Approximately 18 Democratic presidential hopefuls are attempting to remove President Donald Trump from the White House in 2020.
Getting to Know Mayor Michael Bloomberg
“I know what it takes to beat Trump, because I already have. And I will do it again,” said former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in an email launching his presidential campaign.
It’s another election cycle and another billionaire from New York has vowed to shake up the presidential race and take the country back from crooked politicians and Washington, D.C. insiders.
If that sounded a lot like President Donald Trump’s rallying cry, it is because the similarities are striking.
But former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has entered the race, vowing to only spend his money to defeat his homeboy currently occupying the White House.
“Trump’s a fraud,” said Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island. “He’s a business failure. His economic policies have failed. He’s bad for America, and I think Bloomberg can go toe-to-toe with him on that score, and he should.”
Bloomberg has not only received support from other politicians, but has received praise from business titans and fellow billionaires.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said, “I’m all for it. I think he will be good for the Democratic field. He is now the only candidate that has actually done something to impact gun violence. He is the only candidate that has done something to deal with reducing health care costs by helping to keep people healthy via sugar associated taxes. Adding the substance he brings on these issues is a net positive in my opinion.”
But some New Yorkers do not see his record on crime and violence as all positive with his controversial stop-and-frisk policy.
The stop-and-frisk policy allowed police officers to stop any pedestrian they wanted on the street, without a warrant, and frisk them for possible weapons.
Many critics of the policy say that law enforcement discriminately targeted African-Americans and Latinos for stops and frisks.
Bloomberg has recently stated, “I was wrong” for the stop-and-frisk policy.
However, many Bloomberg critics do not respect his newfound remorse over stop-and-frisk.
“You don’t stop crime by stopping someone who has no intention of committing a crime,” Nicholas Peart, 31, said. “Stopping someone on their way to work, on their way to school, on their way to the gym, that’s not stopping crime. You can’t stop someone for wearing a hoodie. I can’t just be going to the supermarket?”
On Peart’s 18th birthday, he probably got some special gifts on his special day.
But Peart also got a special surprise from the New York Police Department (NYPD).
As Peart and two of his cousins sat on a bench eating hamburgers, NYPD squad cars suddenly surrounded the group.
NYPD officers ordered Peart to the ground and searched him for weapons.
Finding nothing illegal, the officers let the young African-American man and his cousins continue on with his birthday meal.
After noticing the birthdate on Peart’s driver’s license, an officer sarcastically told Peart, “happy birthday” before driving off.
The Peart incident occurred in 2006.
Peart never received a personal apology from NYPD or the Mayor’s office and did not necessarily expect one.
But when Bloomberg surfaced in a predominantly African-American church in Brooklyn, N.Y. seeking forgiveness from the African-American community, Peart did not see the sincerity.
“What epiphany could have happened between then and now,” Peart asked. “I’m not comfortable with that.”
Peart is not comfortable with Bloomberg’s apology because his birthday incident was not his only stop-and-frisk encounter.
Unfortunately for Bloomberg, the African-American community does not represent the only demographic group skeptical of his 2020 presidential campaign.
Many liberals have expressed some doubt about his moderate political policies.
Bloomberg, a former Republican, who has expressed doubt about how far left the Democratic Party currently leans, believes he can offer a pragmatic remedy to what ails the country.
“Defeating Donald Trump—and rebuilding America—is the most urgent and important fight of our lives,” Bloomberg said. “And I’m going all in. I offer myself as a doer and a problem solver—not a talker. And someone who is ready to take on the tough fights—and win.”
Bloomberg has not made many fans amongst the Democratic political establishment with his late entry and his reservation of $35 million in television advertising.
Estimates put Bloomberg’s wealth at approximately $50 billion.
Many critics bemoan the fact that Bloomberg can get into the mix at the 11th hour and possibly make a dent in the polls because of wealth.
“Mike is going to spend whatever is necessary to defeat Donald Trump, because he believes the stakes couldn’t be higher,” said Howard Wolfson, one of Bloomberg’s closest advisors. “So, whatever is necessary to defeat the president, we are going to spend.”
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) charged Bloomberg with “trying to buy an election.”
Bloomberg has even made the unconventional decision of skipping primaries in the early states like Iowa and New Hampshire, instead focusing on bigger states later like Texas and California.
On his website, Bloomberg has labeled himself as “a new choice for Democrats.”
Unfortunately, like Trump, Bloomberg might face criticism for demeaning comments made about women, obviously a huge voting block for all elections.
But Bloomberg’s biggest hurdle might come from the fact that he is not as known nationally as some of his fiercest Democratic competitors.
As a result, Bloomberg has gotten autobiographical in his initial advertisements.
He has talked about his leadership in the nation’s largest city after Sept. 11.
His commercials describe him as “a middle class kid who made good” to play up his humble beginnings.
The Bloomberg campaign has also tried to highlight his core Democratic values such as gun control, climate change advocacy, economic development and public health concerns.
