Mr. Bloomberg announced in March he wouldn’t run for president because of the difficulty in winning the Democratic Party’s nomination.
His adviser, Howard Wolfson, says Bloomberg just changed his mind out of concern that the current candidates may not be able to defeat President Trump,
The Wall Street Journal reports Michael Bloomberg Preparing to Enter 2020 Democratic Race.
Wolfson Statements
- “Mike believes that Donald Trump represents an unprecedented threat to our nation.”
- “Mike is increasingly concerned that the current field of candidates is not well positioned” to win
- “If Mike runs he would offer a new choice to Democrats built on a unique record running America’s biggest city, building a business from scratch and taking on some of America’s toughest challenges as a high-impact philanthropist.”
Mr. Wolfson said Mr. Bloomberg was making preparations to appear on Alabama’s primary ballot. The filing deadline is Friday, and Alabama is one of 14 states holding contests on March 3, known as “Super Tuesday.”
Mr. Bloomberg’s move toward running comes as some in the party—especially wealthy donors—grumble about the leftward lurch of the party, with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren on the rise and former Vice President Joe Biden faltering in early states.
Mr. Bloomberg had been a lifelong Democrat before joining the Republican Party prior to running for mayor in 2001. He left the GOP and became unaffiliated with any party when he flirted with running for president in 2008. He re-registered as a Democrat last year.
“I believe I would defeat Donald Trump in a general election,” Mr. Bloomberg wrote. “But I am clear-eyed about the difficulty of winning the Democratic nomination in such a crowded field.”
Money Talks
Bloomberg will have the finances to run a campaign. I expect by Super-Tuesday he will be high enough in the polls to qualify for the debates.
With the increasingly radical ideas of Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Pete Buttigieg, Bloomberg has a point.
Democrat front-runner Elizabeth Warren may well be the only person Trump could beat.
If only Bloomberg could figure out which party he is really in.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Little Mike, indeed -a real leftist in billionaires clothing.
I will end this pointless discussion once and for all.
Bloomberg is Jewish. There will never be a Jewish President of the US.
Disclaimer: I am Jewish, so shove your accusations of bigotry you know where.
Never? That’s a TALL prediction. If Eric Cantor can be House Majority Leader & Joe Lieberman can be on a major party ticket as VP nominee, it’s hard to argue that the American people will somehow “veto” the idea of a Jewish President. I’m sure that SOME voters will balk, but I cannot believe it would be that many.
Well in 230 years the score so far is Protestants 44, Catholics 1, Jews 0.
No one wants to talk about it. America is a Christian land.
The office of the President is the only elected office in which the entire electorate is polled. A completely different situation than a House or even Senatorial election.
Closest we’ll ever get to a Jewish President is someone who is Christian but has a Jewish father. And I even doubt that would happen.
But yes, never.
The science behind my assertion is the Electoral College. Repeal the EC and a Jewish President becomes a distinct possibility.
I agree with@lamlawindy. Never is a long time. Who would have thought in 2008 the U.S. would have elected a mixed race man with a Muslim father and a first name like “Barack” as President? Who would have thought that highly Catholic Ireland, just a few years after making abortion legal, would have elected a gay mixed-race man as prime minister. It’s sad that you don’t understand how the world isn’t the same as the one you grew up in.
Obama is Christian, right?
Explain to me how a Jewish Presidential candidate wins the Electoral College? How either party risks the election?
I think you have a poor estimation of the American electorate. But I will be the first to eat crow when they light the White House menorah.
I’m 52. Not sure I will live to see it. Not sure I even care to see it.
Leo Varadkar is Catholic. What was your point exactly?
This has nothing to do with my views. This concerns the views of the American electorate. I’m just the messenger.
The American electorate, under the Electoral College, is eternally prejudiced in favor of Christians.
Religion is religion. Sexual orientation is not religion. Nationality is not religion. Please try making apples to apples comparisons or your arguments are invalid.
