You’ve heard the promises Mike Bloomberg claims he’ll make happen as president in the countless ads and commercials that have been taking over our devices. Now, he’s about hit the debate stage for the first time. More inside…
Mike Bloomberg better be debate ready because he’s about to make his debut to argue his way to becoming the Democratic candidate to go up against Donald Trump in the upcoming 2020 presidential election.
We’re sure you’ve heard of him. Tons of Mike Bloomberg ads and commercials have been flooding our devices over the last few weeks, if not longer. The multibillionaire has reportedly spent more than $300 million of his own money on ads.
Now, the former New York City Mayor has qualified to hit the debate stage tomorrow (Feb. 19th) to duke it out against his fellow candidates in Nevada. He didn’t meet the donor threshold to qualify for the past debates, but things have changed. In January, the Democratic National Committee got rid of the donor requirement to participate in debates. And since the rules changed in his favor recently, he's in the running.
We'd like the note the timing of this rule change. It would have been nice if the rules were changed to have someone like Sen. Cory Booker be allowed to remain in the race.
Tomorrow night, Bloomberg will go up against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who takes the lead with 31% support (up 9 points from December) in the Democratic nominating contest, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.
Bloomberg comes in 2nd place with 19% and his campaign manager Kevin Sheekey noted Bloomberg’s growing support via Twitter:
We’re headed to Nevada! Our campaign is seeing a groundswell of support across the country, and qualifying for the February 19 debate is the latest sign that @MikeBloomberg’s plan and ability to defeat Donald Trump is resonating with more and more Americans. https://t.co/TrPLLBw7T7
— Kevin Sheekey TEXT MIKE TO 80510 (@ksheekey) February 18, 2020
In third place is former Vice President Joe Biden, who has 15%, which is down 9 points from December. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has 12%, Sen. Amy Klobuchar has 9%, and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg rounded out the top six at 8% support.
Mike Bloomberg is a Democrat, but he decided to run for mayor as a member of the Republican Party ticket in 2001.
Receipts from Bloomberg's past have been dug up and now folks are labeling him as a "racist." For example, he defended New York's controversial "stop and frisk" policing strategy for years.
A recording from a speech Bloomberg delivered at the Aspen Institute in 2015 has resurfaced, where he vehemently defends "stop and frisk." The "stop and frisk" strategy grew tons of backlash over the years since it overly targeted Black and Latino people in an effort to lower the crime/murder rate.
Take a listen below:
Audio of @MikeBloomberg’s 2015 @AspenInstitute speech where he explains that “you can just Xerox (copy)” the description of male, minorities 16-25 and hand to cops.
Bloomberg had video of speech blocked.
Perhaps because of the problematic explanation he gives for #StopAndFriskpic.twitter.com/Fm0YCi4ZRy
— Benjamin Dixon (@BenjaminPDixon) February 10, 2020
"Ninety-five percent of your murders and murderers and murder victims fit the same profile," he said. "You can just take the description and Xerox it and pass it out to all the cops. They are male minorities 16 to 25."
"One of the unintended consequences is people say, 'Oh my God, you are arresting kids for marijuana that are all minorities.' Yes, that is true. Why? Because we put all the cops in the minority neighborhoods. Yes, that is true. Why did we do it? Because that's where all the crime is."
By the way, right before Bloomberg put his bid in for president (in November), he stopped by a predominately Black mega church in Brooklyn to issue an apology for the New York Police Department's use of "stop and frisk," after years of defending it. Hmph.
Here's a video of Bloomberg saying young, Black and Latino males "don't know how to behave in the workplace":
Mike Bloomberg in shocking leaked audio suggests that black and latino men are "unable" to "function" in a workplace.@AOC has not Tweeted about this or Bloomberg's other videos.
AOC stands with racist Bloomberg. pic.twitter.com/S38XkKQNVz
— Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) February 17, 2020
And here's a video of Bloomberg saying the police was “disproportionately stop[ping] whites too much and minorities too little.”
Jfc, and I thought the other clip was bad! #BloombergIsRacistpic.twitter.com/mkI5Y3vZ1U
— HootHootBerns(@HootHootBerns) February 11, 2020
Not only that, Bloomberg and his organizations have fielded nearly 40 sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits over decades. He has also voiced doubt about the #METOO movement, making comments that people should leave it in the hands og the government to decide if someone is guilty of sexual misconduct.
Folks have been going IN on Bloomberg for defending policies that directly affect our communities negatively. Even with all of this coming to light, polls for Black voter support don't exactly reflect the negative press he has been receiving. Slate.com reports:
A Monday Quinnipiac poll showed that Black voter support for Bloomberg, by measure of this one poll, was within 5 percentage points of former Vice President Joe Biden’s. A second poll in Florida showed Bloomberg leading in the state. A further breakdown showed Bloomberg is trailing Biden among Black voters and ahead of him in Hispanic support.
Very weird. That means it's time to get your group chats popping and the family dinners lit with information to help everyone make an informed decision about who they should cast their vote for.
We'll get our first chance to hear and see Mike Bloomberg under pressure when he hits the debate stage in less than 24 hours. The debate will air on NBC News and MSNBC beginning at 9pm EST/6pm PST tomorrow.
Will you be tuning in?
Photos: JStone/Shutterstock.com
