Former Mayorality Of New York City
“Stop and frisk” approval
On February 5, 2015, Bloomberg made comments at the Aspen Institute and, while addressing issues of minority rights, policing policy, and gun control, Bloomberg had said that police should confiscate guns of African Americans between ages 15 and 25. “These kids think theyre going to get killed anyway because all their friends are getting killed. So they just dont have any long-term focus or anything. Its a joke to have a gun. Its a joke to pull a trigger.” He has stated that police should “throw up against the wall and frisk them.” Bloomberg’s approval of stop-and-frisk policies in New York City during his mayoralty has received widespread condemnation from the public and police alike. He eventually disavowed the controversial practice after announcing his campaign. Bloomberg stayed at one point that “One of the unintended consequences is people say, ‘Oh my God, you are arresting kids for marijuana. Theyre all minorities.’ Yes, thats true. Why? Because we put all the cops in the minority neighborhoods. Yes, thats true. Why do you do it? Because thats where all the crime is.”
The comments were criticized by many as racist, including President Trump, who tweeted “WOW, BLOOMBERG IS A TOTAL RACIST!”
Fast Facts: Michael Bloomberg
- Known For: Business mogul, three-term mayor of New York City, and 2020 presidential candidate
- Born: February 14, 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts
- Parents: William Henry Bloomberg and Charlotte Bloomberg
- Education: Johns Hopkins University , Harvard Business School
- Bloomberg by Bloomberg
- Spouse: Susan Brown
- Domestic Partner: Diana Taylor
- Children: Emma and Georgina
- Notable Quote: What youve got to do is be honest. Say what you believe. Give it to them straight. Just dont wuss out.
Take Care Of Your Kids
On the 10th anniversary of the attacks, as bagpipers played and New York paused to reflect, Bloomberg presided over the opening of the 9/11 Memorial, a milestone that drew President Barack Obama and more than 10,000 relatives of the dead.
Soaring over the ceremony was the rising symbol of New Yorks recovery 82 of the 104 stories that would become the new World Trade Center.
We can never un-see what happened here, Bloomberg told the crowd assembled alongside two memorial pools tracing the footprints of the fallen towers. Etched in bronze parapets were the nearly 3,000 names of the dead, including that of Peter Alderman.
Over the years, Bloomberg had prodded the city to move past its collective grief. Giuliani had envisioned Ground Zero as a 16-acre memorial. Bloomberg wanted a smaller memorial and pushed for new offices and schools. He warned of turning downtown into a cemetery.
When he spoke to relatives of the dead still in the throes of grief, Bloomberg felt the urge to say, Suck it up, as his parents had taught him.
I thought to myself, Its tragic, but youve got to take care of your kids, he said. You dont want to be crying. You want to be talking about the future What can I do to help your kids?’ ‘What can I do to help you? rather than look back. Looking back isnt going to help.
On another wall, behind glass, was a campaign flier with the date in white letters Tuesday, Sept. 11 reminding voters to support a Republican on that days ballot.
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Bloomberg Helped To Flip The Us Senate
Over the last decade, Bloomberg helped Republicans take and maintain control of the U.S. Senate, which, in the Trump era and under Mitch McConnells leadership, has confirmed scores of right-wing judges, blocked liberal legislation passed by the House, and shielded the president from any repercussions after seeking foreign election assistance, tampering with witnesses, and defying congressional subpoenas.
Bloombergs Independence USA super PAC, which he funds exclusively, spent nearly $10.1 million supporting Republican federal candidates from 2012-16. The majority of that, $5.9 million, helped Sen. Pat Toomey win re-election in 2016 against Democrat Katie McGinty, an environmental policy expert and another Emilys List endorsee. In 2014, the super PAC boosted Republican House candidates Bob Dold and Michael Fitzpatrick . Two years earlier, Independence USA had spent $1.7 million backing Connecticut House candidate Andrew Rorabach, as well as $963,000 supporting Dold.
Americans for Responsible Solutions, a gun control-focused super PAC heavily funded by Bloomberg, also spends the majority of its money in favor of Democrats, but in 2014, when Bloomberg gave it $250,000, it backed Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Fitzpatrick . Collins recently voted to acquit Trump of both impeachment charges and said she thought Trump had a pretty big lesson from impeachment. In 2007, Bloomberg personally donated $4,600 to Collinss campaign, and in 2014, he gave $5,200.
A Democrat Once Again
As mayor, constituents described him as “cold” and “business-like”, but effective. When he left office in 2013, his 12 years at city hall were seen as a success by New Yorkers, and his subsequent philanthropic activities – including his biggest project, backing gun control legislation across the US – put him solidly in the Democratic camp once again.
In 2018, he spent $41m backing Democratic candidates running for the US House of Representatives. Twenty-one out of the 24 he supported won, 15 of whom were women. In 2019, he donated $3.9 billion to charities supporting top issues on the left, from green energy to abortion access.