It is simply a fact that under the present system, it is required to publicly profess to believe in Jesus Christ as lord and savior to hold the office of President. I am sorry that troubles you. It remains a fact.
This says a lot more about the decrepit state of the Democrat party than it does about Bloomberg. Bloomberg doesn’t have a snowflake’s chance in hell. But looking at yet another crook (Biden) and the mental patients (all the others) apparently the Dems have realized they are handing Trump another victory.
Let’s not talk about how Bloomberg treated women in his Wall Street info business. Lets also not talk about Bloomberg’s radical anti-gun platform that already failed everywhere except radically left leaning big cities.
Let’s talk about his time as “mayor” of NYC…
Let’s talk about how he abandoned NYC when storm Sandy hit, fleeing to his palace in a gated community in Bermuda. When the phone rings in the White House at 2am (ha ha!!), do you want it to just keep ringing ’cause Bloomie flew off to Bermuda again?
Let’s talk about the fact that Wall Street was completely rebuilt within a few months of storm Sandy, but more than a year afterward storm debris on Staten Island (part of NYC for those who don’t know, like Bloomberg himself apparently) had not been touched (forget about rebuilding, not even storm cleanup was finished). Bloomie was all undone because the NYC marathon runners might have tripped on the storm debris he neglected. Eventually, the marathon had to be canceled because the residents (aka voters) of Staten Island humiliated him for his neglect.
Parts of Queens and Brooklyn (two other boroughs in NYC) also hadn’t been cleared of debris a year later, but Staten Island was so bad it made national news. The TV show “This Old House” was doing repairs in Queens a year and a half after the storm.
Bloomberg essentially bought the mayorship, and mostly he “won” because radical left wingers similar to DeBlasio were the opposition.
The idea that Bloomberg thinks he stands a chance is absurd. Besides alienating women and gun owners, which are both big voting blocks — Bloomberg proved is his actions that he doesn’t care about the people he is supposed to represent.
Who cares about empty promises, his actions (or lack thereof) speak much louder.
Tom Steyer already proved a billionaire nutcase cannot buy the whole country. Bloomberg will have trouble getting New Yorkers to forget about his post-Sandy negligence. Bring on the next clown
Without Bloomberg, the democrats had no chance of winning because of their agenda. They had a chance of winning in spite of their agenda. Not Trump could win. Now Bloomberg gives them a chance of winning because of his agenda.
I think he can win the nomination. I think his biggest obstacle is the DNC clearly wants a female nominee.
I think Bloomberg could have run as an independent and won if the rules weren’t so different for a third party to win. This is the fundamental problem with the US version of “democracy”. It is a misrepresented democracy. This isn’t something the forefathers ever foresaw.
Bloomberg would pull away the wall street vote. The Democrats are dumb if they lose this election. There wont be an easier candidate than Trump to beat unless they go hard left and force the folks in the middle to not vote for anyone or reluctantly vote for trump. Bloomberg is the best option for the Dems who are sane (not the far left)
I was with you till you got to the part about voting Bloomberg, I have had a difficult choice because I am a lifelong democrat, and the current crop of democrats all leave me cold, I would vote for any republican but Trump before I would vote for any current dem front runner with the possible exception of Warren, but even she I would have to hold my nose when voting for. Bloomberg? No way.
I think you would be in the exception amongst the middle of the road Republicans and Democrats. I really think no matter who you vote for these days at the federal and state level, you have to hold your nose. This is part of the reason why Trump continues be a viable candidate.
Bloomberg being in the race will just ensure Warren winning the nomination at this point. Bloomberg’s support will largely come out of the hide of Biden. Bloomberg needed to be in the race 6 months ago- a late entry is pointless in his case since he has near zero name recognition among the normal population (not political junkies like you and I).
He has plenty of political recognition: On the right. There, he is very well known as the garbage pile out to send his goons to take your guns. While himself hiding behind a security detail with many more and better ones.
I kind of assumed he has similar recognition on the left, where recognition for copying Adolf’s gun policies verbatim would more likely benefit him. But if he does not, he is toast. May as well pick Soros as his running mate, and campaign in favor of banning apple pie while burning pickup trucks and the American flag.
