--- title: Warren Buffett Takes Digs at Donald Trump description: "He talks about every five minutes how smart he is." canonical: https://time.com/4151882/hillary-clinton-warren-buffet-donald-trump/ author: Jay Newton-Small article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-16T18:15:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T21:53:36.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Buffett Takes Digs at Trump While Campaigning for Clinton og:description: "He talks about every five minutes how smart he is." og:url: https://time.com/4151882/hillary-clinton-warren-buffet-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e5b67ce9e1e3017/698875aba988ca9d066b5c2d/warren-buffett1.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Warren Buffett speaks onstage during Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit - Day 2 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on October 13, 2015 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Buffett Takes Digs at Trump While Campaigning for Clinton twitter:description: "He talks about every five minutes how smart he is." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e5b67ce9e1e3017/698875aba988ca9d066b5c2d/warren-buffett1.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Buffett Takes Digs at Trump While Campaigning for Clinton in Omaha > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Hillary Clinton's Top 10 Political Moments [Watch (HLS stream): Hillary Clinton's Top 10 Political Moments](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/L3I0gpwt.m3u8) (1:49)  _Published 2015-04-09. Watch the top 10 moments from Hillary Clinton's career in politics._  by [Jay Newton-Small](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small Updated: Dec 13, 2023 9:53 PM UTCPublished: Dec 16, 2015 6:15 PM UTC  Warren Buffett speaks onstage during Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit - Day 2 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on October 13, 2015 in Washington, DC. Warren Buffett speaks onstage during Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit - Day 2 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on October 13, 2015 in Washington, DC. Paul Morigi—2015 Getty Images  by [Jay Newton-Small](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small Updated: Dec 13, 2023 9:53 PM UTCPublished: Dec 16, 2015 6:15 PM UTC Billionaire Warren Buffett took a few sly shots at Donald Trump while campaigning for Hillary Clinton in Omaha on Wednesday. The former Secretary of State “is very very smart. And there are plenty of other candidates, well, not too many others, who are probably as smart,” Buffett said to laughter from the crowd at the Sokol Auditorium. “In fact, one talks about every five minutes how smart he is. And incidentally I went to Wharton too and I left after two years to go to the University of Nebraska.” Buffett was the world’s third richest man in 2015 worth an estimated $63 billion. By comparison, Trump was worth an estimated $4 billion in 2015. Buffett also poked fun at Tuesday night’s Republican debate. “I’ve listened to all Republican debates. I used to love Abbott and Costello,” she said, shaking his head ruefully. “I mean I’m reliving my youth: vaudeville was never this good.” Buffett has never been a political godfather, despite repeated entreaties from the left to step in as the power of the right’s billionaires such as the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson, has risen. Indeed, his involvement in politics has remained tepid: in 2008 he held fundraisers for both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but declined to endorse either. His biggest political move has been on the policy front: introducing the so-called Buffett rule that called for an overhaul of a tax code that allowed him to pay less taxes than his secretary. Which is what makes Buffett’s endorsement and support of Clinton so exceptional. Buffett noted that in 1992 the top 400 earners made an average of $46.8 million and paid 26.3% in taxes but 20 years later by 2012 the top 400 earned $335.7 million and paid on average 16.7% in taxes. “Despite incredible bounty, millions and millions of Americans have been left behind,” Buffett told the boisterous crowd, his second day of events with her this month. “These are numbers that Secretary Clinton won’t forget in office, which is the primary reason why I’m going to be so delighted when Secretary Clinton takes the oath of office.” Clinton has pledged to not increase taxes on families earning less than $250,000 a year as president. “We’re out of balance. The deck is stacked for those at the top and we need to reshuffle the deck,” Clinton told the crowd. Though he’s not exactly signing over millions _a la_ the Koch brothers, Buffett is getting more involved this cycle than in any election past. His fundraiser in New York last week for Clinton drew Wall Street types willing to pay $33,400 for the former First Lady and Secretary of State. And on Wednesday morning before the rally in Omaha the pair held a second fundraiser where tickets ranged from $500 to $2,700—the max an individual is allowed to donate under federal rules—and as much as $27,000 for a photo with Buffett and Clinton. A spokesman for the Republican National Committee criticized Clinton for campaigning with Buffett. “Campaigning with the third richest person on the planet is an odd way to communicate that she understands and cares about the needs of millions of Americans still struggling in the weak Obama economy,” he said. **Read Next:** [_Chelsea Clinton to Ramp Up Campaign Events for Her Mother_](http://time.com/4150091/chelsea-clinton-campaigning-hillary/) ## Transcript You know, I'm not sittin' here some little woman standing here by my man like Tammy Wynette. I'm sittin' here because I love him, and I respect him. Now is our chance to beat the historical odds, and give the American people the health security they need. If there is one message that echoes forth from this. Let it be that human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights once and for all. The great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right- wing conspiracy that has been conspiring. Against my husband since the day he announced for president. I would be happy to, when you give me the signed letters. Well, right here. Right here. When you give me. Right here. Sign it right now. We'll shake. We'll shake on this, Ray. No, no, I want your signature, cause I think that everybody wants to see you signing something that you said you were for. You know, I have so many opportunities from this country. I just don't wanna see us fall backwards. Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it. The battle to stop Al Qaeda and its affiliates. Does not end with one death. What difference, at this point, does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator. I took the unprecedented step of asking that the state department make all my work- related emails, [ MUSIC ] Public for everyone to see. 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