But Mr Bloomberg’s bid to become the man to take on Mr Trump in 2020 struck a discordant tone with a party that made demands for race, gender and income equality a large part of its diagnosis for America’s ills.
His record, particularly on race, faced fierce scrutiny. A hard-line policing tactic, stop and frisk, that was expanded by Mr Bloomberg over the course of his mayoral terms was criticised as racist and ineffective.
Throughout his campaign, Mr Bloomberg faced accusations that he was seeking to buy the White House. As he dropped out in March, he vowed to spend millions more of his own cash to defeat Mr Trump and give any and all financial support to the eventual Democratic nominee.
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What Is Rent Control
Bloomberg and Alfred Sommer, a prominent ophthalmologist he knew through their affiliation with Hopkins, were eating steaks one night when the businessman asked a surprising question.
What do you think about me running for mayor?
Why would you want to do that? Sommer replied. Why would anyone want to do that?
As he contemplated a different path, Bloomberg consulted a long list of political operatives, including Bill Cunningham, a former adviser to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan .
You have any idea what guys like me do to guys like you? Cunningham recalled asking. He warned that Bloombergs wealth would be a bulls eye for opponents lampooning him as an out-of-touch oligarch.
Thats whats wrong with politics, Bloomberg snapped. He insisted that he was more than his money and that he had the credentials to govern.
Cunningham joined a growing cast of strategists around Bloomberg, a troupe including New Yorks preeminent political guru, David Garth, who had steered Lindsay, Democrat Ed Koch and Giuliani to mayoral victories.
Their new boss, they learned, had no patience for chitchat or navel-gazing. He could be blunt, profane and biting.
How do you live with her? Bloomberg said when meeting the husband of Ester Fuchs, by then a policy adviser, who was flabbergasted until she saw the billionaires smirk.
He also had a lot to learn about New York politics.
Heres your money. Go tour, Bloomberg said when they landed, Ayarza recalled.
Activities Prior To Campaign Launch
In March 2019, Bloomberg originally announced that he would not run for president.
However, on November 7, 2019, Bloomberg changed his mind and announced that he was taking steps to enter the 2020 United States presidential election, and on November 8 he officially filed for the Alabama Democratic presidential primary. After qualifying in Michigan, on November 12, he filed his candidacy for the Arkansas primary. On November 13, he applied for the Tennessee ballot. On November 19, he gave three separate transactions of $106,500 to the Democratic National Committee along with $800,000 to the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund.
Headquartered at facilities provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the campaign’s staff at pre-launch included senior advisors Howard Wolfson, communications adviser Jason Schecter, advertising creator Bill Knapp, pollster Doug Schoen along with sometimes Bloomberg Philanthropies CEO Patti Harris and political consultants Brynne Craig, Mitch Stewart, and Dan Wagner and, at launch, Kevin Sheekey was campaign manager.
On November 21, 2019, Bloomberg filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission to declare himself as a Democratic candidate for president, though he said this was not a formal announcement, but a step towards making one if he decides to run.
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Books And Other Works
Bloomberg, with Matthew Winkler, wrote an autobiography, Bloomberg by Bloomberg, published in 1997 by Wiley. A second edition was released in 2019, ahead of Bloomberg’s presidential run. Bloomberg and former Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope co-authored Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet , published by St. Martin’s Press the book appeared on the New York Times hardcover nonfiction best-seller list. Bloomberg has written a number of op-eds in the New York Times about various issues, including an op-ed supporting state and local efforts to fight climate change , an op-ed about his donation of $1.8 billion in financial aid for college students and support for need-blind admission policies an op-ed supporting a ban on flavored e-cigarettes and an op-ed supporting policies to reduce economic inequality .
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Michael Bloomberg speaks to the media, in Phoenix on November 26.
As Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, campaigns in the Democratic primary for president, he has been forced to account for his more conservative past. He recently apologized for an aggressive and unconstitutional stop-and-frisk policing strategy that targeted innocent New Yorkers of color. Progressives have criticized him for funneling cash to help endangered Republicans in the U.S. Senate. And about the #MeToo movement are proof for some Democrats that the 77-year-old is out of step with todays party.
Bloomberg, though, has largely avoided blowback so far on another facet of his political past, one grounded squarely in New Yorks thorny political scene: his lavish funding of Republicans in the State Senate. As Democrats have fought in New York and nationally to turn state legislatures blue and build local bulwarks against President Donald Trump, Bloombergs decision to donate to the Republicans who once held the majority stands out in a presidential field that has drifted further left.
This is not your normal election, she said. So many of us believe we would prefer anybody than the current president.
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Who Are Prominent Democrats
Notable Democrats include Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was the only president to be elected to the White House four times, and Barack Obama, who was the first African American president . Other Democratic presidents include John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. The latters wife, Hillary Clinton, made history in 2016 as the first woman to win the presidential nomination of a major U.S. political party, though she ultimately lost the election. In 1968 Shirley Chisholm won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the first African American woman elected to Congress, and in 2007 Nancy Pelosi became the first woman to serve as speaker of the House.
