Vox - Mike Bloomberg’s 2020 presidential campaignhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52517/voxv.png2020-03-04T10:56:47-05:00http://www.vox.com/rss/stream/209095812020-03-04T10:56:47-05:002020-03-04T10:56:47-05:00Mike Bloomberg and his billions are what Democrats need to beat Trump
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<p>Mike Bloomberg dropped out of the presidential race the day after Super Tuesday. Here’s the case for his candidacy from a Vox series published earlier in 2020.</p> <p id="nSzgnP"><em>Vox writers are making </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/12/21132260/who-vote-for-biden-sanders-warren-buttigieg-bloomberg"><em><strong>the best case for the leading Democratic candidates</strong></em></a><em>. This article is the fifth in the series. </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/12/21132260/who-vote-for-biden-sanders-warren-buttigieg-bloomberg-klobuchar"><em><strong>Read them all here</strong></em></a><em>. Vox does not endorse individual candidates.</em></p>
<p id="tX3nGp"><em>On March 4, Mike Bloomberg dropped out of the presidential race after winning few delegates on Super Tuesday. </em></p>
<p id="cb2Nwk"><a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/8/18221878/michael-bloomberg-2020-president-campaign-democrat-policies">Mike Bloomberg</a> is not going to spend hours in <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/9/19/20872718/elizabeth-warren-2020-selfie-line">selfie lines</a>. He would probably rather not kiss your baby (though he might <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/01/30/michael-bloomberg-shakes-dog-snout-moos-pkg-ebof-vpx.cnn">shake your dog’s snout</a>), and he would pass on that funnel cake at the Iowa State Fair — and advise you to do the same. The case for the billionaire businessman, philanthropist, and former New York City mayor to be president of the United States isn’t that he gives you a warm fuzzy feeling. It’s that he is an experienced executive who has the resources to win. He has the biography, bravado, and bank account to beat Donald Trump at his own game. And Bloomberg can help the Democratic Party gain ground down the ballot. </p>
<p id="JSETg1">Mike, as his campaign slogan says, can get it done.</p>
<p id="LvHvuI">Bloomberg, 78, was at the helm of a city with more residents than 38 states for 12 years. The path to the presidency typically doesn’t run through City Hall. But if there ever was someone who could make the trek, it would be Bloomberg. He oversaw a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/nyregion/2013-nyc-budget-has-few-layoffs-and-no-tax-rise.html">budget that reached nearly $70 billion</a> by the end of his tenure, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_budgets#cite_note-:0-1">larger than the budgets of more than 40 states</a>, and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150305224230/http://www.usmayors.org/metroeconomies/2013/201311-report.pdf">an economy about the size of South Korea</a>. Bloomberg steered the city through two major crises — post-9/11 and the financial crash — and launched initiatives, such as a smoking ban, that have been mirrored all over the country and the world. Under Bloomberg, New Yorkers’ life expectancy <a href="https://apnews.com/50571d1a2af8409a91fca40993ca8950">increased by about three years</a>.</p>
<p id="3tvDgC">There are problems in his record, including his past remarks and attitudes on <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/politics/michael-bloomberg-women/">gender</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/17/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-presidential-campaign.html">race</a>, the racial disparities of some of the policies he enacted as mayor, and concerns about <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/02/15/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-spending.html">the influence of his money</a>. Other Democrats have begun to attack him on these fronts, and he’ll need to have answers. </p>
<p id="tQ2rGB">“What he says he’s going to do is what he’s going to try and do, and based on his record, he probably will get most of it done,” said Steven Strauss, a visiting professor at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School who advised the Bloomberg mayoral administration on economic policy.</p>
<p id="gfRaTX">The case for Bloomberg goes beyond his mayoral record. He has poured millions of dollars into fighting climate change and illegal guns, and has injected funds into federal and state elections that have made a difference — in 2018, 21 of the 24 Democratic congressional candidates Bloomberg gave money to won.<strong> </strong>That’s quite a winning streak and shows he knows how to put money in the right places. A similar strategy and spending push could be critically important in 2020 when Democrats try to hold the House and take back the Senate. In December, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mike-bloomberg-to-donate-10-million-to-house-democrats-targeted-by-gop/2019/12/10/68a80f52-1b7c-11ea-8d58-5ac3600967a1_story.html">gave $10 million</a> to House Democrats being attacked by Republicans over impeachment and <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2020-01-10/bloomberg-to-speak-at-voting-rights-summit-hosted-by-abrams">$5 million to Stacey Abrams’s Fair Fight effort</a> to protect voting rights, demonstrating his commitment to boosting the party.</p>
