A day after he declared he had “no intention of dropping out,” former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg did bow out of the presidential race, to President Trump’s obvious delight.
After pumping nearly half a billion dollars of his own fortune into his campaign to defeat President Trump, Bloomberg failed to win a single state on Super Tuesday, save for his triumph in the American Samoa caucuses.
It turned out that an expensive ad blitz strategy was not enough to propel an unlikable and uncharismatic stiff with authoritarian tendencies to victory.
The multibillionaire announced Wednesday that he would endorse Joe Biden, who surged back into the lead after a strong Super Tuesday showing.
“I’m a believer in using data to inform decisions. After yesterday’s results, the delegate math has become virtually impossible – and a viable path to the nomination no longer exists. But I remain clear-eyed about my overriding objective: victory in November,” Bloomberg said in a statement.
He added: “I’ve known Joe for a very long time. I know his decency, his honesty, and his commitment to the issues that are so important to our country – including gun safety, health care, climate change, and good jobs.”
Bloomberg also vowed to use his infinite supply of money to help Biden defeat Trump in November’s general election.
The president seemed to get a kick out of Bloomberg’s “miserable” failure, and rubbed his nose in it in a series of tweets Wednesday morning. The president estimated that the real cost of Bloomberg’s campaign was a billion dollars.
“I could have told him long ago that he didn’t have what it takes, and he would have saved himself a billion dollars, the real cost. Now he will pour money into Sleepy Joe’s campaign, hoping to save face. It won’t work!” he tweeted.
Mini Mike Bloomberg just “quit” the race for President. I could have told him long ago that he didn’t have what it takes, and he would have saved himself a billion dollars, the real cost. Now he will pour money into Sleepy Joe’s campaign, hoping to save face. It won’t work!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2020
Trump continued to flame Bloomberg on Twitter, calling his campaign, “the worst, and most embarrassing, experience of his life.”
Mini Mike Bloomberg will now FIRE Tim O’Brien, and all of the fools and truly dumb people who got him into this MESS. This has been the worst, and most embarrassing, experience of his life…and now on to Sleepy Joe!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2020
In a final dig, Trump mocked Bloomberg’s announcement that he would be ending his campaign:
Mini Mike, “Three months ago I entered the race for President to defeat Donald Trump, (and I failed miserably!).
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2020
Not long after Bloomberg announced that he was suspending his campaign, Biden praised his former rival on Twitter:
“I can’t thank you enough for your support—and for your tireless work on everything from gun safety reform to climate change. This race is bigger than candidates and bigger than politics. It’s about defeating Donald Trump, and with your help, we’re gonna do it,” Biden wrote.”
.@MikeBloomberg, I can’t thank you enough for your support—and for your tireless work on everything from gun safety reform to climate change. This race is bigger than candidates and bigger than politics. It’s about defeating Donald Trump, and with your help, we’re gonna do it.
— Joe Biden (Text Join to 30330) (@JoeBiden) March 4, 2020
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Pete Buttigieg, and Tom Steyer stepped aside right before Super Tuesday in order to give Biden a clean shot at Sanders. The strategy to clear the decks for Biden appears to be working as Biden now has the lead in the delegate count (507 delegates to Sanders’ 441).
It remains to be seen how Sanders’ most fervent supporters will react if their candidate is once again denied the Democratic nomination, but there is reason for concern.
In January some of his paid field organizers were caught on tape threatening violence if their candidate does not win.
“If Bernie doesn’t get the nomination, or if it goes to a second round at the DNC Convention, f*cking Milwaukee will burn,” said Kyle Jurek, an “antifascist” field organizer for the Bernie Sanders Campaign in Iowa. “You should expect a f*cking violent reaction,” he said.
He told an undercover Project Veritas journalist that the violence would start in Milwaukee, where the convention is being held. “When the police push back on that, other cities will f*cking [makes explosion sound],” he said. “We’re going to make 1978 [he means 1968] look like a f*cking girl scout f*cking cookout,” Jurek added.
Sanders organizers in South Carolina shared similar sentiments to Project Veritas on hidden camera.