Democratic mega-donor and Diamond Resorts International founder Stephen Cloobeck said Thursday that Democrats have to get tough on the Republican majority in Congress in order to gain leverage to negotiate an immigration deal, using color language to make his point.
Cloobeck told MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle that Democrats have to pass legislation to protect Dreamers, immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children, many of whom are protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA). The program is set to expire in March after President Donald Trump rescinded the Obama-era executive order last year.
Cloobeck located Democrats' problem in their unwillingness to "fight" by shutting the government down until Republicans "let the Dreamers go."
"You know, the Republicans have balls," Cloobeck said. "And the Democrats need to have brass balls now. And we as CEOs in business as Democrats have that. Let the government shut down."
Ruhle pushed back, saying Democrats were "bullied" into ending the shutdown. Cloobeck said he spoke to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), and former President Barack Obama, and told them to rally Democrats to fight harder.
"I've talked to Senator Schumer, I've talked to Speaker [sic] Pelosi, and, fortunately, I had a chance to speak with President Obama. And we've got to fight. Democrats don't know how to fight, and I'm going to fight, fight, fight to make sure we fight," he said.
Ruhle pressed Cloobeck on whether the Democratic Party risks moving too far to the left and alienating those in the middle, but he changed the topic to attack Trump.
"President Trump is out of his mind," Cloobeck said. "You know, his wife wants to take on bullying, she should work on him first, because we don't bully in the Democratic Party, but we need to be collective and get this done and have a set of brass balls."
Ruhle also asked Cloobeck about his upcoming journalism venture, and he denied that it would be "the Breitbart of the left," adding it was too soon to talk about it.
When Ruhle asked Cloobeck what he would advise Democrats do, he gave three short imperatives.
"Shut the government down. Hold tight. Have brass balls," he said.
Cloobeck has previously criticized the left wing of the Democratic Party for being overly hostile to business. In November, he told Ruhle that he did not want to see party leaders attacking the wealthy.
"I can tell you if we go far left, I'm out," Cloobeck said. "I'm out. We need middle ground."