<p id="DVAdp5">Bloomberg is worth more than $50 billion, and he’s not interested in anyone else’s money, committing to self-funding his campaign. Bloomberg has all the resources he needs to combat the Trump machine, and he doesn’t have to spend time and energy courting donors and then returning favors to them if and when he’s in the White House.</p>
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<img alt="Mike Bloomberg campaigns in Florida." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Tt1Sjln9gkZl3oZogedZyVABdw0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19715810/GettyImages_1196600703.jpg">
<cite>Andrew Uloza/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg, former mayor of New York, greets voters in Aventura, Florida, on January 26.</figcaption>
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<p id="aHEnGg">Bloomberg is a competent, accomplished alternative to the chaos and bravado of President Trump. He is facts over fiction, data over politics, and realism over rhetoric, and he beats Trump on his own turf. Whereas Trump says he’s a self-made billionaire, Bloomberg is the real thing, and he has the receipts to back it up. In the battle of Mike’s bank account versus Donald’s, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020-presidential-election/2019/12/11/21005008/michael-bloomberg-terminal-net-worth-2020">Bloomberg LP</a> versus the Trump Organization, Bloomberg Philanthropies versus the Trump Foundation, Bloomberg wins. While Trump claimed he wouldn’t be in anyone’s pocket, Bloomberg really isn’t. When he says he’s self-funding, he means it. </p>
<p id="6pmuom">What Bloomberg promises is a steady hand in the Oval Office — and no tweets. He is a culturally liberal businessman and a technocrat focused on data over ideology. For voters who don’t like Trump but are leery of dramatic change in the midst of the longest economic expansion in US history, he feels like a solid option. </p>
<p id="1HE1S3">There’s evidence to suggest Bloomberg can win — he’s gaining steam in the primaries, and he would be a formidable force in the general. A February national poll found that of all the 2020 Democratic candidates, <a href="https://poll.qu.edu/images/polling/us/us02102020_uyid781.pdf/">Bloomberg fares best in a head-to-head matchup with Trump</a>. And it’s not just nationally, it’s also in states that matter: A January poll found Bloomberg <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/01/15/mike-bloomberg-other-democrats-lead-donald-trump-michigan-poll/4469175002/">performed best in Michigan</a>, which voted for Trump in 2016. Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is up for reelection there in 2020, and he could use someone at the top of the ticket doing well against Trump.</p>
<p id="O1IGj9">Bloomberg’s belief that there’s an appetite for his candidacy seems to be warranted: Since launching his campaign in November, Bloomberg has risen steadily in the polls and is now, <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/2020_democratic_presidential_nomination-6730.html">according to a RealClearPolitics average</a>, in third place behind Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden. <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-endorsements/democratic-primary/">He has also been quickly picking up endorsements</a>. </p>
<p id="Pm7xYU">Despite questions about his reliance on stop-and-frisk policing in New York and attitude toward communities of color, Bloomberg has gained ground with black voters as well, <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/are-black-voters-quietly-turning-to-mike-bloomberg">both nationally</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ppppolls/status/1225423861409361922">in swing states such as North Carolina</a>. </p>
<p id="EUtEIS">“Mike knows Trump is a fake, but the real part is that Mike is the real thing,” said Mitchell Moss, a professor of urban policy and planning at NYU who has advised Bloomberg and other New York politicians.</p>
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<h3 id="z1rPNs">Bloomberg has a strong record from City Hall</h3>
<p id="hXhXAb">In the summer of 2007, Michael Nutter was about to become mayor of Philadelphia — he’d won the city’s Democratic primary, and because it’s a heavily Democratic city, he was on track to win the entire race. So he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k0sHngIQN4">headed to New York City to meet with Bloomberg</a> about the programs he was putting in place there. The pair met for coffee at a local deli — though as Nutter recalls, “Mike really seems to like having coffee with people at which there’s no coffee” — and later went outside for a press conference. They answered a few questions about their conversation, but then reporters started grilling Bloomberg about a recent deadly fire.</p>
