In Which I Howl About Bloomberg

I can't believe Michael Bloomberg's numbers are going up so fast in national polls. One hypothesis I've heard is that he's standing in for "generic Democrat," and maybe there's something to that, given his carpet-bombing of anti-Trump ads. If you don't know much about him except he's a billionaire and he's got a strong critique of Trump... he sounds good, maybe.

I would have said that, like Pete Buttigieg, he would have no appeal with Black voters, based on his record as mayor with stop and frisk. But at this point, that doesn't appear to be the case. Black voters from the New York area will never vote for him, true, but it looks like at least some outside the New York area are willing to go with him, at least for now. For instance, Lucy McBath, mother of murdered teen Jordan Davis, endorsed him a few days ago. I assume the fact that Bloomberg has been a big funder of both anti-gun groups and McBaths's congressional campaign has something to do with that.

I also can't believe how much my Twitter feed has filled up with Bloombergia. Much of it is about stop and frisk, but also about his opinions on how redlining was good, how the banks didn't cause the 2008 crash, how he worked to privatize New York City's schools, how he changed the rules so he could run for a third term as mayor of New York, and generally about how no one should be able to buy the presidency:

3 months ago, polls found Mike Bloomberg “widely disliked” with the highest negatives in the race. Now he’s a top 3 contender for the Democratic nomination. One of the richest humans ever is trying to upend every part of the process. And this is just the stuff we know about.
Blake Zeff [a New York reporter giving lots of details about how Bloomberg is using his money in the race]

Bull Connor but make him a billionaire.
Tressie McMillan Cottom

WASHINGTON (AP) — At the height of the 2008 economic collapse, then-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the elimination of a discriminatory housing practice known as “redlining” was responsible for instigating the meltdown.
Jonathan Lemire

That Bloomberg thinks the banks didn’t cause the financial crisis should be at least as damaging as his stop-and-frisk policies
Jesse Eisinger

Bloomberg is like a bomb set by Republicans.
@pattho

When Trump was caught on tape talking about violating white women, liberals were aghast and called it disqualifying. Now that Bloomberg is on talking about violating innocent black and brown boys on a massive scale, those same liberals say “get over it.”
Charles M. Blow

If Michael Bloomberg really wants to save the planet, he should give the money he's currently spending on his campaign to down-ballot races.
The New Republic

In my opinion, here’s one of the most racist stats ever:
In 2011, the NYPD stopped and frisked 168,126 black men between the ages of 14 - 24
In 2011, there were only 158,406 black men in NYC between 18-24
Yes, they stop and frisked more black men than actually existed!
90% were innocent
michaelharriot

Nothing is infuriating me more right now than watching Black folks line up behind Bloomberg. No we don’t need a billionaire businessman to run the government. Public entities should not be run like private entities. Period. And I get pragmatism but this is just dumb. He isn’t really even a Democrat. And he has said awful things about women, fat folks, and his record on supporting daily harassment of Black and Brown men by the NYPD should be disqualifying on its own. And he’s buying his way into the race. Just hell fuck no to him. I believe Black folks are smart. I believe they are politically savvy. But look: you don’t need Trump to beat Trump. Devils don’t beat devils. They join up and do evil together. Only light can drive out darkness. I beg my own folks not to line up behind this dude.
Brittney Cooper

Bloomberg is Manhattan racism
Trump is Queens racism
Molly Crabapple

You have to hear some of these boys recount their frisks, the way the cops, a stranger, would often put their hands up between their buttocks, on the street, in search of contraband. How would this not feel like an assault if you were innocent as about 90% of them were?
Charles M. Blow

NYPD stop-and-frisk has been cut by 98% since its height under Mayor Bloomberg in 2011. A *Ninety-Eight Percent Reduction* and crime in NYC is lower now than it was then. The entire policy was sustained by a disinformation campaign spreading racist lies about black men and crime.
Samuel Sinyangwe

How can Democrats want campaign finance reform but let a billionaire buy the nomination?
Judith Browne Dianis

Meanwhile, the threat to democracy of an ultracompetent guy with an authoritarian personality and $60 billion trying to just buy himself an entire country will go unremarked.
@JonIsAwesomest

The remarkable thing about [Bloomberg apologizing for stop and frisk] is that [it] was, in many ways, Bloomberg’s signature policy. It’s like if Warren was apologizing for the CFPB, or if Biden was apologizing for the Violence Against Women Act.
Kevin Robillard

Using the fact that you were mayor of a diverse city to claim you’re not racist is the oligarchic version of saying you have black friends.
Anand Giridharadas

If Bloomberg is the next savior, imagine not realizing what a damning indictment of your own party it is to admit that your strategy for beating republicans is to recruit a republican who agrees to call himself a democrat.
@edburmila

Someone pay me in good karma to explain how Bloomberg deliberately screwed up New York City schools so he/his family could profit as a charter investor after he left office. If y’all let this man even get the faintest whiff of the White House, I’m converting this to an anti-Bloomberg account and dragging him across all five boroughs like it’s the New York City marathon. Y’all think public schools are an uphill fight now!? Let that man in 1600 Penn.
Erika Nicole Kendall @bgg2wl

Nominating a racist candidate to run against Donald Trump, whether it’s stop-and-frisk racism or turn-the-record-player-on racism, is taking your side’s single greatest advantage — being significantly less racist — and throwing it out the window.
Anand Giridharadas

A lot of "rich guys" in politics are hundred-millionaires and single-digit billionaires. Bloomberg is in a whole other tier. The distance between Tom Steyer ($1.6b) and Bloomberg ($55b) is the same as between a guy making $50,000 a year and a guy making $1.7 million.
Kevin Roose

Michael Bloomberg was donating to Republicans as recently as 2018.
Niles Francis

I have never been one to say the Democratic and Republican Parties are the same. They are not. But nominating Mike Bloomberg would represent an attempt to make the Democrats as much like the Republicans, on race and wealth defense and blindness to the powerless, as is possible.
Anand Giridharadas

My prediction: if Bloomberg becomes the Democratic nominee, his real record will come out over time despite his advertising budget and Black people will stay home on Election Day.