If Mike Bloomberg is the Democratic nominee, will you vote for him in November?

bloomberg was a major donor to friedman's wife's new museum opening this spring

man I really backed the wrong horse’s ass in that old ‘Who’s Worst: Brooks, Friedman, or Douthat’ thread

I think we'll all be changing our tune after Bloomberg gets around to donating to our wives' museums and feeding us fancy cheese steak sandwiches.

https://quotefancy.com/media/wallpaper/3840x2160/1393653-Joseph-Delaney-Quote-Everyone-has-a-price.jpg

truly the best of us:

Happy Birthday Dr. Henry Kissinger – a wise statesman and good friend. pic.twitter.com/3jgQB64EVh

— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) May 27, 2015

TBF ol' Kissyface is also close personal friends with Hillz.

so is Kissinger like 4’11”

dealing w/him is 911

bloomberg is standing on kissinger's jabba the hutt-style tail to add extra height

i googled HK's height (1.75m allegedly) and then MB's (1.73m ditto) and beside MB's it says "trending" lol

Yikes.

The degree to which Michael Bloomberg is using his fortune to fundamentally alter & manipulate U.S. politics to his personal advantage extends way beyond ads. I've worked against him, covered him as a journalist & worked with his top aides. Here’s their playbook: (1/17)

— Blake Zeff (@blakezeff) February 13, 2020

This is why it's not just about "voters making choices".

bloomberg is standing on kissinger's jabba the hutt-style tail to add extra height

― Homegrown Georgia speedster Ladd McConkey (bizarro gazzara),

real lol

never thought I'd say this but I miss Howard Schultz

I saw 3 likes for a Bloomberg tweet in my timeline today. I might see if I can get in on some action too

Billionaires are fucking scary.

Look forward to the Bloomberg/Trump debates: Which Form Of Fascism Do You Prefer? Striped Shirt or Pure White? pic.twitter.com/5ziI1nMbBE

— Dennis Perrin (@DennisThePerrin) February 14, 2020

goddamn he is so corny

Never

are you or members of your community in danger of deportation? if so, I apologise. if not, tough titty

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, February 13, 2020 7:24 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

'I speak for the most vulnerable, those with the most immediate need, therefore all other viewpoints and concerns are petty and invalid.' This is precisely the line of reasoning that anti-abortion activists use to urge people who detest Donald Trump to vote for him anyway.

I am not going to write a fuckin personal essay here but to clarify, everyone in my immediate and extended family who was born before the mid '80s is a refugee. I have lived in New York City most of my life and Bloomberg was our mayor for more than a third of that time, during which I fit the description of "Male, minorities, 16-25" that he famously ordered xeroxed and handed out to all the cops. Add "Arabic speaking" to that, and infer what you will.

Now, I would be the first to concede that being repeatedly traumatized and violated by NYPD as a youth is but a minor inconvenience next to the imminent threat of deportation, both real and perceived (as a consequence of constant bullying and demonization by the president and his supporters).

But I demand a higher signal-to-noise ratio. What Bloomberg is running is another authoritarian disinformation campaign, keeping direct interaction with voters and other candidates to an absolute minimum minimum and exploiting fear of Donald Trump. You who detest him, he is banking on your willingness to vote for him anyway. I would play the long game by withholding my vote to insist on a future candidate who values democracy. And I don't see this as a privilege but a duty.

By the way, there is a theory floating around that the guy is doing this to keep Warren's wealth tax from his bank account, at a fraction of what that would cost him. I don't buy it but I do suspect he is even more motivated by self-interest than his competitors.