<p id="xMXBDI">“At the end of this thing, I asked him, ‘Is it like this every day?’” Nutter told me. “And he said, ‘Yep, every day.’”</p>
<p id="oYFkPj">If there’s any training ground for the presidency, it might be the mayorship of New York City — tons of moving parts, a lot of delegation, a huge budget, and an enormous number of stakeholders in the mix. “There is no job in politics as close to people and as complicated on the ground as being the mayor of any city in the United States of America, let alone New York City,” Nutter said.</p>
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<img alt="Mike Bloomberg walks to New York’s City Hall in 2002." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OhxkWfdl8SIi2P4pKFbegm6IA1M=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19715921/GettyImages_97312917.jpg">
<cite>Susan Watts/NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg walks to City Hall in New York City in 2002.</figcaption>
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<img alt="Bloomberg’s second-term inauguration in 2006." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jvvxpuDDUwE-tZoHtriMAg_dKgY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19715934/GettyImages_97310267.jpg">
<cite>Corey Sipkin/NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Bloomberg greets people outside City Hall as he arrives for his second-term inauguration in 2006.</figcaption>
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<img alt="Bloomberg’s third-term mayoral inauguration speech in 2010." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cr85HIr0LBOWqqxg7yuYpNG7ivU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19715937/GettyImages_95522373.jpg">
<cite>Hiroko Masuike/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Bloomberg delivers his third-term inauguration speech at City Hall in New York City in 2010.</figcaption>
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<p id="DyVfvT">Bloomberg steered the city’s recoveries from both the 9/11 attacks (he was inaugurated in January 2002) and the financial crisis. He <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/education/30space.html">took control of the city’s school system</a>, <a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/300641-how-new-york-vertical-city-kept-rising-during-bloomberg/">rezoned and worked to develop the Manhattan and Brooklyn waterfronts and other parts of New York</a>, and <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/119-07/mayor-bloomberg-presents-planyc-a-greener-greater-new-york#/1">pushed for climate-conscious and green initiatives</a>. He has experience dealing with a legislative body — the city council — and all that entails, and with competing stakeholders inside and outside the government. </p>
<p id="QaDUae">According to a January poll from <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/276932/several-issues-tie-important-2020-election.aspx">Gallup</a>, health care ranks as the top issue for American voters heading into 2020. While Bloomberg may be caricatured for trying to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2013/03/11/the-new-york-city-soda-ban-explained/">ban giant sodas</a> and impose a “nanny state” in New York, the public health initiatives he undertook generally made a difference. He <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-smoking-newyork/new-york-city-marks-10th-anniversary-of-smoking-ban-idUSBRE92R0UU20130328">implemented a smoking ban</a> across city restaurants and bars in 2003, and while it was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/22/nyregion/groups-to-publicize-poll-that-supports-smoking-ban.html">rather unpopular at the time</a>, it’s now become commonplace across the US and the world. His administration made efforts to fight obesity, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/nyregion/25calories.html">such as requiring chain restaurants to disclose calorie counts</a>, and put in place stricter regulations on tanning salons. And his efforts achieved results: Life expectancy for New Yorkers went up. </p>
<p id="eKEhCJ">“Mike is not an ideologue,” Moss said. “He actually has demonstrated amazing capacity to get things done using the instruments of government.” </p>
<p id="OpBpfy">To be sure, there are darker parts of Bloomberg’s mayoral record — his administration stuck by stop-and-frisk policing, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/03/stop-and-frisk-didnt-make-new-york-safer/359666/">a practice that has been discredited</a> and that disproportionately affected people of color. In 2009, black and Latino people were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/nyregion/13frisk.html">nine times as likely</a> to be stopped by New York City police as white people, and as <a href="https://www.nyclu.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/20190314_nyclu_stopfrisk_singles.pdf">police stops have fallen</a> under Bill de Blasio, Bloomberg’s successor, crime has not increased. And there is <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/13/18193661/hire-police-officers-crime-criminal-justice-reform-booker-harris">evidence to suggest</a> that just having more police walking around reduces crime. Bloomberg <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/17/nyregion/bloomberg-stop-and-frisk-new-york.html">apologized for the practice</a> before launching his presidential bid and has continued to do so (though some activists <a href="https://www.vox.com/first-person/2020/2/14/21136892/stop-and-frisk-bloomberg-activist">have said</a> an apology does not go far enough). </p>
