The former mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg announced that he is running for President of the United States in the 2020 election. Bloomberg released a nearly 2-minute long video on his Twitter account which has the theme of rebuilding America, and that he is a jobs creator, leader, and problem solver.
I’m running for president to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America.
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) November 24, 2019
I believe my unique set of experiences in business, government, and philanthropy will enable me to win and lead.
Join our team: https://t.co/7ezlUeouqH pic.twitter.com/IyOeS3aWaF
According to the Daily Wire, “On Monday, CNN’s ‘At This Hour with Kate Bolduan,’ the campaign manager for former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg admitted that President Trump’s reelection prospects right now look good, asserting, ‘Right now, Donald Trump is winning. He is winning that election.’”
The Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait sent out a letter to staffers that included “There is no point in trying to claim that covering the presidential campaign will be easy for a newsroom that has built up its reputation for independence in party by not writing about ourselves. No previous presidential candidate has owned a journalistic organization of this size.” Micklethwait added, “The place where Mike has had the most contact with Editorial in Bloomberg Opinion: our editorials have reflected his views.”
Micklethwait later announces that many on the editorial staff will be working for the Bloomberg campaign instead of the news company. Regarding the coverage of Mike’s campaign, he states, “We will continue our tradition of not investigating Mike (and his family and foundation) and we will extend the same policy to his rivals in the Democratic primaries … For the moment, our P&I team will continue to investigate the Trump administration, as the government of the day. If Mike is chosen as the Democratic presidential candidate (and Donald Trump emerges as the Republican one), we will reassess how we do that.”
That last statement has resulted in an eruption of outcries from many, including former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, Media analyst at NPR Eric Deggans, and NBC/MSNBC News Analyst Professor Howard Fineman. See their statements below:
Editor-in-Chief of Bloomberg admits that that Mike #Bloomberg has used the opinion section of @bpolitics to advance his liberal agenda – “editorial have reflected his views” Might be the first time it’s been acknowledged that an owner of an outlet is doing this https://t.co/Y4VJXgUUgn
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) November 24, 2019
So…given Bloomberg News coverage decisions in the wake of Bloomberg's decision to enter the 2020 presidential race, what will they do if he wins? Stop covering the federal government in depth? https://t.co/FbZQx44Rui
— Eric Deggans at NPR (@Deggans) November 25, 2019
Bloomberg entry into presidential race raises ethics issues (from @AP). Not a great look for #Bloomberg News that the editor of its opinion site is leaving that role to join the campaign. Had he been advising Mike all along about a possible bid? https://t.co/bJsnNYbju6
— Howard Fineman (@howardfineman) November 25, 2019
View the entire note here:
Many progressives are also targeting Bloomberg’s entrance into the race, specifically his commitment to spend hundreds of millions of dollars. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) attacked Bloomberg after it was reported that he has reserved more than $30 million in ad buys. See his response below:
I’m disgusted by the idea that Michael Bloomberg or any billionaire thinks they can circumvent the political process and spend tens of millions of dollars to buy elections.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 22, 2019
If you can’t build grassroots support for your candidacy, you have no business running for president. https://t.co/jyIBVXUToj
Reporter Alex Thompson of Politico tweeted out a graphic of the substantial ad buy and where the ads are being shown. See the tweet below:
Final updated version of this story:
— Alex Thompson (@AlxThomp) November 23, 2019
Bloomberg ad buy is now at about $34 million b/t cable & broadcast per @Ad_Analytics
The other candidate mentioned in the ad is Trump pic.twitter.com/oYcN8je4pW
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