Brent Budowsky: Sanders and Warren shine

As Hillary Clinton celebrates her triumph in the first presidential debate and plans her closing argument to the voters, the pathway to a Democratic victory in November is paved with the progressive vision of lawmakers such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

While Donald Trump in the debate appeared to claim credit for being smart by paying no income taxes, Sanders joins Clinton in New Hampshire to battle to end financial rip-offs and help young people obtain free or debt-free public college education.

{mosads}While Trump continues insulting women and Hispanics, calling former Miss Universe Alicia Machado “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping,” Warren inspires millions of Americans by shaming Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf into returning tens of millions of dollars he was paid while presiding over a culture of corruption.

While Rudy Giuliani continues his descent into the political gutter as a surrogate for Trump, Sanders campaigns fervently for Clinton, reminding voters why he dominated the real estate tycoon by huge margins in matchup polls and dramatizing the progressive populist majority in America.

While Republicans are ashamed by Trump’s admiration for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and appears to plead with Putin to escalate Russian cyberwar against American democracy, Democrats are energized when Sanders and Warren go all out for Clinton and escalate their campaign for revitalized democracy and financial fairness.

While Trump’s phony populism is discredited by revelations about former workers he cheated by refusing to pay them, former students at Trump University suing him for defrauding them and investigations of financial irregularities at the Trump Foundation whose leading beneficiary appears to be Trump, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) — the next chairman of the Senate Banking Committee if Democrats take back the Senate — campaigns passionately for Clinton and against financial fraud.

While one gentleman from Wisconsin, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R), could star in a campaign commercial for Clinton if he ever told the full story of what he thinks of Trump, another gentleman from Wisconsin, former Sen. Russ Feingold, appears poised to return as a leading light of progressive conscience to the Senate.

As the presidential season approaches a climax, Trump and his embarrassed apologists whine about moderators and microphones after his low-energy and lie-filled performance in the debate. Meanwhile Sanders and Warren are surrogates with soul for Clinton, bringing audiences to their feet with a progressive passion and purpose.

If the political gods would grant me one wish — which may come true — it is that in the closing argument of her campaign, Clinton proclaims how she stands alongside Sanders and Warren fighting on the side of all Americans.

Clinton is a true voice of change who will fight like hell, with unparalleled credibility based on her lifetime body of work, for equal pay for every woman regardless of which candidate they support.

While Trump has said that American workers are overpaid, Clinton is a true voice of change who will battle for a higher minimum wage and employ her experience, which Trump lacks and scorns, to enact a plan to Rebuild America and create 10 million high paying American jobs.

While Trump battles accusations of fraud from former students at Trump University, Clinton alongside Sanders and Warren are true voices of change fighting for every student and graduate paying off school loans.

While Trump has claimed that climate change is a conspiracy theory invented by the Chinese and Libertarian Gary Johnson promises that before the earth is destroyed by climate change he will help earthlings move to another planet, Clinton alongside Sanders and Warren are the true voices of change battling to save the earth.

The great truth of campaign 2016 is that while Trump hides his taxes, which probably reveal that his praise of himself includes a litany of lies, it is Clinton alongside Sanders and Warren who fight on the side of the people for the change we crave.

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), then chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. in international financial law from the London School of Economics. He can be read on The Hill’s Contributors blog and reached at brentbbi@webtv.net.