<p id="638hOv">Wealthy and white residents were often seen as benefiting from Bloomberg’s policies more than minority and low-income New Yorkers. Bloomberg oversaw the rezoning of parts of the city so they could be developed with skyscrapers and apartment complexes, which could result in gentrification and push out less affluent residents. </p>
<p id="nDqTZO">But those I spoke with about Bloomberg’s record say he was driven by data, and that created a facts-driven culture from the top down. “You couldn’t present him an idea, initiative, or review something that had been in the works without presenting the data behind it,” one former City Hall employee, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, told me. “He likes to say, ‘If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.’”</p>
<p id="ylACgZ">And Bloomberg was willing to hear people out. “What I’ve heard people say repeatedly is that you don’t always agree with the Bloomberg team, but at least you know where you stand,” said Eddie Bautista, executive director at the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance and former director of city legislative affairs under Bloomberg.</p>
<h3 id="tcv2IN">Pete Buttigieg fundraised in a wine cave. Mike Bloomberg owns the wine cave.</h3>
<p id="RzjICO">You cannot donate to Bloomberg’s presidential campaign in any capacity. Like, at all. <a href="https://shop.mikebloomberg.com/">Even his campaign merchandise is sold at cost</a>. And in funding the entire thing, Bloomberg frees up his time, attention, and obligations in a way almost no other politician can. He does not have a base of donors or a party apparatus that he feels the need to obey, and that makes a difference. You want an anti-corruption candidate? Try someone who’s not taking a dime from anyone else.</p>
<p id="lDX0fD">While Democrats may not love the idea of a billionaire self-funding his campaign (if not potentially buying the nomination and the presidency), a billionaire listening just to himself may be better than a candidate listening to billionaires and trying to keep them happy. Bloomberg might anger people, but he’ll anger them less selectively, because his campaign isn’t beholden to anyone. </p>
<p id="GTejH6">And like it or not, Bloomberg’s $50 billion-plus fortune matters in a campaign where the opponent has a huge war chest. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-and-the-gop-raised-almost-half-a-billion-dollars-last-year%E2%80%94and-still-had-nearly-200-million-heading-into-2020/2020/01/03/10ba1612-2dad-11ea-bcd4-24597950008f_story.html">Trump and the Republican Party raised nearly half a billion dollars last year</a>. Bloomberg has the resources to run a 50-state campaign now. There won’t be a moment where he and his team have to think about fundraising or try to squeeze donors. </p>
<p id="UmTLDw">“Whatever problems Bloomberg has, he can throw money at them; whether that works or not, I don’t know, but better to have more money than less,” said Kyle Kondik, a veteran pollster and managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball.</p>
<p id="eKXfwW">Bloomberg has said he is open to spending up to $1 billion to defeat Trump in 2020, and that he’ll put the force of his operation behind the 2020 nominee whether or not it’s him. But he’ll likely have an easier time parting with that money if it is to his direct benefit. “You know how much money a billion dollars is?” Bloomberg <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/11/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-spending.html">told the New York Times</a> in January. “It’s a lot of money to me. It’s a lot of money to anybody.”</p>
<p id="uEKtpw">The former mayor has already dumped hundreds of millions of dollars into television, digital, and radio ads, and there is evidence his big-spend strategy is working: In a matter of months, <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/2020_democratic_presidential_nomination-6730.html">it’s catapulted him above other candidates in the polls</a>. And as I’ll get to below, Bloomberg’s money doesn’t just matter for himself — it matters to the entire party.</p>
<h3 id="gyxOjr">Bloomberg has spent years lifting up the Democratic Party and building an apparatus around him</h3>
<p id="nlSflf">One of the criticisms of former President Barack Obama is that he <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/10/14211994/obama-democrats-downballot">paid too little attention to down-ballot races</a> and that the Democratic Party became too complacent under his administration. Bloomberg can turn that around. In fact, he’s already doing it.</p>
