Michael Bloomberg 2020 campaign megathread

[President Johnson]

I like Mike, he's a successful businessman and a pragmatic politician who is more interested in solving actual problems and not an ideologue hack. His commitments to gun safety and climate change are remarkable. But I hope his campaign will go nowhere. Sorry, but he isn't the one best suited to take on Trump, putting aside the fact he has zero chance in the primary. Anyone who doesn't like to go to far left needs to support Joe Biden in the primary and Democrats must pick the one who, poll after poll has shown, can beat Trump and beat him badly. And this person is Joe Biden, who is also the best prepared candidate to govern afterwards and deliver results.

[President Johnson]

He should skip all of them and, if he wants to defeat Donald Trump, endorse the candidacy of the most electable and qualified person in the race, which is obviously a former vice president.

[President Johnson]

Bloomberg is now taking back his earlier stance on Stop and Frisk. Even if he's sincere, it has a certain taste that he's doing it for political purposes.

'I was wrong': Bloomberg sorry for 'Stop and Frisk' in about-face apology ahead of potential presidential bid

Michael Bloomberg apologized Sunday for the New York Police Department's use of "stop and frisk," a policing tactic the former mayor and potential 2020 candidate has repeatedly defended as helping to lower the murder rate during his time in office while critics have slammed the measure as racist because it overwhelmingly impacts men of color.

The apology came during remarks the former three-term mayor made at a predominately African American mega church in Brooklyn, New York, where he addressed "stop and frisk," a type of aggressive policing that allowed -- some say encouraged -- officers to detain a person on virtually any type of vague suspicion, search that individual without a warrant and arrest the person if any kind of illegal substance or weapon was found.

The policing approach, officially called "Stop, question and frisk," sparked a backlash from activists throughout Bloomberg's tenure as mayor because it disproportionately affected African American and Latino men.

"Now hindsight is 20/20. But as crime continued to come down as we reduced stops and as it continued to come down during the next administration to its credit, I now see that we could and should have acted sooner. And acted faster to cut the stops. I wish we had. And I'm sorry that we didn't," Bloomberg said.
"But I can't change history, however today I want you to know that I realize back then I was wrong and I'm sorry."

The former mayor's reversal comes months after he defended the policing tactic in January as he publicly mulled a 2020 bid at the time. Bloomberg, who has recently filed paperwork to get on the Democratic primary ballots in two states, is now again considering jumping in the race, and his new comments could be viewed by potential voters as an attempt by the former mayor to abandon what is arguably one of the most controversial aspects of his tenure in the run-up to an official campaign announcement.

[...]

Full CNN Article

[President Johnson]

I definitely like the platform he's running on; pragmatic solutions offered by someone who has been an elected chief executive and very successful businessman. If he wins the nomination in an upset (very, very unlikely), I'd back him enthusiastically. Nevertheless, I hope Joe Biden beats the challenge back quite quickly and Mike Bloomberg supports his general election campaign (or any Democratic nominee).

[President Johnson]

Here is the video from his kickoff speech (I wonder whether no applause was permitted?). I think he has definitely "presidential" style and seems mentally in great shape for his age. He lacks some charisma, but would certainly be a very competent chief executive of high integrity.

[President Johnson]

I think this is the first longer interview Mike Bloomberg gave since he jumped in. My favorite part is when he defends himself from Sanders/Warren criticism he wanted to buy the election, saying that he had been successful in business and donates a ton of money to good causes and isn't beholden to anyone. He also described himself as "social liberal, fiscal moderate" when asked. No doubt he would be a competent president.

[President Johnson]

Bloomberg has been on Colbert during the debate:

[President Johnson]

I don't know why people are saying the guy has no charisma. He's really funny here:

[President Johnson]

Masive line for a Bloomberg event in TN.

https://twitter.com/gslayen/status/1227669604144680963?s=20

I've watched some footage/videos of his events, and the crowds are larger and more energized/excited than Joe Biden's ones.


Can we please pin this thread now?

[President Johnson]

Bloomberg is probably worse than Trump, more racist, more sexist & more of an oligarch. He treats women like scum.

If Trump was running on a D Ticket & was surrounded by Democratic politicians, he will 100% better than Bloomberg, far more liberal. Bloomberg, a racist & a sexist buying the nomination probably should be followed by a Trump 2nd Term, filling the Court with conservative judges so that Democrats don't even think of nominating a racist, sexist, evil oligarch.

https://youtu.be/uq-v1TTUyhM

Bloomberg has been sued by 40 women in 64 cases of sexual harassment. If that is who Democrats want to nominate, then they deserved to die as a party.

Bloomberg's company has been sued for missbehavior. It was over 20,000 employees and Mike probably didn't even know about most cases. They didn't involve him personally. And unlike Trump, Mike is known to be paying fair wages and doesn't defraud his business partners. He also didn't hire illegals like Trump.

