A top Democratic strategist is praising key figures in the Trump administration, saying the presence of former Wall Street executives helps instill confidence in the financial markets.
Doug Schoen, a pollster and adviser to former President Bill Clinton, said during an interview with John Catsimatidis on AM 970 in New York that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and National Economic Council chief Gary Cohn have all “helped” Trump.
“These are titans of Wall Street … It inspires confidence. If there’s confidence in Wall Street, the markets go up — good for America, good for Wall Street and good for ordinary people,” Schoen said.
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“If we’re so afraid of Wall Street – goodness gracious, we have a plutocratic president in Washington,” he added.
The Democratic strategist took a dig at Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who are outspoken critics about the need for checks on Wall Street, while calling on Democrats to embrace Wall Street.
“We need Democrats standing up for our economy, for investment and for Wall Street,” he said.
“Democrats need money; they need Wall Street money,” he said. “Wall Street is the engine that creates jobs. You can’t create jobs by just redistributing yourself out of problems. You can’t just tax the rich and expect that magic things will happen. We need to incentivize Wall Street to invest, to create jobs and to grow our economy.”
His remarks came after U.S. stocks hit record closing highs on Friday, with all three market indexes extending their recent run of records, Reuters reported.
Trump on Saturday touted the climb in stock market prices since he assumed office.
“Stock Market hits another all time high on Friday. 5.3 trillion dollars up since Election. Fake News doesn’t spent much time on this!” he tweeted.