"Multi-billionaires like
Michael Bloomberg are not going to get very far in this election," Sanders
said Sunday.
Monday, November 25, 2019
Billionaire media businessman
and former three-term Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg entered the
Democratic primary on Sunday expressly to attack Sen. Bernie Sanders' attempt
to win the party's 2020 nomination, the Sanders campaign charged Monday.
"Bloomberg is primarily
motivated by a desire to stop Bernie and his working-class movement,"
claimed Sanders speechwriter David Sirota Monday in his Bern After Reading newsletter.
According to Sirota, the
timing of Bloomberg's announcement lines
up with Sanders' rise in the polls and a well-reported meeting between the
media mogul and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, one of the two wealthiest men in the
world alongside Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Bloomberg is also close with
Disney's Bob Iger, Sirota said.
Bloomberg's run is reminiscent
of the billionaire's decision in 2016 to float a run in order to take down the
Sanders campaign.
"Bloomberg began floating
the idea of a presidential bid in 2016, just as Bernie was beginning to gain
momentum in that race," wrote Sirota. "At the time, Bloomberg disparaged Bernie
and his campaign’s challenge to Wall Street."
Sanders, in a statement Friday
in advance of Bloomberg's entrance in to the race, said he was
"disgusted" that Bloomberg believed the race could be bought.
"I'm disgusted by the
idea that Michael Bloomberg or any other billionaire thinks they can circumvent
the political process and spend tens of millions of dollars to buy our
elections," Sanders said.
The Vermont senator doubled
down on those criticisms at a rally on Sunday in New Hampshire.
"We do not believe that
billionaires have the right to buy elections," said Sanders. "That is
why multi-billionaires like Michael Bloomberg are not going to get very far in
this election."
On MSNBC Monday,
anchor Katy Tur wondered if Bloomberg has another candidate in mind to take
down.
"Is this a real campaign,
is he really running?" wondered Tur. "Or is he running to torpedo
Elizabeth Warren?"
Warren, in New Hampshire on
Sunday, said that
while she accepts some excesses of wealth she draws the line at
billionaires having more political power than the rest of Americans.
"I understand rich people
are going to have more shoes than the rest of us," said Warren.
"They're going to have more cars than the rest of us, they're going to
have more houses—but they don't get a bigger share of democracy. Especially in
a Democratic primary."
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