The New York Times reported back in February:
“If we broke up the big banks tomorrow,” Mrs. Clinton asked the audience of black, white and Hispanic union members, “would that end racism? Would that end sexism? Would that end discrimination against the L.G.B.T. community?,” she said, using an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. “Would that make people feel more welcoming to immigrants overnight?”
At each question, the crowd called back with a resounding no.
Although watching the video, it looks more like the people on stage behind Hillary (who were presumably paid for being there) were merely starting to get the hang of Hillary’s rhythm and dutifully playing along. But whether “the crowd” (such as it was) was really “resounding” in agreeing with Hillary’s defense of the Big Banks in fighting The Deplorables is another question.
My guess is that the crucial role Goldman Sachs plays in crushing sexism and anti-LGBTism is something that Hillary believes in a lot more than do union members in Reno.
From the New York Times this week, an account of how Goldman Sachs’ War on Sexism has been very, very good to Mrs. C.:
2008 Crisis Deepened the Ties Between Clintons and Goldman Sachs By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and SUSANNE CRAIG SEPT. 24, 2016
A blue-ribbon commission had just excoriated Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street banks for fueling the financial crisis. Prosecutors were investigating whether Goldman had misled investors. The company was a whipping boy for politicians looking to lay blame for the crash.
But in spring of 2011, Lloyd C. Blankfein, leading one of the nation’s most reviled companies, found himself onstage with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, one of the nation’s most admired public figures at the time. And Mrs. Clinton had come to praise Goldman Sachs.
The State Department, Mrs. Clinton announced that day in an auditorium in its Foggy Bottom headquarters, would throw its weight behind a Goldman philanthropic initiative aimed at encouraging female entrepreneurs around the world — a program Goldman viewed as central to rehabilitating its reputation.
Mrs. Clinton’s blessing — an important public seal of approval for Goldman at a time when it had few defenders in Washington — underscored a long-running relationship between one of the country’s most powerful financial firms and one of its most famous political families. Over 20-plus years, Goldman provided the Clintons with some of their most influential advisers, millions of dollars in campaign contributions and speaking fees, and financial support for the family foundation’s charitable programs.And in the wake of the worst crash since the Great Depression, as the firm fended off investigations and criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike, the Clintons drew Goldman only closer. Bill Clinton publicly defended the company and leased office space from Goldman for his foundation. Mrs. Clinton, after leaving the State Department, earned $675,000 to deliver three speeches at Goldman events, where she reassured executives that they had an important role to play in the nation’s recovery.
The four years between the end of the financial crisis and the start of Mrs. Clinton’s second White House bid revealed a family that viewed Wall Street’s elite as friends and collaborators even as the public viewed them with suspicion and scorn. Those relationships would become a focal point for attacks on Mrs. Clinton’s integrity and independence by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. …
Goldman’s links to the Clintons date to the 1990s, when Robert E. Rubin, the company’s co-senior partner, left to join President Bill Clinton’s economic policy team. …
While Wall Street leaned right over all, executives at Goldman
A.K.A., the Smart Money
gave most of their political contributions to Democrats. …
That summer Mr. Blankfein was among the A-list guests at Mr. Clinton’s 64th birthday bash in the Hamptons. And Goldman settled the charges for what was then a record $550 million fine.
A.K.A., the Cost of Doing Business.
The company was in the midst of an expensive reputation reclamation plan. The centerpiece was an existing program called 10,000 Women, to which Goldman committed $100 million. …
In 2011, the State Department created a formal partnership with the Goldman program, a natural complement to Mrs. Clinton’s efforts to mitigate poverty and discrimination against women.
For Goldman, 10,000 Women became a major philanthropic and public relations success. The program’s events attracted influential figures such as the liberal news media entrepreneur Arianna Huffington, who devoted a section of her Huffington Post to the program’s successes. …
When Mrs. Clinton left the State Department in 2013, she followed her husband into paid speechmaking. If Mrs. Clinton was concerned about the appearance of taking hefty fees from Wall Street while considering a second presidential bid, she did not show it: In her first year on the circuit, more than a third of her paid speeches were for financial companies.Each of her three Goldman speeches were private, and Mrs. Clinton has rebuffed requests to release transcripts of them. And at the time, she still embraced Goldman as a partner. In 2014, she appeared at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, an offshoot of the Clinton Foundation known as C.G.I., to highlight the 10,000 Women program.
“Thanks to Goldman Sachs and thanks to 10,000 Women for really shining a bright spotlight on what is possible if you believe in and you provide support to women,” Mrs. Clinton said.
Hillary always seemed peeved that Bernie Sanders was just too old and dumb to realize that Goldman Sachs was the avant garde in the War on the Deplorables.
