Bloomberg’s game is to win just enough delegates to deny anyone a clear plurality and hope a brokered convention goes his way because he has a fuck ton of money and can buy off the super delegates.
2020 Democratic Presidential Primaries
2 Likes
I’m not even sure he wants to win. If he hits a brokered convention with a bunch of pledged delegates he has a great bargaining chip for whoever he makes the nominee.
He’s stated before he’s only running to stop Bernie, a Bloomberg presidency would be on par with Trump or worse.
As bad as it would be, it definitely won’t be as bad as Trump. Not even close.
You would get all the same corrupt, capitalist pro-business low tax policies. Plus you would get the same law & order racist policies. That’s for sure. But you wouldn’t have literal kids in cages or walls. It would be back to the awful immigration status quo we had before Trump.
You wouldn’t get the direct corruption of using the presidency for personal benefit. You would get the old style indirect kind of corruption you had with the past two decades of presidents. The secret service won’t be staying in a Bloomberg hotel.
You wouldn’t get the anti-abortion, pro gun judges. Bloomberg isn’t a religious fundamentalist, and he hates guns.
You would probably get a LOT of consumer protection regulation to the point where consumers don’t even like it. Remember, this is the guy who wanted to ban large sodas because sugar kills.
On foreign policy you would get pro-capitalist trade deals and less military antagonism.
And of course you will not be getting any of the progressive socialist policy that Bernie and Warren bring to the table.
So yes, of course, fuck Bloomberg trying to use the power of money to defeat democracy. And fuck him for not being progressive. But no, even someone as evil as him, is still not as bad as Trump or any other current Republican. That’s how bad they are. You have to be more evil than an oligarch/plutocrat like Bloomberg to be as evil as them.
7 Likes
To put it more succinctly, that’s a fucked thing to say.
Do you really not grasp how much damage Trump and the GOP have done to basic institutions of American government? This isn’t business as usual. It’s a destruction of the rule of law. Of democracy itself. No (non-Gabbard) Democratic candidate is even in the same realm as the best Republican who could possibly run.
6 Likes
Having our Democracy purchased by an oligarch is arguably just as bad as the degradation of the executive branch and the DOJ being used as the strong arm of the President. Bloomberg is a more competent Trump, he’s someone who has praised the government of Singapore for murdering drug users. He’s just as much of a racist as Trump, and arguably as a stronger ability to downright purchase out the rest of our political landscape because unlike Trump, he actually has billions of dollars.
I understand the hesitation to say Bloomberg is worse than Trump, but let’s at least face the fact that he might be just as bad, but also more competent. Which is a scary thought.
2 Likes
I severely dislike Bloomberg. He is a racist, classist, sexist capitalist. HOWEVER, he’s law abiding, pays his taxes, he pays his employees, he is not a compulsive liar, has no interest in oppressing LGBTQ, he supports abortion rights, he abhorres family separation, he won’t attack sanctuary cities, has spoken out against needless war and war for profit, he supports free trade and same foreign policy, etc. He is far better than Trump.
Also, we’ve lived in an oligarchy for decades. None of the current Dem candidates can change that, particularly not with a Republican controlled Senate.
7 Likes
Yeah, I disagree with your sentiment so strongly that I am unwilling to discuss this with you further. I sustain that I think this is a fucked up thing to say.
7 Likes
It is also a highly privileged thing to say.
8 Likes
My question is, can we even go back to the closed-door corruption of the previous administrations?
Please tell me how being suspect of a registered Republican who as recently as 2016 called transwomen “men wearing dresses” is privileged.
1 Like
If we take enough power away from Republicans, and actually enforce and expand anti-corruption enforcement, then yes. The corrupt will go back to being sneaky about it.
Because him being a bigot personally, but not wanting to enact it in public policy while saying that he is the same or worse than Trump, who has and will continue to oppress trans folk in public policy shows that you have not been impacted by those restrictions and are unconcerned about further Trump oppression of trans people.
Yes, I’m unconcerned about Trump’s oppression of trans people. It definitely hasn’t been on my mind when I’m thinking about transitioning. I have no idea of what could possibly be effecting trans people or the challenges they experience on a daily basis.
Then?
Also, you are ignoring abortion rights, people dying in unnecessary wars, child separation and ICE gone wild, etc.
ETA: If you actually watch the video, he says that other people think that way and that it is up to the “intelligencia” to fight against that. 
2 Likes
I mean if we want to take people’s speeches completely out of context, I can make Sanders say some really crazy stuff.
There is enough BS stuff out there on Bloomberg to not have to cut conversations in a way that make it out of context.
2 Likes
That’s not what he said. He said very clearly, that one is a good salesman if they can sell the idea that a man wearing a dress should use a locker room with your daughter. He didn’t say “you need to sell the idea that transwomen are women” or “transwomen aren’t actually a threat”. He very clearly internalized the idea that this is the case, and that it just needs to be sold to the dumb dumb midwesterners.
BTW, wrt to minority rights, you don’t have to listen to me on that front
You can make a fair point that a Bloomberg presidency could be dangerous to trans people.
A Trump presidency is more dangerous to trans people. And is specifically dangerous to a large number of other classes of oppressed people.
I’m not excusing any bullshit a Democrat said. I’m saying that it is disingenuous at best, and dangerous at worst, to even hint at the two sides being equivalently dangerous in any context.
1 Like
Michael Bloomberg is a Republican
Yeah he sucks. Nobody is saying he doesn’t.
We’re saying that despite being awful, he’s still a significantly better option compared to the pile of diarrhea on fire that is our current president. It’s not about how good Bloomberg is, because he’s not. It’s about how bad Trump is. He’s just that much worse.
Even Ronald Reagan is better than Trump. That how bad Trump is.
7 Likes