Michael Bloomberg urges Americans to vote against President Trump because 'he's done a bad job'
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Democratic presidential candidate, speaks at night four of the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg urged Americans Thursday to oust President Trump from the White House in November’s general election to “put an end to this whole sorry chapter in American history.”
The multi-billionaire business and media mogul – speaking ahead of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on the final night of the Democratic National Convention – slammed Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and charged that “he has failed the American people catastrophically.”
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Painting a stark contrast between the Republican president and his Democratic challenger, Bloomberg claimed that “one has proven he knows how to handle a crisis by helping to lead the economic turnaround after the 2008 recession, while the other has not only failed to lead, he has made the current crisis much worse.”
Targeting the president, Bloomberg argued that “when confronted with the biggest calamity any president has faced in the modern era, Donald Trump spent the year downplaying the threat, ignoring science and recommending quack cures which let COVID-19 spread much faster than it should have, leaving hundreds of thousands needlessly sick or dead."
Bloomberg – who launched a brief and unsuccessful bid of his own for the Democratic presidential nomination – stressed in his five-minute speech that “I’m urging you to vote against him because he’s done a bad job.”
The president fired back on Twitter immediately after the end of the address. Slamming Bloomberg’s performance in his failed White House run, Trump wrote “After the worst debate performance in the history of politics, Michael Bloomberg, commonly known as Mini Mike, is trying to make a comeback by begging the Democrats for relevance. They treated him like a dog -- and always will. Before politics, he said GREAT things about me!”
Bloomberg also asked small business owners and employees, “Would you rehire or work for someone who ran your business into the ground? And who always does what’s best for him or her, even when it hurts the company. And whose reckless decisions put you in danger. And who spends more time tweeting than working. If the answer is no, why the hell would we ever rehire Donald Trump for another four years?”
Taking aim at Trump’s record as a business and real estate mogul, Bloomberg said that “he drove his companies in bankruptcy six times, always leaving behind customers and contractors who were cheated and swindled.”
And diminishing the president’s economic record in the White House, he argued that “Biden and Obama created more jobs over their last three years than the Trump administration did over their first three.”
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Bloomberg suggested that "when Trump says he wants to Make America Great Again, he’s making a pretty good case for Joe Biden."
And Bloomberg -- who's poured millions of his own money to combat climate change -- predicted that "Joe's economic plan will create clean energy jobs that help fight another crisis that Trump is ignoring: climate change. And Joe will rebuild our crumbling roads and bridges, something Trump has incessantly talked about doing. But in the last three and half years, he hasn’t done anything. What a joke."
The Trump campaign took to Twitter to remind people that during the heat of hte Democratic primaries, Bloomberg had argued that Trump would "eat alive" Biden and that the former vice president didn't have "practical" plans or "management experience."
Ahead of Bloomberg’s speech, progressives continue to fume that the Republican-turned-independent-turned-moderate Democrat is being given a high-profile speaking slot on the final night of the Democratic convention. And some charged that Bloomberg’s reneged on his pledge to throw his fortune behind the general-election effort to defeat President Trump. A New York Times piece points to a tweet from progressive activist Amy Siskind who charged Bloomberg “stiffed our party.”
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But Bloomberg has opened up his wallet.
Fox News confirmed this week that Bloomberg plans to spend $60 million of his own money to help Democrats strengthen their majority in the House of Representatives in this year’s elections. Bloomberg’s also helping Democratic candidates and causes this cycle through Everytown for Gun Safety. The nonprofit group founded and funded by Bloomberg that fights to combat gun violence has committed to spending $60 million this year’s elections. He’s also contributed millions to other groups helping Democrats in down-ballot races and voter protection groups, and earlier this year Bloomberg also transferred $18 million from the campaign coffers of his failed White House bid to the Democratic National Committee.
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While those contributions are a massive sum, they pale in comparison to the more than $1 billion of his own money that Bloomberg shelled out on his 2020 White House bid.
The Trump campaign - targeting the anger by some progressives over Bloomberg's high profile speaking slot - took to Twitter to ask "How many BILLIONS did Min Mike give the DNC and Biden to be able to speak this evening?"