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Michael Bloomberg for President 2020


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12 minutes ago, bad_teammate said:

Bernie doesn't only play well with blue collar whites. He's very strong among Latinos right now and has made that outreach a major priority.

WI, PA, and MI are the obvious ones and those alone get the White House.

FL is next. AZ and NC after that. But none of that is necessary in the least.

If Bernie was the nominee in 2016 then he wins WI, PA and MI and is the president. What happens after that in say 2018 is anyone’s guess but that is a definitive fact.

He would win those states again and probably also AZ and NC and maybe Florida although Florida is impossible to predict. This year Georgia might be in play and one can dream, Texas. Probably not though. 

Everything else is basically set in stone. If the dems can rout it will include Iowa and Ohio but I doubt it. If the republicans can somehow rout that would include Nevada and New Hampshire but I don’t see it. 

 

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55 minutes ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Here's the deal about rich people.  They're not all the same.  98% of the public thinks a multi millionaire is the same as a billionaire.  (That's what makes them "the public.")  There is a significant difference in wealth between $30M, $100M, $1B, $10B, and $15B.  They're all on completely different tiers.  Mark Cuban once said he's surprised how much richer some people are than even he is.  Even when you get to the billionaire class, they're all different.  Some are more liquid than others.  (Bezos really isn't THAT liquid.  His shares are all tied up in AMZN and through his divorce.)

What I'm getting at is that there are maybe 10 people in the world that can do what Bloomberg is doing.  He's a legitimately liquid multi billionaire.  Tom Steyer is a legitimately rich guy and Bloomberg can spend Steyer's entire net worth on this and not think twice about it. 

Money matters.  It's why politicians whore themselves out.  Bloomberg doesn't have to do that.  He can have the best org and carpet bomb us all with ads.  Those things matter.  

Bloomberg is about to dump more money than we've ever seen in any presidential election.  It may work.  It may not.  It most definitely matters, though.

My prediction is he gets the nomination after Biden's collapse is complete.  Bern and Warren are only getting 35% of the vote.  If ideology matters, that tells me that the moderate wing is the remaining 65%.  

You are right that liquidity is an underrated aspect of overall wealth. What makes Bloomberg so liquid? 

Also why exactly is he doing this? Is it hubris thinking he can actually win, or just to take down trump? 

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57 minutes ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Is there a state that Bernie Bloomberg brings in play that wasn't in play before?  You can can't make the argument that he plays well with blue collar whites in PA, MI, and WI but are those states guaranteed and if not, what other states does he bring into the fold?

 

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Just now, bad_teammate said:

You can't buy enough votes to win, but you can buy consultants who will blow smoke up your ass!

Dammit! You keep speaking the truth but keep avoiding my question!

I am legitimately curious, not that you might now, why Bloomberg is doing what he’s doing. Does he really think he can win? Is he just trying to hurt trump? Because he is spending an ungodly amount of money attacking trump, which I like, but I don’t know the reason why and its legitimately something we haven’t seen before. 

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Sorry, I'm not trying to dodge!

Yes, I think he thinks he can win. I think he has convinced himself there's a strategy and he's hiring smart people to run the strategy. I'm sure he doesn't think he's a lock, but he doesn't see his candidacy as literally impossible.

If he starts attacking Dems then it'll be clearer that he really thinks he can win.

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Just now, bad_teammate said:

Sorry, I'm not trying to dodge!

Yes, I think he thinks he can win. I think he has convinced himself there's a strategy and he's hiring smart people to run the strategy. I'm sure he doesn't think he's a lock, but he doesn't see his candidacy as literally impossible.

If he starts attacking Dems then it'll be clearer that he really thinks he can win.

Well if true then he’s a fool, which I find hard to believe. He will not win the dem nominee. Even in a brokered convention, which is really his only shot, he would lose to Bernie, Biden, Liz, Kamala, Beto, whoever shows up, etc. It just makes no sense.

He could airdrop a billion dollars to win the general. I admit that. But there’s just no way for him to win the democratic nominee. Even the establishment Biden/Hillary/Obama surrogates would balk at that. 

How am I wrong?  Is he thinking about a 3rd party candidacy? 

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1 minute ago, JimmyJames said:

Well if true then he’s a fool, which I find hard to believe.

Why do you find it hard to believe?

I'm sure he thinks he's got an outside shot and while he takes that shot he'll spend hundreds of millions calling Trump a fat asshole. Which, fine. This is all couch cushion money and a bunch of vanity coverage, so it's not like this is his life.

Quote

How am I wrong?  Is he thinking about a 3rd party candidacy? 

I don't think he'll run 3rd party. I think he genuinely doesn't want Trump to win.

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His natural constituencies are billionaires and sufferers of Trump Derangement Syndrome. I know the type well, because I used to be one. These are people who've latched on to every prominent person who has sick-burned the Donald from 2016 on and said "Sally Yates for president!" or "Adam Schiff for president!" or (lulz) "Michael Avenatti for president!"

They look over there and see Michael Bloomberg and they think "He's everything Trump thinks he is! He's a real billionaire! He's a self-made man, not a spoiled brat!"

