Bernie Sanders was campaigning in Atlantic City for the upcoming New Jersey primary.
US Senator Bernie Sanders made a speech critical of “casino capitalism” this week. The remarks were made during Sen. Sanders’ speech at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, a campaign stop in preparation for the upcoming New Jersey Democratic primary.
Atlantic City embraced the gambling economy for the past few decades. As long as it enjoyed an east coast monopoly on casino gambling, the plan worked. When nearby states like Connecticut, New York, and especially Pennsylvania legalized competing gaming establishments in their home states, Atlantic City’s plan failed.
The Democratic presidential candidate’s targeted the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party, Donald Trump, though current gaming executives were mentioned in the remarks. The references to Donald Trump and Carl Icahn drew a round of howls from Atlantic City residents in attendance.
Ugliness, Greed, and Recklessness
In the speech, Sen. Sanders said, “What we’re seeing in Atlantic City encapsulates the ugliness and the greed, the greed and the recklessness we have seen from Donald Trump and Carl Icahn.”
Donald Trump’s Atlantic City Legacy
Donald Trump once owned three casinos in Atlantic City: Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza, and Trump Marina (formerly Trump’s Castle). All three businesses eventually went bankrupt. While Trump Taj Mahal was sold to Carl Icahn in a bankruptcy process, the other two closed.
When Trump Entertainment faced bankruptcy in February 2009, the board of directors forced Donald Trump to resign. He retained a 10% interest in the gaming company, for the right to use his name on the buildings and in advertisements.
While Donald Trump continued to draw money from the casino economy, Atlantic City began a marked decline. From a peak of $5.4 billion in revenues in 2006, the city’s casinos generated $2.2 billion in 2016. Four casinos closed in 2014, while Atlantic City’s tax base shrank to dangerous proportions. The city faces bankruptcy, while it has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country (10%).
Jeers for “The Donald”
So when Bernie Sanders mentioned Donald Trump’s much-lauded financial savvy in Boardwalk Hall on Monday, the crowd jeered the former casino mogul and current presidential hopeful.
Sanders added, “Oh, you know Donald Trump? Well, I take it you don’t think he is a brilliant, successful businessman who can bring the kind of prosperity to America that he has brought here.”
Trump: “My Timing Was Impeccable”
Donald Trump does not see it that way. From his point of view, Atlantic City was a big success. In 2014, Donald Trump sued his former company to have his name taken off the buildings, citing the maintenance had gone downhill since he left 5 years before.
At the time, Trump told NPR, “I let them use my name, but I have nothing to do with it. I got out seven years ago — my timing was impeccable.”
The convention wisdom is Bernie Sanders’ run for presidency is doomed. Political pundits believe Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is going to win the Democrats’ nomination, then go on to oppose Donald Trump in the general election.
Populist Outsiders
Donald Trump assumes the same, and has made a bid for Sanders supporters to come over to his banner, when the inevitable happens. Both Trump and Sanders (an Independent) have run as Washington outsiders. Both men are running as populist, though their definition of “populism” is quite different. Trump seems to represent a new form of nationalism, while Sanders’ populism is an old style of socialism.
Whatever their similarities as critics of the current system, they represent the far-left and far-right of American politics. A historian once wrote that politics is like a globe: go far enough right and you end up on the left, and vice versa. Certainly, certain kinds of libertarianism appeal to people on both ends of the political spectrum.
“Hope and Love as a Weapon”
Bernie Sanders supporters do not see it that way. Riley Rooster, a 27-year old New Orleans resident who has traveled with the Sanders campaign the last two months, said this of the Sanders movement: “It’s about reinvigorating the youth vote. [It is about] legitimate hope, and compassion, and love in their hearts…and we’re hoping to use that hope and love as our weapon.”
From Bernie Sanders’ remarks on Monday, it would appear he sees little in common with Donald Trump, who in many ways is the archetype of a crass capitalist. While his remarks on the Boardwalk on Monday were meant to rally angry unemployed and underemployed Atlantic City residents, they had to be seen as a repudiation of the Republican Party’s current vision for the future.
