[Hoot Gibson]

Trump's crusade against free trade is driving many big business leaders into Hillary's arms. Maybe some of Bernie's socialist supporters should take a second look at Trump as an alternative.

Clinton seizes opening as Trump alienates big business

Hillary Clinton has an opportunity that has eluded Democratic presidential nominees for decades: Being the candidate of big business.

In an election already rocked by bizarre twists and turns, Donald Trump's speech meant to galvanize working-class voters in the Rust Belt last week exposed a yawning divide between the billionaire and the business community -- a powerful force in U.S. presidential elections that has historically aligned itself with the Republican Party.

As Trump railed against the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and threatened to withdraw the U.S. from the North American Free Trade Agreement at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other leading business lobbies publicly condemned the GOP presumptive nominee. Their warning: Trump's policies would spell economic disaster.

The extraordinary rebuke from the business community was a reminder of just how upside down politics are this year. It comes as Trump is looking to garner support from the GOP establishment just weeks out from his party's convention in Cleveland this month. It also opened the door for Clinton to court corporate leaders and donors who, in a typical election year, may have been inclined to back the GOP nominee.

Even before Trump's speech in Pennsylvania last week, the Clinton campaign was actively reaching out to industry leaders across the political spectrum. Former Walmart executive Leslie Dach has been involved in outreach efforts to business leaders on the campaign's behalf, according to a source familiar with Dach's role.

Clinton aides acknowledge the split between Trump and the business community presents an opportunity to gain allies, winning over Republican-leaning interests or at least persuading them to stay neutral. Clinton, who campaigns Tuesday for the first time with President Barack Obama, used Trump's response to the "Brexit" vote last month -- he cheered Britain's decision to leave the European Union, which sent markets into turmoil -- to argue that Trump is too volatile to play a leading role in the global economy.
Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, who until last year was head of the American Bankers Association, said the Chamber's public scorn at Trump's economic vision marked a "very significant" break in the alliance between big business and the GOP.

"It's certainly counter cultural," said Keating, a Republican who has not endorsed Trump. The Trump campaign should be particularly wary, Keating added, of the national Chamber's scorn trickling down to local business groups and leaders.

"The Oklahoma City chamber or the Natchez, Mississippi, or the Albany, New York, chamber, a chamber of commerce in a small town California: If they think what the Republican presidential candidate makes no sense for small business development, I would be very concerned," Keating said.

Late last month, the Clinton campaign rolled out endorsements from a bipartisan group of business executives. Several of them made this striking admission: they have never before supported a Democrat for president.

"Since my time at the Naval Academy and service in the Navy, I have consistently voted for Republicans for president," Dan Akerson, former chairman of General Motors, said in a statement shared by the campaign. "Serving as the leader of the free world requires effective leadership, sound judgment, a steady hand and most importantly, the temperament to deal with crises large and small. Donald Trump lacks each of these characteristics."