Lloyd Blankfein Doesn’t See His Place in a Polarized Democratic Party

(Bloomberg) -- Lloyd Blankfein, the former chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and a registered Democrat, said he doesn’t see himself reflected in today’s party.

“I’m not sure who it reflects,” Blankfein, 65, said Thursday at CNN’s Citizen conference in New York.

The banker reiterated his plea for more cross-aisle cooperation and politicians who speak to the center of the political spectrum. Blankfein, who endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, said it appears that today’s Democratic politicians don’t want his endorsement.

Blankfein, who has sparred on Twitter with candidate Bernie Sanders, said he’d be open to more-progressive forms of taxation, but doesn’t think it needs to come with the bashing of the rich that Sanders and others have engaged in on the campaign trail. He said the popular tax proposals bring logistical challenges, noting the difficulty of an annual wealth tax when valuing an estate can often take 20 years of haggling.

He said that while President Donald Trump’s temperament hasn’t been good for the nation, his sudden removal through the impeachment process would probably send markets lower, at least in the short term.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gwen Everett in New York at geverett10@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Dan Reichl

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