Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and President Donald Trump may not agree on much, but they agree on one-thing: Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is trying to buy the 2020 election.
Trump took aim at Bloomberg on Wednesday afternoon, saying that he would rather face Sanders “because Sanders has real followers, whether you like them or not, whether you agree with them or not. I happen to think it’s terrible what it says. But he has followers.”
“Bloomberg is just buying his way in. We’re going to find out what happens,” Trump continued. “Our country doesn’t need that kind of leadership.”
“Look, he’s a lightweight. He’s a lightweight,” Trump continued. “You’re going to find that out. He’s also one of the worst debaters I have ever seen and his presence is a zero. So he’ll spend his $3-, 4-, 5-hundred-million dollars. Maybe he will take it away.”
Sanders attacked Bloomberg later on Wednesday evening during an interview on CNN with Anderson Cooper.
“There was a national Quinnipiac poll this week. It showed Mike Bloomberg leading you among African-American voters 22 percent to 19 percent. Again, a lot of people haven’t actually seen Mike Bloomberg in the flesh. They’ve just seen his TV commercials,” Cooper said. “But does that concern you?”
“Look, I think at the end of the day when people, A, learn about Mr. Bloomberg’s record of stop-and-frisk in New York City, I think that will change some minds,” Sanders responded. “But, second of all, I think when people understand that in our democratic society, we have an individual worth some $60 billion who in an unprecedented way, Anderson, is literally trying to buy the elections. He didn’t compete in Iowa where all the Democratic candidates did, nor in New Hampshire, nor in Nevada, nor in South Carolina.”
“He didn’t hold town meetings. He didn’t talk to people, answer questions. All he did is take a small part of his $60 billion, put it into TV commercials, and I guess that can get you votes,” Sanders continued. “But at the end of the day, it is my firm belief that our kind of grassroots coalition, it’s a multigenerational, multiracial coalition, with millions of people knocking on doors, volunteering, making small campaign contributions, we’re going to defeat a billionaire.”
When later pressed about his multi-trillion proposals and whether people would be forced off of their private insurance plans, Sanders responded, “Well, first of all, I think if you look at the issues that we are talking about, raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour — enormously popular.”
“Demanding that the wealthy and the powerful and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes — enormously powerful and popular. Making public colleges and universities tuition-free,” Sanders continued. “As I said earlier, Medicare-for-All was one of the reasons we won in New Hampshire. It is very popular in New Hampshire and I suspect among Democrats all over this country.”
“Criminal justice reform. Immigration reform. These are issues that the American people, in fact, support,” Sanders added. “And we’re going to win this election because we are prepared to stand up to Wall Street and the corporate elite and finally do what the American people want.”
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