This same constituency was all hot for Kamala because they couldn't wait for her to DESTROY Trump in a debate, because "Look at what she did to Joe Biden!"

This constituency gives not a single shit what Bloomberg does in the unlikely event he gets into office -- they just want to see him humiliate Trump on stage, and I'm not even sure if he's up to that challenge. I can't imagine Bloomberg has many assholes like Trump in his pay, and I don't know if he is capable of stooping to Trump's gutter tactics level.

Rendering all that completely moot is that for every TDS sufferer, there are at least five MAGA morons who probably thinks Trump could buy and sell Bloomberg ten times (If he was so rich, how come he wasn't on The Apprentice? Huh?)

He combines Beto's gun-grabbing rhetoric with Mayor Pete's race problem, Bernie Sanders' age, a penchant for nanny state tactics, and a do-nothing-on-health-care stance that would do Joe Biden proud.

But yeah, if you're a well-off moderate who abhors Trump, he's your dream candidate. 

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Why exactly didn't Bloomberg, a Republican, mount a serious primary challenge to Trump. There are enough Never Trumpers and independents to have made it an interesting race. Even if his goal is just keep Trump from a 2nd term, he could have bloodied him so bad any empty suit could have won the general. He had the time and money. 

Is it because he thinks so little of the Dems already running and figured that was the easiest path?

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4 minutes ago, Brothahorn said:

Why exactly didn't Bloomberg, a Republican, mount a serious primary challenge to Trump. There are enough Never Trumpers and independents to have made it an interesting race. Even if his goal is just keep Trump from a 2nd term, he could have bloodied him so bad any empty suit could have won the general. He had the time and money. 

Is it because he thinks so little of the Dems already running and figured that was the easiest path?

Because outside of NY and other solid liberal states, he couldn't pass himself off as a Republican. 

 

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1 hour ago, Brothahorn said:

Why exactly didn't Bloomberg, a Republican, mount a serious primary challenge to Trump. There are enough Never Trumpers and independents to have made it an interesting race. Even if his goal is just keep Trump from a 2nd term, he could have bloodied him so bad any empty suit could have won the general. He had the time and money. 

Is it because he thinks so little of the Dems already running and figured that was the easiest path?

I am no expert but the Trump campaign is joined at the hip with the RNC and it's possible no amount of money would be able to overcome that.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Victory_Committee 

Edited by Continental Op
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10 hours ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

His natural constituencies are billionaires and sufferers of Trump Derangement Syndrome. I know the type well, because I used to be one. These are people who've latched on to every prominent person who has sick-burned the Donald from 2016 on and said "Sally Yates for president!" or "Adam Schiff for president!" or (lulz) "Michael Avenatti for president!"

They look over there and see Michael Bloomberg and they think "He's everything Trump thinks he is! He's a real billionaire! He's a self-made man, not a spoiled brat!"

This same constituency was all hot for Kamala because they couldn't wait for her to DESTROY Trump in a debate, because "Look at what she did to Joe Biden!"

This constituency gives not a single shit what Bloomberg does in the unlikely event he gets into office -- they just want to see him humiliate Trump on stage, and I'm not even sure if he's up to that challenge. I can't imagine Bloomberg has many assholes like Trump in his pay, and I don't know if he is capable of stooping to Trump's gutter tactics level.

Rendering all that completely moot is that for every TDS sufferer, there are at least five MAGA morons who probably thinks Trump could buy and sell Bloomberg ten times (If he was so rich, how come he wasn't on The Apprentice? Huh?)

He combines Beto's gun-grabbing rhetoric with Mayor Pete's race problem, Bernie Sanders' age, a penchant for nanny state tactics, and a do-nothing-on-health-care stance that would do Joe Biden proud.

But yeah, if you're a well-off moderate who abhors Trump, he's your dream candidate. 

Well, as a well-off moderate who abhors Trump, . . . .

 

 

 

I'm not a fan of Bloomberg for the reasons you outline.  Add to it that, as a plutocrat of a certain age, I'm almost certain that he has a #metoo explosion waiting in the wings.

But I do honestly think that he is running to damage Trump far more than he is running to actually win it for himself.  If it happens to fall into his lap, then he won't turn it down.  But his primary motivation is to run ads against Trump unencumbered by federal campaign-finance laws.

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He's running to prevent Bernie from winning on the first ballot, which will then allow him to bribe his way into the nomination.  If Bloomberg was primarily concerned with damaging Trump then he could just spend 500 million on attack ads during the general election.  

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He was a proponent of the Iraq War - claiming it "started" with 9/11. 

Quote

 

In May 2004, a year after the invasion, Mr. Bloomberg served as host to Laura Bush, who had come to New York in an effort to rally support for the war effort. Mrs. Bush visited a memorial for Sept. 11th victims. Standing next to Mrs. Bush, with the Statue of Liberty in the background, Mr. Bloomberg, right, suggested that New Yorkers could find justification for the war at the World Trade Center site, even though no Iraqi is known to have had a hand in the Sept. 11 attacks. 

