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In Bloomberg's defense here, he's this election's Trump, just a bit smarter and dumber at the same time. It's smart to skip the 6 months of preliminary debates and nonsense like he did, but it's dumb to skip primaries. He's getting no votes at all. Sure, he'll be on ballots by Super Tuesday and all, but there is something to be said for being in the race from the opening, especially when there is a massive population of Bernie supporters who think anyone but an avowed socialist is "stealing the nomination."
That said, here's the defense - everything being said about Bloomberg being done was said louder and more often about Trump in 2016. I don't think he'll win the election based almost entirely on how hardcore his record of taking away rights (2A, 4A, sodas, snacks, etc) is, and all my electoral history soapboxing still stands in Trump's favor, but getting the nomination? He can absolutely snatch the Dem ticket, for many of the same reasons as Trump, but also for many opposite reasons.
See, the party sees Sanders as their Trump problem, and Bloomberg is what they view as the polite, establishment friendly answer to the Bernie dilemma. In a gutter fight with an NYC billionaire, who better than someone in the same weight class who has already gone a few rounds with said NYC billionaire? Sure, his "buy the nomination" thing goes against what every candidate other than Biden is selling, as well the growing AOC wing of the party, but you don't hear the DNC peddling that crap, just the candidates who are trying to out-Bernie the curmudgeon from VT. Bloomberg can easily buy the super delegates (that still exist) and get a lot of traction going into the convention. He is Trump to the voters, but anti-Trump to the party...oddly. That combo plays well in his favor, and he is working the angle well.
Another smart play for Bloomberg is to run ads in a vacuum like he is, where none of the other candidates can really call him out without giving him free air time, nor can Trump really. It works well, minus what I already said about skipping ballots. He can't spot his competition too many points.
But do not for a second count this guy out, even with whatever racist commentary (that isn't really racist so much as a bummer of a legit statistic nobody on the Democrat side ever speaks out loud). You aren't the 8th richest person on the planet without some ability to sidestep landmines.
Thr black church and black moderates will forgive Bloomberg especially since they know all too well about crime and the American negro male. But the woke left especially black academics, these types of people have yet to create moral forgiveness compared to institution of the government and clergy in which forgiveness is allowed. Bloomberg will loose out on woke crowd, white liberals and black academics who have radical and fundamentalist skewed viewpoints. Even though white liberals and black academics are a very tiny voting bloc, both are very vocal and loud on social media platforms.
But Bloomberg is in the race to prevent any significant initiatives that help ordinary people from taking place. He's in it to preserve the status quo of billionaire class rule and his vested interests.
I'm not who Bloomberg has to worry about. His problem is going to be the SJWs and woke Dem voter base, especially when Bloomberg has been recorded saying things like this regarding Stop and Frisk:
"I think we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little"
It's going to destroy him with the very demographic which he needs in very large numbers to beat Trump.
Here's a man, who was in a position over local law enforcement in America's largest city, saying that it's OK to arrest kids based on the color of their skin.
Afraid to go up against the other Democrats, afraid to participate in the early primaries/caucuses, afraid to debate. Trump did all of this. Bloomberg won't.
And that is smarter and dumber than Trump in 2016.
The 2016 slate of non-Trump Republicans all suffered from the same "cowardly, nothing to say, milquetoast" brand of weaksauce campaigning/ideas/governing they had been rolling with since GHWB was elected in 1988. In that arena, the Orange Wrecking Ball running amok flipping over every apple cart in sight was a winning formula.
The 2020 slate of non-Bloomberg Democrats is the polar opposite. They are all racing to see who can land closest to Leninism/Trotskyism the fastest, with Bernie having a huge head start. They are promising to flip over not just every apple cart, but every American institution, capitalism itself, the entire American order, etc. They are the wrecking balls, and Bloomberg is quietly playing "only adult in the room." It is smarter because by running on his own stage, he avoids any of their scrutiny. It's dumber because he is skipping primaries, and there aren't many more he can stay off stage and pull out the delegates.
We'll see how far he takes it. But I don't count him out. He can't beat Trump, but he can for sure be the guy who loses to Trump in November.
Understand that Bloomberg has Chavez/Maduro caudillo chops where taking office is concerned. Fun fact - NYC has a rule that you can only be mayor for two terms. Wait...wasn't Bloomberg mayor for thee? Yep, in his second term, he changed the rule to let him have a third, and right when his third term started, he got the rule changed back. That's El Jefe stuff right there.
He's a proper "my way or the highway" authoritarian, he's a rock solid "Trump's wealth is my couch cushion change" billionaire, and he knows how to buy/steal power and then how to flex that power to more power.
Like a third of all anti-2A laws in existence were paid for by Bloomberg. Trump is the crazy dude coming at you flailing his fists and screaming obscenities, but Bloomberg is the assassin who is a mile away with a 50 cal BMG sighting you down based on a plan he figured out 7 years ago.
And that is smarter and dumber than Trump in 2016..
Running from the voters isn't smart. There's been no President elected by that method.
If he is nominated, he'll be instantly branded the man who simply bought the nomination. And party member Democrats, who did follow the nomination process will be furious and won't be there to support his campaign.
If the Democrat party lets that happen to their nomination process, they are done for the next generation.
I see right leaning posters all over this website say that black people and Hispanics commit all the crime, sometimes "saying it without saying it"
Good point.
If they're say "all the crime" then they are totally incorrect.
If anyone, on either the left, center and right, says that Blacks and, to a lesser degree, Hispanics commit disproportionately more crimes than Whites then yes, that would be correct.
You won't see real Democrats like myself complaining (that Bloomberg us done). Remember Bloomberg was a Republican until about 5 mins ago. That view is acceptable on the right, not on the left
Bloomberg was a Republican solely because he didn't want to run in a crowded Dem primary for mayor. He only switched over to the GOP for that purpose, after spending decades as a Democrat. He's since returned to his Democrat roots.
Well, the left will get a pass on MSM for racism, usually. The MSNBC woman that dropped the N bomb over Kobe's death is proof of that. But left wing politicos will turn on each other like rabid wolves IF they get orders to and/or it helps their positions.
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