I am pretty sure the instant Trump got the nomination every billionaire in America had a long hard think about it

What do get for the guy who already has five yachts?

so you demand a 'higher signal-to-noise ratio' while also believing that you can send the world a complex signal about your political beliefs by not showing up to the general election in a country where most people don't show up to the general election, in a state where one guy is obviously gonna win.

xp

happy bloomie's birthday everyone

iatee, I think Deflatormouse has earned the privilege of hating Bloomberg and not voting for him under any circumstances, probably many times over. I'm pretty sure he doesn't think that his solitary act of refusal is going to have profound implications for national politics going forward. And if he does, well, let him have his hope.

for what its worth I don't think Trump's election is the death of America or our political system but I am starting to think President Bloomberg might be

we move ever closer to the Zombie Hitler v Zombie Stalin election

who do you vote for?

why, the Democrat

Let's not utter "President Bloomberg" before he has a single delegate

if i capture him does he have to grant me three wishes

I know this is probably by far the least important consideration right now, but I keep getting extremely angry at the thought of Bloomberg winning the primary, losing badly to Trump, and then Bloomberg's supporters once again refusing to acknowledge their mistakes and blaming "berniebros."

this thread on Bloomberg is oof

Anyone even thinking of Mike Bloomberg needs to remember the name Khalief Browder.

Browder was a sixteen year old boy who was imprisoned for three years without trial, tortured, and driven to suicide on the false accusation that he had stolen a backpackhttps://t.co/ZrvgGdG92q

— Molly Crabapple🇵🇷 (@mollycrabapple) February 11, 2020

I know he has no actual delegates yet but the number of Dems unquestioningly declaring total confidence in this guy out of the blue is really alarming. It took many months for voters’ impressions of Biden to change and he didn’t have Bloomberg’s kind of cash. Time and money are both factors.

Then perhaps you haven't noticed that lots of Democrats are oldschool Republicans who pay a little more lip service to social tolerance.

… and what they most often object to about Trump is his incivility.

yeah but Sam Donaldson: https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/14/opinions/michael-bloomberg-democratic-candidate-endorsement-donaldson/index.html

well, first i got angry that the question is even being asked. that's not milo's fault, though... it's bloomberg's. moving on from that... no.

none of the candidates running are good enough for me, because i believe the problems that exist today are beyond what can be solved by any one person, no matter how princpled, charismatic, or talented. i also believe that the fairness and transparency of democracy in america has fallen below a standard whereby i can honestly describe elections, on a national level, be described as fair, free, and open.

i continue to vote, not because i believe my vote matters, but because voting is important to me as an act of radical intersectional solidarity.

the people i would be supporting by voting bloomberg are not, fundamentally, people i trust to have as allies. i believe there is a minimum standard of fitness to lead that must be met before i can, in good conscience, vote for someone. i do not believe that is a high standard, but i believe that standard is higher than "not donald trump". i do not believe bloomberg meets that standard.

i do not believe that my unwillingness to vote for bloomberg carries with it any commensurate personal responsibility for any actions that may or may not be undertaken by whoever is in power in february 2021. i remain willing to engage in positive acts of political change as opportunities may arise.

Skip Gates hurts.

Among all the candidates, the person who I believe could stand toe-to-toe, strongest and longest with Donald Trump is Mike Bloomberg.

Why? Who do you think his constituency is?

I know Mike Bloomberg socially. Every summer I go to a dinner on Martha’s Vineyard with Mike Bloomberg. I’ve argued with him about policies that I didn’t like. He is enormously intelligent and capable. When he was mayor, I watched him. He could wear it lightly. It’s not like Jimmy Carter with the weight of the world on him. I think that he’s tough, and I think he could take on the bully Donald Trump. Very few people can stand up to a bully. Mike’s got some bully in him. I think he’s good.

As someone who has basically trusted the Democratic establishment (or at least its "progressive" wing) for much of my adult life, I'm finding the contrasting attitude of elites toward Sanders and Bloomberg to be plainly revealing of their skewed priorities and incentives. That probably makes me sound naive, but I do wonder about the potentially radicalizing effects of this moment.

apparently dinner on Martha's Vineyard is the place to be

I will put the man who sexually harassed my mom in power before I'll let poor people get healthcare pic.twitter.com/W5aYlGAiXy

— Amy Klobuchar is a Cop (@blunted215) February 14, 2020

I voted yes in the poll but after thinking about it for more than ten seconds I’m actually closer to Morbius. Nobody running as the Dem nominee needs my DC-dwelling help in the general, and I ain’t ticking the box for this asshole. Sadly I’ll still probably have to go stand in line for local races.