“Don’t forget that the war started not very many blocks from here,” he said that day in 2004.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/23/nyregion/23about.html

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56 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

Well, as a well-off moderate who abhors Trump, . . . .

 

 

 

I'm not a fan of Bloomberg for the reasons you outline.  Add to it that, as a plutocrat of a certain age, I'm almost certain that he has a #metoo explosion waiting in the wings.

But I do honestly think that he is running to damage Trump far more than he is running to actually win it for himself.  If it happens to fall into his lap, then he won't turn it down.  But his primary motivation is to run ads against Trump unencumbered by federal campaign-finance laws.

I generally agree but he’s the best option in the field at this point.  It’s mind bottling to me that there were five more electable candidates in the primary than Biden but Biden was somehow Mr Electable.

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If I want to run a devastating attack ad, I find this woman. I get her on tape, and I offer to pay for legal counsel if Bloomberg sues her.

---------------------------------------------------------
Mike Bloomberg
has on repeated occasions faced and fought allegations that he directed crude and sexist comments to women in his office, including a claim in the 1990s that he told an employee who had just announced she was pregnant to "kill it."

"He told me to 'kill it' in a serious monotone voice," the woman alleged in a lawsuit. "I asked 'What? What did you just say?' He looked at me and repeated in a deliberate manner 'kill it.'"
---------------------------------------------------------

Goodbye Mike.

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21 hours ago, Dr. Beeper said:

Bloomberg is the only person I’d consider voting for. If he doesn’t win the Dem nomination, I will not vote. 

But why though? What specific qualities does Bloomberg have that makes you super excited to vote for him, but no one else on either side?

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8 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Getting text messages from his campaign.  Never signed up for anything related to him, so typical buying up lists of potential voters.  

Same for me.

part of me wonders if Bloomberg’s only ambition here is for trump to lose. One way is to build a national campaign structure across many of the states where the rest of the candidates are ignoring at the moment, and then hand it off to the eventual dem nominee.

basically a billion $ donation.

Edited by Nice Guy Eddie
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1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Same for me.

part of me wonders if Bloomberg’s only ambition here is for trump to lose. One way is to build a national campaign structure across many of the states where the rest of the candidates are ignoring at the moment, and then hand it off to the eventual dem nominee.

basically a billion $ donation.

The text message mentioned they are building out a campaign in over 40 states.   Bloomberg would make a helluva good stalking horse for the Dem nominee.  He can go after Trump on a lot of things that the nominee might not be willing, or able, to.  

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2 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

The text message mentioned they are building out a campaign in over 40 states.   Bloomberg would make a helluva good stalking horse for the Dem nominee.  He can go after Trump on a lot of things that the nominee might not be willing, or able, to.  

True but he would have to stay off the ballots or he could potentially split Dem votes. I don't know how the political parties would react to an anti-candidate who is using their own money that is basically limitless. 

You also have to wonder whether Trump or Bloomberg have already started to lock up TV spots in the Fall. If Bloomberg buys it now, he can use those spots for whatever he wants, regardless if he's running.  And for social media, he can outbid Trump for online ads.

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On 2/4/2020 at 8:52 PM, JimmyJames said:

Also why exactly is he doing this? Is it hubris thinking he can actually win, or just to take down trump? 

 

On 2/4/2020 at 8:54 PM, bad_teammate said:

Bernie & Liz want to raise his taxes.

 

17 hours ago, TXSooner518 said:

But why though? What specific qualities does Bloomberg have that makes you super excited to vote for him, but no one else on either side?

See above

 

In 2010, Forbes estimated Bloomberg's wealth at 20 billion. His worth now is estimated at $60 billion.He could drop $5 bill on this race and still be well  over twice as wealthy as he was 10 years ago. A wealth tax will have a far greater affect on him than any amount of money he can possibly spend in this race. 

Edited by Blotto
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Daily Beast ran a few more choice quotes from the #metoo lawsuits against Bloomberg LP and elsewhere that the Atlantic was too prude to print:

Quote

Bloomberg’s locker room talk also included "I'd fuck that in a second," "That's a great piece of ass” and, according to the complaint, telling workers at a sales conference that "I would like nothing more in life than to have Sharon Stone sit on my face."

So this, in addition to the "kill it" story and his habitual denial of rapes, is what is out there now, before his presidential campaign has kicked into gear. I can only imagine much more in this vein will come to the fore in the meantime and I would totally not be surprised if a hot mike caught Hot Mike Bloomberg perving out live on national TV.

While that alone wouldn't negate his shot at the presidency (see: current Occupant), it would suppress a significant number of voters from seeing him as less a shitbag than Trump. 

Edited by MaybeACoordinator
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2 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

He waited a long time, and then assumed the early primaries and debates wouldn’t matter at all.   

He seems to be right about that.

 I find it hard to be he’s spending $500M just to troll Trump.  He seems like he’s legitimately running.

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11 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

The problem is, he could have a hard time getting into debates.

The Dems are changing their rules, which they should. As much as I understand why they want to use # of donors as criteria, what's the problem if someone is self-funding their campaign. That doesn't invalidate your support.

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