 So often times on this program when I'm talking about corrupt corporate Democrats like Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sonoma I say that they are So beholden to their donors that they don't represent their constituents at all I think that's fairly obvious at this point, right? But they are effectively proxies for corporate America specifically the corporate interests that contributed to their campaigns You know, they're their puppets and their donors are puppeteers But unbeknownst to me there are some donors of Kirsten Sonoma that aren't too happy with her decision to block voting rights And it's a little bit perplexing as to why these donors don't like her action I mean, this is the candidate who you bought and paid for right, but I mean if you think about it Wealthy people business elites corporate America They too would prefer a stable society where we still have at least democracy Because you know, it's bad for business to see our country devolve into authoritarianism and destabilize further So voting rights apparently is the red line that her donors are drawing and they're so angry with her Some donors I should say are so angry with her that they're going so far as to threaten to cut off her donations and Demand refunds for the donations that they had previously given her. This is wild But for more on this we go to Holly Otter being a political who explains a group of big-dollar donors Who have spent millions electing Kirsten Sonoma and other Democratic senators threatened to sever all funding to her Due to her opposition to changing Senate rules in order to pass voting rights legislation in a letter to the Arizona Lawmaker which was first obtained by Politico 70 Democratic donors Some of whom gave to Sinema's 2018 campaign the maximum contribution allowed by law Said they would support a primary challenge to Sinema and demanded that she refund their contributions to her 2018 campaign If she didn't change her position Interesting Sinema nevertheless voted Wednesday night against weakening the filibuster to pass elections and voting reform We are terrified about our prospects as a democracy if we do not pass the freedom to vote act and John Lewis voting rights act The donors wrote in the 1400 word missive We appreciate your support of these bills But they will die without your action on Senate rules by partisanship works only if it is reciprocal Republicans are gutting our electoral system in state capitals with no federal check on them This is life and death important to us the donors who signed onto the letter released Wednesday Said they have given a combined 2.5 million to Sinema and the Democratic senatorial campaign committee over the years as well as nearly 17 million to Democratic candidates and committees in 2020 alone They include business executive Merrill Chambers billionaire Vincent Ryan Philanthropist Trey Beck and former Planned Parenthood Federation of America board chair Naomi Airely Not all of the signatories have donated directly to Sinema, but most have contributed to her or the DSCC they said So I'll be honest this story it has me a little bit torn Let me be clear I like that there's more pressure being exerted on Kirsten Summa And if there was ever an instance where I want her to listen to some of her donors This would be that instance But we shouldn't have a system where donors have this much influence and they're kind of admitted here admitting here tassel Lee that yeah, we do have control and we were absolutely Anchored by the fact that she's not doing what we want. I Mean she should support voting rights She should support returning the filibuster to the original talking filibuster at a minimum But it doesn't work that way. You don't get to just say hey Kirsten Sinema I want to refund because you're not doing what I want You shouldn't have donated to her in the first place you fucking morons You fund these corporatists over the progressives and then now you're saying well, I don't like you Well, I mean you made your bed lying it But I can't really say that because you know This is the bed that we all have to lie in largely due to these idiots who funded her in the first place But I mean this is why I'm torn right because I don't want donors thinking that they can dictate what people in Congress do But in this instance Kirsten Sinema absolutely Should pass voting rights now. I don't want her to pass voting rights because her donors tell her to pass voting rights I want her to pass voting rights because that is the common-sense thing to do when our democracy is hanging on by a thread But if she happens to see this message and she listens to her corporate donors Apparently, she didn't get the message because after they sent her this miss message She subsequently killed voting rights, but anyways if she listens to her donors Okay, that that's a good outcome this time But nine times out of ten in fact ninety nine times out of a hundred no a hundred times out of a hundred when corporate donors instruct their Their politicians who they've bought and paid for to do things It's going to be to fuck over the American people again. I think this is an effort that is Part PR attempt and also part them just realizing that I mean things are bad We kind of want to live in a stable country So, you know, that's why it has me torn But either way she won't listen to them and this leads me to believe that Kirsten Sinema has higher ambitions either to become a lobbyist There are reports that she wants to run for president, which is just laughable. I don't know who would support her So I don't know it tells me at least that she doesn't want to seek re-election because if you piss off your donors I mean, what was the number again? They gave a combined 2.5 million to cinema if you piss off that many people Odds are you're not really looking to be re-elected again Now I do want to look at some of the organizations who have supported her previously and are now Rethinking their support for Kirsten Sinema I mean it took them long enough But I guess better late than never the article continues on Tuesday Emily's list a political action committee that is one of Sinema's top financial supporters said it would cut her off if she continued to Stand by the filibuster as it prevents the passage of the voting rights legislation Nayrol the abortion rights group also said it would not endorse senators who hold firm on the chambers rules Though it didn't name Sinema or Joe Manchin the West Virginia senator who has also refused to create an exception to do Away with the filibuster liberal organizations League of Conservation voters and citizens United let America vote Latino victory fund Black voters matter fund and the collective PAC also recently announced They would not throw their weight behind any candidate who declines to take all necessary measures to pass voting rights legislation Natalie Ray's president of Latino victory fund told Politico She was invited to meet with Sinema on Wednesday along with other Latino and black constituency groups But declined Sinema's office confirmed the meeting took place and said that it was requested by the organizers We're done with political theater and this waste of time and energy and senators trying to hurt communities of color Ray has said impeding democracy is simply unacceptable and stopping Latinos to get to the polls and cast their votes is just unacceptable Yeah, so all around interesting. I think that you know these organizations like Emily's list I'm glad that they're getting a little bit of heat for supporting Kirsten Sinema in the first place because nine times out of ten They will back the corporatist over the progressive Democrat in these Democratic Party primaries and it's just truly frustrating This is why organizations like matriarch are really important because they on like Emily's list actually back the progressive Grassroots candidates over these corporate Democrats in primaries and that's really important. So, you know, all of these groups And donors, I don't know what to say, you know, I want to tell them You reap what you sow you made your bed line it, but this is something that affects Everyone so maybe this is a PR stunt. Maybe this is them, you know, trying to cultivate goodwill again Maybe this is them just looking out for their own self-interest because I'll say it once twice a third time You know, they want to live in a democratic society because it's working out really well for them Being able to buy politicians is something that you can't do as easily in an authoritarian regime Maybe we don't know. I mean certainly there's a lot of cronyism in authoritarian regimes obviously But currently the system as it's set up works really well for wealthy people Kirsten Sinema's wealthy donors So they want to preserve the current system and she's not even allowing for that she's allowing the system to collapse and Doing nothing about it not even doing the bare minimum and passing voting rights legislation So, you know, it's nice to see them angry. It's nice to see them threatened to cut her off They should already have done that and it's nice to see them demand refunds, but at the same time You shouldn't be able to control politicians and you shouldn't have funded her in the first place So I'm definitely torn with this story, but at this point the situation is so dire that anyone who exerts pressure Good if Fox News came out and exerted pressure on her they won't but as an example if they did I Would think that that's a good thing because currently if you can't pass voting rights and we can't even have a Functioning democracy then then we have nothing we have no way to actually meaningfully affect change in our political system. So Yeah, this is an interesting story, but either way she is apparently telling her donors to fuck off So that tells me she's done with being a member of Congress and all of these primary threats are basically mood because she's not really seeking Re-election at least it doesn't look like that at this point. So, you know, I don't know what to say about this Kyrsten Sinema is a fucking psychopath and Even her donors are pissed good