Trump has Putin envy; Bloomberg hearts Xi Jinping. --- Ross Douthat, NYT, Feb. 15, 2020
Michael Bloomberg reminds me of no one more than Donald Trump. .. Arthur Goldstein, NYC Educator, http://nyceducator.com/2020/02/my-misogynist-anti-labor-megalomaniacal.htmlFred Smith wrote this amazing piece 4 years ago about Bloomberg beating Trump and posted it this morning.
Finally, here's something spoofy I wrote that the Daily News published in 2016 describing how Bloomberg won the presidential election that year.
In many ways, it is a blueprint that presages what we are witnessing now.Fred Smith
Dispatch from 2017: How Bloomberg won
It
is Jan. 20, 2017, and Michael Rubens Bloomberg, an honorary Knight of
the British Empire, is about to take the oath of office and become the
45th President of the United States of America.
The
media have been given a copy of the inaugural address — which, as
advertised, will be the shortest one ever delivered, less than two
pages. This type of brevity has served our next President well.
Throughout his career, he has let his actions, organizing ability and
money speak for him.
It
was that winning combination that took him all the way to the White
House during the tumultuous election year. Exhibiting his smarts as a
bottom-line businessman, it was in the early summer that Bloomberg said
he would give $200 to everyone who voted for him in November. That
promise kept his advertising expenses down.
To
justify his generosity, President-elect Bloomberg proudly declared that
he had always paid his own way and no one could buy him — to the
contrary, he could buy others.
Bloomberg
was simply updating the same formula he used to gain re-election as New
York City mayor in 2009, when he beat Bill Thompson by 4.4 percentage
points. Then, he spent $183 per vote, which tapped his wallet to the
tune of $102 million. This allowed him to run without depending on
outside funding and the influences and obligations that attach to such
campaign contributions — an opportunity that only extremely wealthy
people can take.
At
the national level, it became a slightly costlier proposition, but
Bloomberg kept his per-vote costs down by cutting out the consultants
and ad buys and sending the cash directly to the people — provided
they'd cast a ballot for him. At a cost of $200 for each of 66 million
votes (the number Obama won in 2012) — which were strategically spread
around the country to maximize electoral vote totals — his purchase of
the presidency set him back $13.2 billion, leaving his net worth at a
comfortable $25 billion.
That’s rich (John Marshall Mantel/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
And
that is likely to grow, given that it is now being placed in a "blind
trust" for the duration of his term or terms in the Oval Office, much as
it grew in his 12 years at City Hall.
True
to character, Bloomberg ran an economical race. He used only two
slogans, both of which could be considered a bit self-deprecating,
perhaps, to show his sense of humor: A Bicycle in Every Garage, and
He'll Save You From Yourself.
At
the same time, he was able to fend off a couple of sticky issues raised
anew last year. Bloomberg again denied his corporation created a
hostile climate for women, who were said to have been given hush money
to settle harassment suits. It didn't hurt that one of his opponents was
a fellow billionaire known for objectifying and insulting women.
And
Bloomberg simultaneously scoffed at criticisms that, as New York City
mayor, his administration's supposed accomplishments were largely the
result of a massive news management operation and press agents keeping
unfavorable stories out of the media.
One
of the handful of times he really got testy as mayor was when reporters
kept asking how anyone could take seriously his claims about raising
city students' reading scores.
Last
but not least, 73-year-old Bloomberg had to address the age factor.
During the election, scrutiny on that point, too, was blunted by the
fact that both opponents were also veritable geezers.
Now
that it is inauguration day, pundits are already speculating about a
second term — or a third, the Constitution's 22nd Amendment be damned.
Bloomberg has good reason to believe that in 2024, the Supreme Court's
new chief justice, Joel Klein, will find a way to interpret the
amendment to suspend term limits.
In
the interests of disclosure, I voted for Michael Bloomberg for
President. We need a businessman running our country. And with my
occasional need to purchase print cartridges, $200 is nothing to sneeze
at.
Smith, a testing specialist and consultant, was an administrative analyst for the city's public schools.
--------------------------
Douthat is a conservative but I've been thinking the same kind of things. When I read that despite Bloomberg's problems he is so much better than Trump I see the same kinds of thinking among Trumpists who excuse his
Thus Bloomberg would do to the Democratic Party what Trump did to the Republican Party.
Norm - 2/15/20
The Bloomberg Temptation
Will the Democrats try to replace Donald Trump with a power-hungry plutocrat?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/15/opinion/bloomberg-trump-2020.html
Democrats considering this sales pitch should be very clear on what a Bloomberg presidency would mean. Bloomberg does not have Trump’s flagrant vices (though some of his alleged behavior with women is pretty bad) or his bald disdain for norms and rules and legal niceties, and so a Bloomberg presidency will feel less institutionally threatening, less constitutionally perilous, than the ongoing wildness of the Trump era — in addition to delivering at least some of the policy changes that liberals and Democrats desire.
However,
feelings can be deceiving. Trump’s authoritarian tendencies are naked
on his Twitter feed, but Bloomberg’s imperial instincts, his
indifference to limits on his power, are a conspicuous feature of his
career. Trump jokes about running for a third term; Bloomberg actually
managed it, bulldozing through the necessary legal changes. Trump tries
to bully the F.B.I. and undermine civil liberties; Bloomberg ran New
York as a miniature surveillance state. Trump has cowed the Republican Party with celebrity and bombast; Bloomberg has spent his political career buying organizations and politicians
that might otherwise impede him. Trump blusters and bullies the press;
Bloomberg literally owns a major media organization. Trump has Putin
envy; Bloomberg hearts Xi Jinping.
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