Leon Cooperman, the hedge fund billionaire who has famously clashed with Sen. Elizabeth Warren over her proposed wealth tax, is cautioning voters against returning Donald Trump to the White House.“It would be terrible for the country if Donald Trump were reelected,” Cooperman told CNN in a phone interview late last week. “He’s a divisive human being who belongs in jail.”
It’s rare for a Wall Street figure to make such critical comments about Trump, at least publicly.
Cooperman, in the past, has donated to mostly Republicans and forcefully battled with Warren over her proposed Ultra-Millionaire Tax.
But the billionaire has previously said he voted for Joe Biden in 2020 “very reluctantly.”
Cooperman told CNN he’s not thrilled with the prospect of a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024, calling them both “bad choices.” Cooperman said he expects neither Trump nor Biden will be their party’s respective nominee next fall. But Cooperman added that if it is a Biden-Trump rematch, he likely won’t vote.
“I’m looking for centrists, not radical left or right,” said Cooperman, who donated to Republican Chris Christie’s 2024 campaign over the summer, according to federal records.
In response, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said Trump “will be the nominee and will beat Biden because he’s the only person who can supercharge the economy, secure our border, safeguard communities and put an end to unnecessary wars.”
“Americans want to return to a prosperous nation and there’s only one person who can do that – President Trump,” Cheung said in a statement.
The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
On the economic front, Cooperman expressed concern about risks posed by the violence in the Middle East.
The CEO of Omega Advisors said he’s “absolutely” worried there will be a financial impact from the conflict, adding that recent selling on Wall Street suggests the stock market is “catching up with reality now.”
The World Bank on Monday warned that a wider war risks pushing global commodity markets, including oil, into “uncharted waters.”
A small disruption, such as the one during the Libyan civil war, could lift oil prices to as high as $102 a barrel, according to the World Bank analysis. A medium-level disruption would spike oil to $121 a barrel, while a severe disruption like the 1973 Arab oil embargo could cause oil to skyrocket up to $157 a barrel.
Given the ongoing risks, Cooperman argued the stock market is overvalued relative to corporate profits.
“The question is whether the market deserves to be selling at 18, 19 or 20 times earnings. The answer is no,” he said. “We have a hostile government towards capital. We’re fighting two wars. And we have stupid monetary and fiscal policies that have brought demand forward.”
Cooperman expressed alarm about the lack of fiscal “discipline” in Washington among both political parties, pointing to how the national debt has spiked from $20 trillion in 2017 when Trump took office to more than $33 trillion today.
"We're fighting two wars"?
The idea that Biden is a "radical left" is, to be honest, laughable. Of course, the Overton Window of the US makes it so that in the insular, navel-gazing world of US politics, that is true, but the rest of the world laughs at USAnians who claim that.
Like we should be listening to billionaires about anything other than the concept of greed and its perils.
Particularly the utterly useless ones like lucky or cheating hedge fund managers. Like, your job is to move useless wealth tokens around and waste the useful productivity of everyone who works for you. Who gives a sh*t what you think?
They are a criminal family, for 3 generations at least, and what seems like normal behavior ("ignorance" of details) and stuff that they think they can explain away is red flag stuff to a judge. Hopefully they are finally being held to account.
I wonder if the accounting firms and banks can sue Jr and Eric and Ivanka for their admitted carelessness?
They are a criminal family, for 3 generations at least, and what seems like normal behavior ("ignorance" of details) and stuff that they think they can explain away is red flag stuff to a judge. Hopefully they are finally being held to account.
I wonder if the accounting firms and banks can sue Jr and Eric and Ivanka for their admitted carelessness?
I'd think defamation, at least, ala Dominion Voting Systems. It looks like Trump Jr. tried to throw them under the bus multiple times.
Of course, even if they win, who wants to work with a group that chose to associate with the Trumps?
Who kept the Genovese mob in existence for decades?
I mean, for the Trumps, you could start with Russian Oligarchs, Deutsche Bank, and tons of wealthy Republicans and politicians who are willing to trade money for access, or even just proximity. They know a gravy train when they see it.
Was struck, while watching reports on Trump's testimony today, at how much of his entire... "project," I guess, is predicated on being in a position to bump up against or slam through all sorts of traditional safeguards with the expectation that the bully pulpit and his lackeys will protect him from consequence.
It's really all or nothing. Either his chain gets yanked, totally and fully, or he becomes a dictator.
The thing that surprises me most is that the unhinged person we see in the media, on the campaign trail, holding the office of the President, etc., seems to be the same unhinged person he is in private.
It is almost like he has been telling us who he is for years. He isn't a genius playing 4ED chess with a character crafted for TV. He is a loud bully who uses his inherited money and his lack of morality to gain money, power, and impunity from consequences.
Who knew?
We were warned.
Should have been a Trump/Biff comparison ad in 2016. Maybe would have flipped enough Gen X to keep him out
We knew since he first arrived on the national scene in the late 70's. I followed his career in a "look at the car wreck mommy" sort of fascination - in college, I had some NYC socialites who knew him and traded horror stories. Seeing him get a TV show was like watching Bernie Madoff get hired by CNBC. When he did his first presidential run, it was a laugh to see how quickly he got squashed.
But 2015 or so? That's when the horror hit. And 2016 cemented it. It was like everyone just *ignored* his entire past. There were books and investigative journalists laying it all out, and my Republican friends were like "Well, you can't believe that stuff, the media is out to get him".
And all I could think was, I lived through all the coverage when he was just a publicity hound, a media troll and abusive landlord. It's real. It was real. I was horrified.
And I still am.
You have to understand that having a black man as president really broke their brains.
Should have been a Trump/Biff comparison ad in 2016. Maybe would have flipped enough Gen X to keep him out
Are there Gen X-ers that didn't recognize that Future Biff was a not-at-all-veiled Trump reference?
Stele wrote:Should have been a Trump/Biff comparison ad in 2016. Maybe would have flipped enough Gen X to keep him out
Are there Gen X-ers that didn't recognize that Future Biff was a not-at-all-veiled Trump reference?
I saw that movie well after it came out when I was like 13, and even I knew it was an obvious Trump reference.
I grew up pretty sheltered and didn’t really know who Trump was until The Apprentice but I immediately clocked him as alternate-universe Biff.
You have to understand that having a black man as president really broke their brains.
Their brains were already broken, but it hardened their resolve and opened their wallets.
It's amazing that The Apprentice shows were edited to make Trump look good, but watching those shows made me loathe him.
Yeah, but America loved him. Those shows, at least at the outset, did huge numbers.
Insane that Mark Burnett may have ended up playing a major role in ending American democracy. Insert your own feelings about reality TV here.
Yeah, but America loved him. Those shows, at least at the outset, did huge numbers.
Insane that Mark Burnett may have ended up playing a major role in ending American democracy. Insert your own feelings about reality TV here.
We were warned:
David Tennant's stern message for Donald Trump
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