The clown car was looking a little empty with Beto gone.
Better than buying a 2020 Fraudmobile.
The Democratic Party is a fraudmobile.
Congress is almost indistinguishable from a circus, the clown BUS is the norm in Washington
“Democrat front-runner Elizabeth Warren may well be the only person Trump could beat.”
Surprised by this comment by you, Mish. As of right now, nobody can beat Trump. If the economy implodes or if the impeachment “inquiry” succeeds somehow then it will be a different story. Bloomberg has no chance against Trump.
Trump will not be the nominee for the GOP, he may be removed from office, I give that a 50/50 chance as of today, make no mistake about this, Moscow Mitch is now very afraid since he is up for reelection and his pal Bevins was favored to win reelection as governor by 5-10 points depending on which polls you believe, he lost thanks to the last minute rally in Lexington by the fat orange spy. McConnell sees that and he is politically savvy enough to know his support for Trump even in his home state is political suicide. He wants that trial and he wants Trump removed so he can take credit for it. But you never know, Tsar Cheato may not even live through the primaries, I give that a 40/60 chance what with all his amphetamine usage. A 70 something man can only snort so much Adderall before keeling over.
Quite possibly one of the funniest but true comments on here ever.
I’m perplexed by your comment. Since January, Bevin was behind Beshear by 9 or 10 points. I live in neighboring Indiana & have been following the KY Guv race carefully: Since 2015, Bevin handled the underfunded KY pensions issue very poorly, though he at least gets credit for trying to attack the problem. The fact that Bevin closed to under 5k votes by election day is ONLY thanks to Trump. Moreover, the other statewide offices all went GOP.
You’d think there is at least SOME democrats, who are comfortable with neither Warren’s straight up and obvious insanity, nor with electing an old Leninist whose first act as President, seem as likely as not, to be nodding off for good. On The Button…..
Bloomberg at least doesn’t flaunt his inelectability by wearing it prominently as a badge of honor. I suspect he is far and away the biggest threat to Trump for that reason.
Anyone even remotely actively informed, self defined “Republican”, won’t vote for him though. On account of his all encompassing, totalitarian, gun grabbing obsession alone. But some of those guys may not have the stomach to vote for Trump, neither. Instead either sitting home, or voting for some Independent, Libertarian, or some such which may pop up.
If he does win, we may get to see whether the old Militia Movement managed to raise their kids well. Or if they failed at that, too. Like they have done at virtually all else, since about the days of Jefferson.
Bloomberg is entering to protect the Chi-Coms. He is the candidate that thinks the communist party is “responsive to the people”. They are also tackling climate change by moving coal fired plants outside the cities. How in the world would this help? Anti-gun and anti-freedom. He is the nanny that no one wants.
Thank you for mentioning which party he was running with. Early press coverage omitted this detail.
The angry midget! This nannycrat and self-anointed world improver is one of America’s foremost killjoys.
link to acting-man.com
Next up.
Hillary enters the race.
I have been a democrat all my life so trust me when I say, he is not a democrat and his only possible reason to enter the race as a democrat is to draw votes from Warren. He is the Jill Stein of 2020.
Hell likely draw in more Biden voters than Warren Voters.
You guys have him pegged wrong. Bloomberg is, like David Brooks, Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton, or George W Bush, a big government social conservative. He is NOT a social liberal—he wants government to control your life—whether you can drink soda, own a gun, or smoke. He believes government should be able to ‘stop and frisk’ anyone who is a minority or otherwise suspicious looking.
He believes government is the solution to every problem. In other words, a typical politician.
Bloomberg does not want to help radical leftists
Strange you’d say that, Mish, since his big agenda item IS disarming the citizenry, which radical leftists like Lenin, Pol Pot, etc. have always done.
Bloomberg wants to help himself. He is a leftist. How “radical,” is up to each to decide.
What do you call someone who used the force of the State to control how much soda a person can drink?
