Better late than never, as the saying goes, is how you could describe Michael Bloomberg’s decision to enter the race to run for president in the Democratic primary. Launching his campaign yesterday, the 77 old billionaire, who many times had considered and declined presidential runs, viewed a second term by Trump as something that the US ‘may never recover from’. He joins a campaign where one of the major talking points is extreme wealth, and the taxing of it, something that would clearly impact Bloomberg, who according to Forbes, is worth over USD52bn.
Following weeks of speculation, Bloomberg launched his multimillion-dollar campaign via social media and his website. ‘We cannot afford four more years of President Trump's reckless and unethical actions’ he stated, adding ‘He represents an existential threat to our country and our values. If he wins another term in office, we may never recover from the damage’. Adding to this, in a television advert he vows to expand health insurance without eliminating private plans, take action on climate change and gun control, and as mentioned, raise taxes on those at the top of the wealth tree. The Advert touts his record as a businessman, his time as the New York mayor, as well as his upbringing and promises to ‘to rebuild the country and restore faith in the dream that defines us’.
One interesting aspect of Bloomberg running is what happens to Bloomberg LP, the company he built and he still majority owns. In a radio interview last year he said that if he were to run for president, he would either try to sell the company or place it in a blind trust. Unlike many newsrooms, Bloomberg News has a long-held policy to not cover itself as a company, including in general Bloomberg himself. John Micklethwait, Bloomberg’s editor-in-chief, reiterated this policy in an email to his staff. ‘There is no point in trying to claim that covering this presidential campaign will be easy for a newsroom that has built up its reputation for independence in part by not writing about ourselves’ he wrote, adding that they would continue to ‘write about virtually all aspects of this presidential contest in much the same way as we have done so far’.