Election after election, Democratic Party candidates obsessively focus their ire on the wealthy.  They use the rich as their political whipping boys, accusing them of being or implying that they are like parasites, sucking the life out of the poor and middle class:

"The wealthy are not paying their fair share in taxes." 

"We'll let the wealthy pay for it."

Since frontal attacks on rich Americans would seem in-your-face adversarial, why do wealthy donors disproportionately shower Democrats with a flood of cash every election cycle?

The evidence indicates that at the same time Democrats are publicly chastising the wealthy, behind the scenes, they give their richest donors a wink and a nod, along with whispered assurances of loyalty and favoritism, conditioned upon the amount of money donated.  As the saying goes, "Follow the money."

Michael Barone's January 2017 article "Which Party Is the Party of the 1 Percent?" offered these research conclusions from a Capital Research Center (CRC) study:

[T]he more elite their neighborhood is in America's most powerful cities, the more strongly they lean Democrat.

Top 300 zip codes nationwide (representing the top 1.4 percent of socio-economic status):

Democrats $71 million
Republicans $47 million
(60 percent Democratic)

Big Four metropolitan areas' zip codes in top 5 percent by socio-economic status:

Democrats $77 million
Republicans $42 million
(65 percent Democratic)

Big Four central-city zip codes in top 5 percent of socio-economic status:

Democrats $48 million
Republicans $21 million
(70 percent Democratic)

These data are powerful evidence that affluent Americans in the most elite locales contribute significantly more money to Democrats than Republicans."

One would think that if Democrats followed through on their promises to fleece the rich, their major money stream would inevitably dry up.  But regulations, government largess, and legislative carve-outs to protect Democrat Party donors placate the wealthy, protecting and enriching them with competitive advantages.  Thus, taking on the role of whipping boy is, in reality, very lucrative for wealthy Democrat donors.