President Donald Trump joined a chorus of progressive voices early Sunday morning, accusing the Democratic National Committee of “rigging” the 2020 nomination process against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) by allowing former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg to debate the rest of the Democratic field on Friday despite not meeting the party’s technical requirement for participation.
Trump scorched Bloomberg in a series of Tweets, accusing the multi-millionaire of “wasting his money” competing for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination, and of manipulating the DNC, helping the Democratic “establishment” ice out the socialist Sanders.
“Many of the ads you are watching were paid for by Mini Mike Bloomberg. He is going nowhere, just wasting his money, but he is getting the DNC to rig the election against Crazy Bernie, something they wouldn’t do for @CoryBooker and others. They are doing it to Bernie again, 2016,” Trump posted to social media.
“Mini Mike is part of the Fake News. They are all working together. In fact, Bloomberg isn’t covering himself (too boring to do), or other Dems. Only Trump. That sounds fair! It’s all the Fake News Media, and that’s why nobody believes in them any more,” he continued.
Mike Bloomberg is fueling his “outsider” campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination with $200 million of his own money, according to The New York Times, citing Bloomberg’s Federal Election Commission filings. The former New York City mayor, who considers himself a “moderate” Democrat, has spent more than $130 million on television ads alone.
The spending has rocketed Bloomberg into the top tier of candidates and, on Friday, he moved ahead of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to take third place in national polls, according to Reuters. The change left the DNC with a quandry, however: Bloomberg should be allowed to debate the other top tier candidates next Friday in Nevada, given that he meets the polling threshold for the stage, but, because he’s self-funded, he doesn’t meet the “individual donor” requirement, which demands that candidates show a wide base of grassroots support.
Saturday, the DNC announced they would not apply the “individual donor” requirement to Bloomberg, allowing him to debate but shutting out other upstart candidates, including Andrew Yang, who just missed making the fundraising threshold, and Bloomberg’s fellow billionaire, Tom Steyer, whose own largesse hasn’t been as effective at building support.
“Now that the grassroots support is actually captured in real voting, the criteria will no longer require a donor threshold,” a DNC spokeswoman told media, rationalizing the decision to include Bloomberg. “The donor threshold was appropriate for the opening stages of the race, when candidates were building their organizations, and there were no metrics available outside of polling to distinguish those making progress from those who weren’t.”
The decision left a bitter taste in some Democrats’ mouths.
“The DNC changing its debate criteria to ignore grassroots donations seems tailor-made to get Mike Bloomberg on the debate stage in February. Having Americans willing to invest in your campaign is a key sign of a successful campaign,” Yang told reporters in Iowa on Saturday.
“Let’s make one thing clear: changing the rules now to accommodate Mike Bloomberg and not changing them in the past to ensure a more diverse debate stage is just plain wrong,” Steyer added in a statement. “The Democratic Party should be doing everything possible to ensure a diverse field of candidates. Instead, they are changing the rules for a candidate who is ignoring early states voters and grassroots donors.”
A Sanders spokesperson called the DNC’s move “the definition of a rigged system.”
Progressive filmmaker Michael Moore raged against the DNC in a fiery speech at a Sanders rally on Sunday.
“I watched the debate in Iowa here two weeks ago — the all-white debate — and the fact that the Democratic, the DNC will not allow Cory Booker on that stage, will not allow Julian Castro on that stage, but they are going to allow Mike Bloomberg on the stage? Because he has a billion f***ing dollars!” Moore screamed. “They are removing the rule to be on the debate stage, where it says you have to have so many people donating to you…Today they removed that rule because Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire, the Republican Mayor of New York City.”
Trump closed off the argument Sunday morning with his own third Tweet. “Mini Mike is now negotiating both to get on the Democrat Primary debate stage, and to have the right to stand on boxes, or a lift, during the debates. This is sometimes done, but really not fair!”