He is one less contender for the Democratic nomination, and not the least. Former New York mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who for several months had been considering running for the 2020 presidential race, announced, Tuesday, March 5, that he renounced.
“The choice in front of me was clear: Should I spend the next two years talking about my ideas and what I’ve done, knowing that maybe I’ll never win the Democratic nomination? Or spend the next two years continuing the work I am doing and already funding, which I know can produce real results, beneficial to the country? “, explained Mr. Bloomberg, 77, very committed to climate change.
“I realize that I prefer to do rather than talk. And I concluded that the best way for me to help the country is to roll up my sleeves and keep working. “
The 9e global fortune, according to the magazine Forbes took the opportunity to announce a new initiative, Beyond Carbon, to convert America to clean energy.
Trump “completely overwhelmed”
This is the second time Mr. Bloomberg has stepped down from the White House race. He had already considered running as an independent during the 2016 presidential campaign, before giving up for fear of dividing the Democrats. Since the election of Donald Trump, whom he judges “Incompetent” and “Completely outdated”, he who had always supported both Democratic and Republican candidates, had clung firmly to the Democratic camp.
But after having crisscrossed the United States, this moderate retreated, probably also because of the left wind blowing on this party. Many Democrats are now calling, like Bernie Sanders, to reject Wall Street and defend measures that were once considered radical in the United States, such as health coverage for all or free universities. Proposals that Michael Bloomberg, whose fortune is estimated at $ 55.6 billion per Forbes, judged “Unrealistic”.
He also warned the left wing of the party on Tuesday:
“It is essential that we designate a Democrat who is in the best position to beat Trump and bring our country back together. We cannot let the primaries process take the party to extremes that will diminish our chances. “
By refusing to run, Mr. Bloomberg leaves the field open to another moderate in his seventies, ex-vice-president Joe Biden, whom everyone is now waiting to know if he will be a candidate.
Arrogant technocrat
A sign of the differences within the Democratic camp, many on the left see Michael Bloomberg as an arrogant technocrat, disconnected from the common people, whom his policies “Elitists” forced them to leave New York.
Billionaires like Bloomberg “Want to keep a flawed system in place, they plan to spend fortunes to maintain the status quo”recently quipped Senator and declared candidate Elizabeth Warren.
Still, Mr Bloomberg has shown that he can use his fortune to champion causes dear to Democrats. Beyond the climate, he is also fighting to strengthen arms legislation and in his own way fights inequality: he recently made a record donation of $ 1.8 billion to his former university, Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, for that it welcomes the most modest students free of charge.
During the last American legislative elections, this incarnation of the self-made man – who became rich after fifteen years at Salomon Brothers which allowed him to launch his eponymous financial information company – spent more than $ 100 million to support around twenty Democrats, almost all elected.
Even if Michael Bloomberg steps down from the White House, Democrats should be able to count on his generosity to help them defeat Mr. Trump. According to some of his relatives, this man twice grandfather would be ready to spend at least 500 million dollars in the campaign.
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