America: “No Wealth Taxes, No Unions, No Interference”
What they want:
- Symbolic DEI, not structural change
- Low corporate taxes
- Weak labor law enforcement
- Trade rules that protect profits, not people
What happens:
- Inequality deepens
- Unions struggle to organize
- Wages lag behind productivity
- Tax loopholes widen while services shrink
Miles:
So they’re not just buying access. They’re buying limits. What we’re allowed to imagine. What gets proposed. What quietly gets dropped before it ever reaches a vote.
Beth:
Exactly. That’s how you get a party that still talks like it represents the people—but whose policies are often trimmed down to what donors will tolerate.
And when people feel like they’re only being offered scraps? That’s when someone else shows up with a megaphone and a new promise.
Miles:
Yeah. That’s where the New Republic steps in.
They come in waving the banner of populism—talking about elites, corruption, working people, fairness. And after years of half-measures and donor-filtered progress, it starts to sound pretty good to folks who’ve been left behind.
But what are they actually selling?
Beth:
A bait-and-switch. They use the same language the old Democrats used to use—”forgotten Americans,” “drain the swamp,” “take back control”—but the solutions are hollow, or worse.
They say they’ll stand up to the elites… while cutting taxes for billionaires. They say they support workers… while blocking unions and killing wage increases. They say they’ll fix the system… by turning it into a culture war.
They tap into real pain, real betrayal. But then they weaponize that pain against immigrants, teachers, journalists, trans kids—anyone but the actual structures that caused the problem.
Miles:
So people are right to feel abandoned. But they’re getting sold a fantasy—one that feels more responsive, more passionate, but that ends up delivering even less.
Beth:
Exactly. It’s not that the Democrats have no values. It’s that their policies are often compromised before they reach the floor.
And it’s not that the New Republic has real answers. It’s that their performance of outrage looks like action in a vacuum of trust.
That’s how a system breaks. Not with one betrayal, but with a slow erosion of belief. And when the center collapses, people don’t always fall left. Sometimes they fall hard to the right.
Miles:
So the question is: can a party funded by elites really serve working people?
Or is the whole system going to have to break before it gets rebuilt?
And if it does break—who gets to pick up the pieces?
Beth:
That’s the fear, and the opportunity.
If we want something better, it won’t come from waiting for the right billionaire to save us, or the loudest populist to pretend they understand us.
It’ll come from demanding more. From seeing through the performance. From remembering what real public power looks like.
Because the truth is, the story of American democracy has never been a straight line. It’s a fight. And right now, the people who still believe in it—the people who want a government that truly serves the public good—have to decide: do we fix it from the inside, or do we build something new?
Either way, we can’t afford to sit this one out.
The Human AI View 
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