In a move cheered by approximately nobody, billionaire Michael Bloomberg has officially entered the race for the Democratic nomination for President.
Bloomberg’s announcement raises many questions, most notably: Why? Bloomberg has given massive amounts of money to causes like climate change and gun control, but he’s also contributed to the campaigns of hyper conservatives like Orrin Hatch, Richard Shelby, and Scott Brown, the Massachusetts senator defeated by Elizabeth Warren in 2012. And Bloomberg is only marginally a Democrat. He left the Republican party in 2007, registered as an independent, and didn’t register as a Democrat until last year (maybe because he was contemplating a run for office?).
This, along with the fact that there are 1,093 candidates who are both more qualified and more electable than Bloomberg already running, means enthusiasm for Bloomberg’s late entry into the race has been, let’s say, lacking.
He is polling at the very bottom of the pack (along with Tulsi Gabbard and Cory Booker), and the news that he is going to spend at least $37 million on advertising in the next couple of weeks has a lot of people, including his fellow candidates, asking why he doesn’t just save some time and effort and burn that cash in a bonfire—or, you know, use it to support the candidates who actually do have a chance of winning the Democratic nomination.
Bernie Sanders, or the millennial he pays to run his Twitter when he can’t find his iPad, had this to say about Bloomberg’s entry into the race:
I’m disgusted by the idea that Michael Bloomberg or any billionaire thinks they can circumvent the political process and spend tens of millions of dollars to buy elections.
If you can’t build grassroots support for your candidacy, you have no business running for president. https://t.co/jyIBVXUToj
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 22, 2019
Elizabeth Warren, who seems more than happy to lose the billionaire vote, was equally unimpressed:
Mike Bloomberg is placing $34 million in TV ads in one week—the most of any presidential candidate in history.
That’s one way to pay less under my #WealthTax. Because in a Warren administration, he and his billionaire friends would finally have to pay their fair share. https://t.co/qWHtk37zaM
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) November 23, 2019
And then there was Andrew Yang, perhaps the only “nice guy” (or is he a soft boi?) in the race, who nods to Bloomberg accomplishments but would still like him to sit this one out.
Mike Bloomberg is an extraordinary leader and was a stellar mayor. He has done a lot for the country. But I think it will be tough to replace hundreds or thousands of conversations with ad buys. Money has its limits and you can’t buy passion.
— Andrew Yang🧢 (@AndrewYang) November 8, 2019
Everyone else has been basically silent, although Amy Klobuchar did say on CNN earlier this month that candidates “have to earn votes, not buy them.”
Well, that’s four votes he won’t get, but will anyone in America be convinced? I doubt it, but we’ll find out soon enough.