<p id="R5ehmL">While high-profile victories from progressive candidates such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) garnered a lot of media attention in the 2018 midterms, it was actually <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/10/upshot/2020-North-Carolina-moderate-democrats.html">moderate candidates who drove</a> Democratic victories in taking back the House of Representatives, many of whom had Bloomberg’s backing.</p>
<p id="TcfnB7">Bloomberg <a href="https://www.independenceusapac.org/News/democratic-house-candidates-win/">injected $110 million into the midterms</a>, and where he played, he overwhelmingly won: Of the 24 House races he sought to influence, Democrats won 21, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/30/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-democrats-donate.html">about half</a> of those districts had been considered Republican-leaning or toss-ups. Through Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun control organization he co-founded and backs, Bloomberg was able to target contributions and mobilization efforts at the state and federal level in 2018. Even the GOP admitted Bloomberg had made a difference.</p>
<p id="anOzK8">“Michael Bloomberg’s money went a long way. He defeated a lot of people by writing those $5 million checks,” Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-TX), now the House minority leader, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/30/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-democrats-donate.html">told CNBC at the time</a>.</p>
<p id="yfxB4A">Bloomberg’s efforts to support the Democratic Party, progressive causes, and state and local governments stretch far beyond the 2018 elections. </p>
<p id="svMf3F">In 2017, Bloomberg and Harvard <a href="https://www.mikebloomberg.com/global-impact/news/bloomberg-philanthropies-harvard-launch-first-ever-executive-leadership-program-mayors-city-leaders/">launched</a> the <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/07/bloomberg-program-at-kennedy-school-helps-mayors-govern-more-creatively-effectively/">Bloomberg Harvard Leadership Initiative</a>, a program that trains city leaders across the country. Basically, it’s a school for mayors, and its goal is to enroll 240 cities over four years into its one-year program.</p>
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<img alt="Campaign workers at Bloomberg’s New York headquarters." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wYsYWhi2S_8U0FhIK_Z6e5hCt8k=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19716176/GettyImages_1198662812.jpg">
<cite>Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Office workers are seen in the campaign headquarters of Mike Bloomberg in New York City, January 30, 2020.</figcaption>
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<p id="tSYos7">Michael Tubbs, the 29-year-old mayor of Stockton, California, was part of the 2018 class of the Bloomberg mayor boot camp. “I think that shows the foresight and vision in terms of understanding he can’t do things by himself,” Tubbs said. </p>
<p id="JV26lN">Tubbs has endorsed Bloomberg’s 2020 run and is a surrogate for his campaign. So is Nutter, the former mayor of Philadelphia. In fact, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/14/us/politics/bloomberg-mayors-2020.html">more than a few mayors across the country are backing Bloomberg</a>, a result of the relationships he’s cultivated with them over the years. The cynical read of this is that some of these cities and leaders have received help from Bloomberg and are paying him back, but they say their backing is genuine, and the relationship with Bloomberg is reciprocal. Under Nutter, Philadelphia implemented New York City’s 311 system for residents to report non-emergencies; under Bloomberg, New York <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/mayor-michael-nutter-endorses-michael-bloomberg-campaign-chair-2020-democrats-20191220.html">modeled a mortgage foreclosure prevention program</a> after Philadelphia.</p>
<h3 id="Wyl2BM">Bloomberg’s appeal is to moderates, but progressives shouldn’t write him off</h3>
<p id="QGweZM">Many progressives have, understandably, chafed at Bloomberg’s run. The idea of a billionaire willing himself into the White House by the sheer force of his bank account is a bit unsavory, especially for Democrats and others on the left who have spent years railing against the influence of money in politics. </p>
<p id="yAdIGn">While Bloomberg is running as a moderate, and is obviously no Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/02/03/progressive-case-for-mike-bloomberg-climate-guns-jobs-column/4640460002/">progressives shouldn’t be so quick to brush him aside</a> — he has been ahead of the curve on many of the issues they care about, such as climate, health care, and guns. </p>
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<img alt="A gun safety policy event in Aurora, Colorado." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dmM6B60jLVard6idFtuom4zMCYE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19716014/GettyImages_1186606536.jpg">