[President Johnson]

Bloomberg is a terrible candidate.  This is why the Democrats lose what should be their base. I talk to so many younger people who vote Democrat if they vote at all, but refuse to ID as Democrats because they think most Democratic politicians are the same as Republicans.  While I think their logic is wrong, a Bloomberg candidacy just reinforces this. Saying Bloomberg is not as bad as Trump is saying nothing at all. Trump is uniquely awful. But Bloomberg is the exact type of person who turns people off from politics and makes them think it's all a rigged sham.

I think people are making a misconception by saying Mike is a terrible candidate just because they don't like him due to his pragmatism and his wealth. It's plain obvious Donald Trump will run on the economy to justify why he needs a second term. And some swing voters will vote for him because of that, even if they are disgusted by his behavior. If Bernie is the nominee, Trump can easily say his opponent will crush the economy if he gets elected and scare off a lot voters in these moderate districts Democrats flipped in 2018. If Bloomberg is the candidate, it's much more difficult to play the economic card since he has high credentials on economic policies. Mike already gets under Trump's skin, because he can't stand the fact he's so much richer and much more successful in business.

I'm not saying Bernie hasn't a chance to win the general election, but the economy could be his biggest weakness. Unless a downturn occurs before November, which is unlikely.

[President Johnson]

You can’t support Bloomberg and be a Democrat. Period. He’s literally worse than Trump in my opinion, if mostly because he’d be far more competent a Republican.

Well, let's see:

- Mike supports a 15$ minimum wage
- Mike supports immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship, plus statehood for Puerto Rico
- Mike supports higher taxes for the wealthy
- Mike supports expanding health care
- Mike has a long history as an advocate for gun control
- Mike has a long history as an advocate to combat climate change
- Mike is essentially a self-made billionaire, didn't inherit a fortune, pays his employees and campaign staffers a decent wage
- Mike actually knows something about foreign policy, doesn't embarrass himself
- Mike has acknowledged past mistakes, shown some self-reflection
- Mike has pledged to support any Democratic nominee including Bernie and is willing to outspend Trump in favor of Democrats (but is still accused of "wanting to buy the presidency")


Let's check the opposite:

- Mike didn't praise KKK and Nazi thugs as "fine people"
- Mike didn't call upon his supports to punch protesters in the face
- Mike didn't attack the press as enemy of the people
- Mike didn't defraud charity to enrich himself (instead he's known as real philanthropist)
- Mike isn't on tape saying he can grab women whereever he wants
- Mike didn't undermine public trust in courts, called out judges for being "Mexican"
- Mike didn't call on foreign nations to interfere for his own political benefit
- Mike didn't bribe a foreign leader to dig up dirt on his opponents
- Mike didn't stand in front of a foreign autocrat and said he believes him more than US Intel services
- Mike didn't insinuate violence against his rivals (he didn't even attack anyone other than Trump in this cycle)
- Mike didn't call Latin American countries as s-holes, neither did he call Mexicans rapists
- Mike didn't mock a disabled reporter
- Mike didn't attack an American war hero as "coward" and insulted him after dying of brain cancer
- Mike didn't attack Gold Star families
- Mike didn't call for a Muslim ban or tried to implement it
- Mike didn't accuse American Muslims of cheering on 9/11


Should I go on?


But yeah, Wall Street Mike is clearly worse than Trump. How can any Democrat support him over Trump?

[President Johnson]

Any Mike 2020 supporters want to explain the WaPo article?  The campaign doesn't even appear to have an explanation beyond "it was 25 years ago, he was a different person then."  But if he's running on his experience as a CEO, well, that's what he's running on, and that experience as a CEO includes, apparently, telling pregnant employees to get an abortion, regularly objectifying women with sexually explicit comments in front of their colleagues, abusively berating female employees for a variety of things, casual sexism and racism, etc. and it's not just one or two quotes, or only coming from one source, it's a whole mountain of them coming from a multitude of sources.

I've seen and heard a lot of Bloomberg over the last decade and would never have guessed that he was that kind of guy.  He always seemed calm and thoughtful, curious, detail-oriented, mild-mannered but confident, determined to look at both sides of every issue yet passionate about the things he cares about.  That's the kind of guy I think would make a great president.

And yet, this WaPo story seems unimpeachable and paints a completely different portrait of what he is, or was, like behind the scenes.  At my company we have to take these courses from HR every year telling us how not to behave, and we joke about how exaggerated or obvious some of the examples are, yet these are things Bloomberg is quoted as having said or done.  How on earth did he get elected in NYC?  There must be more to the story.

Yeah, I this is something he needs to address. The lack of denial probably means he said this kind of stuff (or some of it) and it would be troubling, even if 25 years ago.

[President Johnson]

Before you hammer Mike Bloomberg, keep in mind that he built a strong operation on the ground with staffers for the general election. All of them are well paid to November and Democrats can take advantage from that in the fight against Trump. I'm grateful for what Mike is doing.