Michael Bloomberg, last seen in electoral politics as the RINO mayor of New York City, is reportedly planning to make a last-minute entry into the 2020 presidential primaries. Running as a Democrat this time around, the billionaire-turned-nanny-state-activist doesn’t believe there is anyone on the Democratic Party stage that has the chops to defeat President Donald Trump next November. What makes Bloomberg think he’s any closer to the pulse of the liberal voter is anyone’s guess, but he certainly doesn’t lack the resources needed to make a run for it.
In a statement on Thursday, Bloomberg’s political adviser Howard Wolfson said that his client’s loyalty to the Democratic Party was above reproach.
“In 2018, he spent more than $100 million to help elect Democrats to ensure that Congress began to hold the President accountable,” Wolfson said. “And this year he helped Democrats win control of both houses of the Virginia legislature. We now need to finish the job and ensure that Trump is defeated — but Mike is increasingly concerned that the current field of candidates is not well positioned to do that.”
We wouldn’t disagree with Bloomberg’s assessment of the Democratic primaries, of course. Elizabeth Warren would get blown out in a historic landslide if she were to win the nomination. We’re pretty sure the same fate would befall Bernie Sanders. Joe Biden, in the abstract, provides the Democrats with their best hope of defeating Trump, and the head-to-head polls bear this theory out. On the other hand, Biden’s mental faculties have seen better days, we haven’t even begun to pry the lid off his Ukraine corruption, and he lacks any support whatsoever from the party’s progressive base. If Bloomberg think there’s no one up there who can beat Trump…well, you can see what he means.
If anyone is pleased to see Bloomberg join the race – or at least make a move towards doing so – it has to be Biden. Upon entering, he will immediately attack and be attacked by Warren and Bernie Sanders; it seems to us that the sole point of Bloomberg jumping in is to take advantage of candidates who have moved too far to the left, economically. This will draw heat away from Biden and present him with another opportunity to play frontrunner – focusing on Trump while ignoring his progressive challengers.
Indeed, Warren was the first candidate to take public notice of Bloomberg’s move.
“Welcome to the race, @MikeBloomberg! If you’re looking for policy plans that will make a huge difference for working people and which are very popular, start here,” she tweeted, linking to a calculator on her site that shows how much tax the rich would pay under her policy proposals.
Though he has nearly-unlimited funds to spend on the race, we find it difficult to imagine Bloomberg making much of a splash in the primaries, let alone winning the nomination. But the fact that he’s even moving towards jumping in at this late stage goes to show how little faith Democrats have in the current crop of candidates.
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