I don’t want to wish any harm to anyone, that is for sure. But I think Bloomberg is the most likely to get a sniper’s bullet in the head if he runs. No this is not a threat, it’s simply my opinion based on his anti-gun stance. Someone without all their screws tightened will likely go off the deep end if that New York zit gets elected.
Be still, my beating heart. We knew this was coming after obnoxious TV personality Judge Judy publicly endorsed him recently. Bloomberg would be at home in the establishment wing of either party, he’s as pro-elite as it gets.
Mish’s statement about Trump’s chances raised my eyebrows. I’m no fan of Trump but I have to think he’s the clear frontrunner at this point. The only blue teamer who could take the wind out of his sails is Tulsi, but she’s getting the Ron Paul treatment from her own party and they won’t let her anywhere near the nomination.
A lot of people voted for Trump as a middle finger to the system and I have to believe they’ll do so again. His failure to follow through on campaign promises is just a footnote. Unless an even more outrageous candidate comes along, he has the “screw you” vote in the bag.
Nope. Many lower IQ voters did vote for Trump to “stir things up”, thinking that Trump as president was somehow going to enhance their miserable lives. 3 years in and they are still in the same relative economic position. Coal jobs haven’t really come back. Manufacturing jobs are still heading overseas or being replaced by automation. The tariffs Trump has imposed are cutting heavily into farmers income. Trump has managed to kick almost everyone of his support groups in the teeth. Then there is the military, intelligence and diplomatic workers that Trump has alienated. Whew. The list could go on and on as witnessed by the booing he received at the World Series game from a non-curated audience.
Interviews I am reading or seeing with regular people lately are showing a lot of former Trump voters giving serious reconsideration to not voting for Trump.
Trump is on a losing trajectory.
Low IQ voters? I am unsure what you are smoking but most people voted for Trump because Hillary is a criminal. I would have voted “The Donald” Duck against such a person. I believe Mish voted for Trump for a similar reason. It is arrogant to think half of the nation has a low IQ because you disagree with their vote. That is wither not understanding the situation or not a high IQ statement on its own.
By definition, half of the voters have a lower IQ than the other half. That’s the nature of averages.
What’s the alternative to Trump? I don’t have a dog in this fight, I’m not voting next year just like I didn’t vote in 2016. Do you think the next red/blue banker puppet be more to our liking?
Bloomberg’s entrance into the fray is a curiosity in itself. His stated objective is to unseat Trump at any cost, but why? Is Trump not pro-Wall Street enough for Michael? Is he not pro-Israel enough?
This Bloomberg/Trump rift highlights why our political process is a joke. The spectrum of allowable thought has become so narrow I doubt it’s still visible to the naked eye!
I doubt getting booed by a “non-curated crowd” in DC hurts Trump at all. The DC elite are exactly the people Trump wants booing him.
Did you know of the ten states with the highest SAT scores. All but Minnesota voted for Trump. Hillary won Minnesota because she overwhelmingly won the twin cities. The part of Minnesota with the lowest SAT scores.
The worst school districts in the country are heavily democratic.
I think that’s a good read on Bloomberg’s problem winning on a national ticket: The typical red state reaction will be:Who the hell are you, again? I’m out here in flyover country and, for forty years now, you’ve had a great run schlepping data to those grown wealthy by closing the factory where I worked for years and sending the jobs to China…for cheaper gadgets for you and your customers. No, thanks, if Trump’s still on the ticket, I’ll just vote for him again. He’s consistent, and even if he’s an obvious asshole at times, he’s my asshole; you’re not.
If he really wants to help defeat Trump, Bloomberg should run as a republican alternative to Trump! He might beat Trump outright or if nothing else, siphon off votes from Trump, thus helping the Dem candidate.
It would work any longer- Bloomberg changed from Democrat to Republican once, but then switched back. He can’t pull this trick again. If he ran third party, he would only get votes the Democrat normally would.
How would his running as pub help a democratic candidate? He could only siphon votes in a primary. Not a general election.