<cite>Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Mike Bloomberg, Rep. Tom Sullivan, and Everytown for Gun Safety senior managing director Debbie Weir during a gun safety policy event in Aurora, Colorado, on December 5, 2019.</figcaption>
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<p id="fw327p">In 2006, for example, Bloomberg launched Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition of mayors dedicated to reducing gun violence. Six years later, after the Sandy Hook shooting, Shannon Watts, the Colorado founder of Moms Demand Action, created the parent-focused gun safety group on Facebook. In 2013, the two joined forces under <a href="https://everytown.org/press/new-gun-violence-prevention-group-everytown-for-gun-safety-unites-mayors-moms-and-millions-of-americans-on-new-paths-to-victory-state-capitols-corporate-responsibility-voter-activation/">Everytown for Gun Safety</a>, one of the most influential gun control groups in the country.</p>
<p id="1TnSFX">“He is walking the talk when it comes to this issue. It is not just lip service; it is not political expediency. Mike fully believes that we’ve got to defeat the NRA’s agenda and end the scourge of gun violence,” Watts said.</p>
<p id="2Vlkz2">Beyond the social issues, progressives might want to take a look at Bloomberg on economic ones as well. Is he going to enact massive redistribution of wealth? No. But in New York City, he <a href="https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2019/11/28/michael-bloomberg-on-taxes-president-run-2020-presidential-election-taxing-the-wealthy">raised property taxes and income taxes on rich people</a> when the city found itself in a fiscal crisis post-9/11. (He didn’t love doing it, but he did it.) The tax plan he’s rolled out as part of his presidential campaign <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/01/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-tax-plan.html">would raise taxes on rich people and corporations</a>. </p>
<h3 id="weqZQY">Yes, there are risks</h3>
<p id="E2LawD">When Bloomberg decided against running as an independent in 2016, he titled his <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2016-03-07/the-2016-election-risk-that-michael-bloomberg-won-t-take">essay</a> explaining his decision “The risk I will not take.” But even as a Democrat in 2020, Bloomberg brings some risks with him.</p>
<p id="VjPy8n">He has a long record in business and in politics, and that also means a lot of baggage. One main point of criticism has been the stop-and-frisk policing policy his administration continued and expanded from Rudy Giuliani’s tenure, which disproportionately impacted black and Latino communities in New York. </p>
<p id="S61PFU">Bloomberg <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/17/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-speech.html">apologized</a> for the policy just before launching his 2020 bid, but it’s an issue that’s going to continue to dog him. <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/11/21133200/bloomberg-racist-accused-twitter-hashtag-bloombergisracist-explained">Videos and audio continue to surface of Bloomberg defending the policy before the apology and speaking of people of color in crass and cold ways</a>. </p>
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<img alt="Bloomberg speaks at a predominantly black church in Brooklyn in 2019." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/y8wDMWdl-weQGSgAceUJtpBuMs8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19716027/GettyImages_1183043564.jpg">
<cite>Yana Paskova/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Mike Bloomberg speaks at a predominantly black church, Christian Cultural Center, in Brooklyn in 2019.</figcaption>
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<p id="XD5qad">The former mayor has <a href="https://www.mikebloomberg.com/news/statement-from-mike-bloomberg">repeatedly apologized</a> and pointed to areas where his record with communities of color is strong, and his surrogates and supporters of color, including Tubbs, the Stockton mayor, have come to his defense. Stop and frisk was “terrible” in New York, he <a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelDTubbs/status/1227119556943966208?s=20">tweeted</a> in February, and so was the 1994 crime bill, which Biden helped write and Sanders voted for. “As a black man, my politics have to be [one] of grace & growth or I have no political home,” he wrote.</p>
<p id="0CVdd6">Bloomberg also oversaw a police department that enacted a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2012/02/21/us/new-york-muslim-surveillance/index.html">years-long Muslim surveillance program</a>, even while <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703545604575407673221908474">advocating</a> to allow a mosque to be built near the World Trade Center site. </p>