As someone who has basically trusted the Democratic establishment (or at least its "progressive" wing) for much of my adult life, I'm finding the contrasting attitude of elites toward Sanders and Bloomberg to be plainly revealing of their skewed priorities and incentives. That probably makes me sound naive, but I do wonder about the potentially radicalizing effects of this moment.

― jaymc

i would say i have certainly been radicalized. i don't trust bernie - no, that's not right, i do trust bernie, i don't trust a lot of bernie's _supporters_ - and i don't think bernie has a hope in hell of accomplishing the stuff he says he'll do, but at this point politics is openly about personal allegiance, not policy, and every time some liberal elite goes out of their way to disparage bernie or his proposals i am more and more convinced that i am going to vote for him. (go ahead and try a "not so different" response comparing me to a trump voter. i fucking dare you.)

as far as bloomberg goes? you cannot fucking shame me into voting for mike bloomberg. full stop.

If the Democratic Party's nominee fails in their primary obligation to earn your vote by offering some identifiable, positive reason for you to support them, write in the name of someone you would be happy to see win. Not voting is another option, but I think it's less satisfying than casting a positive vote. It may be just as ineffective in the practical dimension, but not in the psychological one.

NO.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8007521/Mike-Bloomberg-wants-Hillary-Clinton-running-mate-say-sources.html?fbclid=IwAR057JISGvPfeJd0GcsWbXY693n7keekV5b3--azo6JAXbQzWgO2sUUblpg

(I voted "no" just now, but would've voted no even before this news emerged.)

I'm not fond of Pete or Joe but I'd pull the lever for either of them in a heartbeat over Mike.

I voted no, but I’m not sure where I’d come down with a gun to my head between Pete or Mike. The things that are bad about them (most of it) are pretty equally bad?

And as for the things that might be good, eg believing climate change is actually real, maybe Mike would be better suited for pushing through his agenda?

(which, for all the fanfare he gets as a Republican who believes in climate change would probably still suck out loud)

Joe is a whole other kettle of brain worms

I would say that I aspire to a kind of "zoomed-out" perspective that I have imagined people with a lot more education than I have, or far more knowledge of history, political science and sociology might attain... but which probably requires oracular levels of foresight, actually.
And I do feel quite powerless, not because I live in a state where one guy is going to win, but most of my hopes are tempered by a sense of inevitability on this ridiculously grand scale. I tend to want to limit my influence, rather than further it anyway, because I don't think I'm really smart enough to predict the consequences of what I might be inclined to do (though I do realize this is going to go down like a lead ballon).

I probably prioritize the preservation of American democracy over other issues at the moment, which is to say that I do believe it's under threat. I have tended increasingly to place "protest votes" for longshot candidates far to the left of "Establishment" Democrats in local, statewide and national elections, perhaps moronically. But I do not think I've been radicalized and do not even consider myself to be liberal, honestly. My very limited understanding is that in order to prevent the erosion of democracy, I should hope for leaders to be elected who do not regularly violate political norms. Both Donald Trump and Michael Bloomberg have shown a frightening willingness to violate them and in my view, present a serious threat. I also prioritize political stability and for this reason favor incrimental progress, or for progressive changes to establish a secure foothold, over revolutionary action that threatens the stability of a government or political system. That's a pretty big deal, and it's something that I think most people in this country take for granted.

My refusal to vote for Bloomberg is not based primarily or exclusively on desired ideals, individual needs or personal experience. I worry that American voters are willing to give up the forest for the trees, but I also recognize a very real need to localize my own perspective and come down to earth a bit. Or a lot.

glad we got this out the way, let's relitigate this again at the DNC

i will def be voting Bernie in the FL primary in a few weeks.