{"id":27211,"date":"2019-11-13T18:10:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T23:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=27211"},"modified":"2019-11-13T21:46:22","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T02:46:22","slug":"dear-michael-bloomberg-please-go-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2019\/11\/13\/dear-michael-bloomberg-please-go-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Michael Bloomberg: Please Go Away"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Despite no voters asking him to (except for some at the top of America\u2019s economic ladder), billionaire and former New York mayor <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biography.com\/political-figure\/michael-bloomberg\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Bloomberg<\/a> has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/11\/07\/us\/politics\/michael-bloomberg-president-2020.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"officially thrown his hat into the race for 2020 (opens in a new tab)\">officially thrown his hat into the race for 2020<\/a>.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Bloomberg\u2019s decision to run serves as no surprise to those who\u2019ve been keeping a close eye on the Democratic primary for the past few months. Though Joe Biden still has a strong lead in the race, the vice president\u2019s low fundraising numbers have been making the establishment class concerned about a possible Elizabeth Warren (the best-case scenario for centrists if the race\u2019s moderates lose) or Bernie Sanders (who they absolutely don\u2019t want to win) nomination.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/10\/22\/us\/politics\/democratic-candidates-2020.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">rumors<\/a> began floating around last month, shortly after October\u2019s Democratic debate. A group of high-profile donors were brainstorming possible replacements if Biden\u2019s campaign were to crash and burn. Among the names discussed were Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama and Bloomberg himself. Evidently, the corporatists within the Democratic party have found what they perceive to be their back-up plan.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a way, upon reading the news last week, I was both surprised and not surprised. Prior to Bloomberg announcing that he was entering the race, the mainstream media had spent their time fixating on the campaign of South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, framing him as a sort of young, fresh-faced liberal with the possibility of getting a late surge in the polls \u00e0 la Barack Obama in 2008.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was surprised because my firm belief was that Buttigieg already <em>was<\/em> the elite\u2019s Plan B in case Biden ran out of steam. However, I was also not surprised due to the fact that the Democratic establishment will do everything in their power to retain said power under the guise of \u201ccommon sense\u201d policies, all while netting kickbacks from corporate-funded PACs and ensuring the backroom business interests of those who benefit from the bland, toothless, surface-level policies espoused by the Clinton\/Obama\/Biden\/Schumer\/Pelosi cadre.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cake for the billionaires, crumbs for the working class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related Articles<\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"With His Funding in Danger, Biden Reaches Out to Wealthy Donors (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/politics\/2019\/11\/04\/with-his-funding-in-danger-biden-reaches-out-to-wealthy-donors\/\" target=\"_blank\">With His Funding in Danger, Biden Reaches Out to Wealthy Donors<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/opinion\/2019\/10\/28\/who-are-the-moderate-democrats-actually-fighting-for\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Who Are the Moderate Democrats Actually Fighting For? (opens in a new tab)\">Who Are the Moderate Democrats Actually Fighting For?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And now Bloomberg, of all people, with more than enough money to buy his own private island (similar to Jeffrey Epstein, who owned an island and had Bloomberg\u2019s name in his \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/news\/2019\/07\/jeffrey-epsteins-financial-black-book\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">little black book<\/a>\u201d of business contacts), feels compelled to make his case for president of the United States.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bloomberg isn\u2019t the only billionaire in the running. Tom Steyer, a hedge fund manager whose rhetoric has mostly revolved around the threat of climate change and ousting President Trump from office, began his campaign last Summer on July, 9 and joined the other candidates onstage during the October debate. Currently polling at barely 1% in multiple polls, I expect him to drop out soon.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s pointless, vanity-filled campaigns such as these which make me say the following: Dear Michael Bloomberg, please go away.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though you haven\u2019t graced the debate stage yet, I already know what to expect. You\u2019ll undoubtedly tout your record as an entrepreneur and business mogul as key indicators that you know what it takes to lead and be successful. You\u2019ll throw some darts at Trump, leading to a petty back-and-forth on Twitter between two of America\u2019s elites. If asked by the debate moderators why American citizens should vote for (another) billionaire, you\u2019ll ramble off some prepared response and opine about \u201cthe beauty and genius of American capitalism\u201d or some other nonsense.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When pressed about your list of past <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/gawker.com\/5979679\/id-do-her-a-brief-history-of-michael-bloombergs-public-sexism\" target=\"_blank\">sexist remarks<\/a> toward women, you\u2019ll concoct a half-hearted apology, taking the wise approach to not double down by providing excuses or deflecting toward the current Commander-In-Chief\u2019s less-than-stellar <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Donald_Trump_sexual_misconduct_allegations\" target=\"_blank\">reputation<\/a> with women.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When asked about your support of &#8220;stop and frisk&#8221; policing despite it leading to police officers targeting black and brown people throughout the city of New York, you&#8217;ll defend it by filibustering about how it led to a drop in the city&#8217;s crime rate, even though the rate has <a href=\"https:\/\/eji.org\/news\/new-york-crime-falls-as-police-end-stop-and-frisk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">continued to diminish<\/a> years after the controversial method&#8217;s implementation was ended.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the months fly by, you\u2019ll eventually drop out after managing to secure no more than 3% of the vote (if you\u2019re lucky) regardless of the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2019\/11\/11\/biden-and-bloomberg-are-bigger-threats-to-big-pharma-than-warren-analyst.html\" target=\"_blank\">ridiculous headlines<\/a> the mainstream media will publish to put you in a positive light. After that, you\u2019ll make the rounds on cable news and endorse whichever Wall Street, super PAC walking suit that tickles your fancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe you joined because you fear that Biden will screw up and you\u2019re aware of how the average prospective voter doesn\u2019t care for Buttigieg. Incensed at Sanders\u2019 and Warren\u2019s policy proposals which present a threat to your $50 billion dollar net worth, you figured that you would serve as a buffer in 2020.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a news flash: You don\u2019t care about the average American. You haven\u2019t released any of your policy proposals yet, but I\u2019m willing to bet that you don\u2019t support Medicare for All and that you definitely\u2014<em>definitely<\/em>\u2014don\u2019t support higher taxes on your wealthy compatriots such as Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/recode\/2019\/11\/9\/20956153\/mike-bloomberg-president-2020-jeff-bezos-phone-call-amazon-hq2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">who urged you to run a few months ago<\/a>.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We already have a billionaire in the Oval Office, Mr. Bloomberg. And seeing what\u2019s transpired since the last election, we certainly don\u2019t need another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube aligncenter wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/L5KfSiWwTdg?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><figcaption>Footage of several of the Democratic primary contenders responding to Bloomberg&#8217;s announcement. (Source: ABC News \/ YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Quinton Bradley<\/strong><br>Contributing Writer<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Quinton Bradley is an Ohio-based writer. He runs a blog called<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/hammersandpapyrus.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Hammers and Papyrus<\/a> and can be followed on Twitter<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/QBAbstract\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\"> @QBAbstract<\/a><\/em>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The name that few know about. The candidate that even fewer wanted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10416,"featured_media":27212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2616,2109,3327,3],"tags":[3369,3371,3757,1388,2905],"class_list":["post-27211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-opinion","category-politics","category-tartan-news","tag-2020-democratic-primary","tag-democrats","tag-michael-bloomberg","tag-politics","tag-quinton-bradley"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/4368407250_8047c9dbbb_c.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-74T","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10416"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27211"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27227,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27211\/revisions\/27227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}