Democratic Party, in the United States, one of the two major political parties, the other being the Republican Party.
Harper’s Weekly
Foreign Policy And National Defense
Some, including , in the Republican Party support on issues of national security, believing in the ability and right of the United States to act without external support in matters of its national defense. In general, Republican thinking on defense and is heavily influenced by the theories of and , characterizing conflicts between nations as struggles between faceless forces of an international structure as opposed to being the result of the ideas and actions of individual leaders. The realist school’s influence shows in Reagan’s “” stance on the and George W. Bush’s stance.
Since the , many in the party have supported policies with regard to the War on Terror, including the and the . The George W. Bush administration took the position that the do not apply to , while other prominent Republicans strongly oppose the use of , which they view as torture.
Republicans have frequently advocated for restricting foreign aid as a means of asserting the national security and immigration interests of the United States.
The Republican Party generally supports a strong alliance with and efforts to secure peace in the Middle East between Israel and its neighbors. In recent years, Republicans have begun to move away from the approach to resolving the . In a 2014 poll, 59% of Republicans favored doing less abroad and focusing on the country’s own problems instead.
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Public Image And Lifestyle
Throughout his business career, Bloomberg has made numerous statements which have been considered by some to be insulting, derogatory, sexist or misogynistic. When working on Wall Street in the 1960s and 1970s, Bloomberg claimed in his 1997 autobiography, he had “a girlfriend in every city”. On various occasions, Bloomberg allegedly commented “I’d do her”, regarding certain women, some of whom were coworkers or employees. Bloomberg later said that by “do”, he meant that he would have a personal relationship with the woman. Bloomberg’s staff told the New York Times that he now regrets having made “disrespectful” remarks concerning women.
During his term as mayor, he lived at his own home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan instead of Gracie Mansion, the official mayoral residence. In 2013, he owned 13 properties in various countries around the world, including a $20 million Georgian mansion in Southampton, New York. In 2015, he acquired 4 Cheyne Walk, a historical property in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London, which once belonged to writer George Eliot. Bloomberg and his daughters own houses in Bermuda and stay there frequently.
What Does The Democratic Party Believe In
The Democratic Party is generally associated with more progressive policies. It supports social and economic equality, favouring greater government intervention in the economy but opposing government involvement in the private noneconomic affairs of citizens. Democrats advocate for the civil rights of minorities, and they support a safety net for individuals, backing various social welfare programs, including Medicaid and food stamps. To fund these programs and other initiatives, Democrats often endorse a progressive tax. In addition, Democrats notably support environmental protection programs, gun control, less-strict immigration laws, and worker rights.
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Ron Desantis Isnt A Trump Clone Hes Just A Republican
If Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is the Republican presidential nominee in 2024, its already obvious what one of the main Democratic lines of attack will be: Hes just like Donald Trump, only worse.
He increasingly acts like his role model, the tyrannical Donald Trump, the Sun-Sentinel of Ft. Lauderdale editorialized last year. Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat wrote at CNNs website that he has a mini-Trump brand . Molly Jong-Fast, in a newsletter for The Atlantic, concluded her tour of press clips about the governor with this conclusion: DeSantis may prove to be the Trojan Trump who finally brings down American democracy.
What makes DeSantis, or any other Republican, too Trumpy? The critics offer a wide variety of answers. Jong-Fast is willing to put the label on anyone who opposes either mask mandates in schools or abortion. Charlie Sykes, in the Bulwark, claims that DeSantis is hostile to civil liberties, quoting a report that he signed a bill that grants civil immunity to people who decide to drive their cars into protesters who are blocking a road.
Some of the charges are simply false. Floridians who drive into protesters will not have civil immunity even if judges let that DeSantis-signed bill go into effect. They have the ability to raise a defense in court if, for example, they inflicted damage because a violent public disturbance was using the threat of force to impede their safe movement.
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Politifact: Michael Bloomberg Is Registered As A Democrat But Is He Accepted As One
Michael Bloomberg is a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination despite being first elected mayor of New York City as a Republican, and later switching his party affiliation to independent.
Indeed, he announced his re-registration as a Democrat in October 2019 just weeks before unveiling his presidential bid.
That history and the billionaire businessmans penchant for donating to Republicans has led to consternation among some Democrats who wonder whether Bloomberg is really one of them.
So is he?
Hes never been as good a Democrat as Ronald Reagan was a Republican, Jim Frasier, former member of the executive committee of the Democratic National Committee, told PolitiFact. Hes every bit as good a Democrat as Bernie Sanders is.
In 1980, Reagan was elected president as a Republican, after having spent much of his early political life as a Democrat. In 2016, Sanders was runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination, though he hasnt always identified as a member of the party.
Bloombergs campaign didnt offer comment for this article. But in a June 2018 column, Bloomberg explained why he was supporting Democrats in their attempts to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives that year.
“Ive never much liked political parties,” Bloomberg wrote. “Ive always believed that we should put country before party. Too many politicians practice the reverse, with terrible consequences for the American people.”
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