<p id="cW4SlP">One other question hanging over Bloomberg: his and his company’s history with women. In 2007, several dozen women accused Bloomberg LP of discriminating against them while pregnant or having returned from maternity leave (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bloomberg-bias-lawsuit/u-s-judge-tosses-pregnancy-bias-lawsuit-against-bloomberg-lp-idUSBRE9880UI20130909">the case was eventually dismissed</a>), and Bloomberg’s attitudes and remarks toward women have been the subject of lawsuits and scrutiny as well. </p>
<p id="XJkQqp">A “<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/booklet-mike-bloombergs-wit-wisdom-haunt-presidential-bid/story?id=67744181">wit and wisdom</a>” book his friends and colleagues compiled of Bloomberg’s supposed sayings three decades ago contains a litany of crude remarks, and he and his company <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bloomberg-wont-release-women-sued-secrecy-agreements/story?id=68171036">reportedly faced multiple lawsuits</a> over allegedly fostering a bad workplace for women. Many of the women involved are under nondisclosure agreements and can’t talk about what happened. Not only are concerns about Bloomberg’s attitudes disturbing, but they also open the door for an October (or whenever) surprise before the general election.</p>
<p id="P5KLdJ">Bloomberg has said he regrets telling a “bawdy joke” but has denied having anything to hide — even though he’s not releasing anyone from the NDAs, either. “We don’t have anything to hide,” he <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bloomberg-digs-doesnt-female-employees-freed-ndas/story?id=68307778">said</a> in an appearance on <em>The View</em> in January. “But we made legal agreements which both sides wanted to keep things from coming out. They have a right to do that.”</p>
<p id="KPXv1X">Still, he would not be the first rich New Yorker with a checkered history with women and minorities the American people put in the White House. </p>
<h3 id="YvIKwS">One final reason to believe Bloomberg can win: He thinks he can</h3>
<p id="d3xMml">So here is the thing about Mike Bloomberg: He’s not a guy who likes to lose. Before finally<em> </em>pulling the trigger and deciding to run for the White House, he had waffled on the idea for years. If Bloomberg is running now, it’s because he thinks he’s got a path.</p>
<p id="SiHGNA">Admittedly, it’s an unusual path. He’s flooding the television airwaves in a moment when digital is considered the strategy of the future. He’s skipping the first four primary states and going straight for the delegate-rich votes. While Democrats have tended to follow the <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/7/27/16050576/michelle-obama-racism-sexism-white-house">Michelle Obama model</a> (“When they go low, we go high”), Bloomberg’s camp <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/02/bloomberg-camp-mocks-trump-110367">has no problem</a> hitting back at Trump as a “pathological liar” about everything, including “his fake hair, his obesity, and his spray-on tan.” His social media strategy is often <a href="https://twitter.com/Mike2020/status/1225566201079848960">downright</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Mike2020/status/1217254115132235776">weird</a>. </p>
<p id="823RFu">Bloomberg’s theory of the election is unconventional, but if it works, it works. And there are signs it’s working. </p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="CAFuEU">
<p id="8zDcI0">Read the rest of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/12/21132260/who-vote-for-biden-sanders-warren-buttigieg-bloomberg"><strong>Case For</strong></a> series: The <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/1/7/21002895/bernie-sanders-2020-electability"><strong>case for Bernie Sanders</strong></a>; The <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/1/15/21054083/elizabeth-warren-2020-democratic-primary"><strong>case for Elizabeth Warren</strong></a>; the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/1/29/21078640/joe-biden-beat-trump-win-2020-election-primaries"><strong>case for Joe Biden</strong></a>; the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/4/21121636/pete-buttigieg-beat-trump-win-2020-election-primaries"><strong>case for Pete Buttigieg</strong></a>; the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/21/21133969/case-for-amy-klobuchar-electoral-college-democrats"><strong>case for Amy Klobuchar</strong></a>. Vox does not endorse individual candidates.</p>
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https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/18/21135149/mike-bloomberg-democrat-polls-debate-new-york-mayor-recordEmily Stewart2020-03-04T10:33:56-05:002020-03-04T10:33:56-05:00Mike Bloomberg is proof that you can’t buy a presidency
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<figcaption>Mike Bloomberg speaks at his Super Tuesday night event in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 3, 2020. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Bloomberg’s worst investment yet might be his presidential campaign.</p> <p id="cSLUfa">Turns out half a billion dollars can’t get you very far in the Democratic primary, at least if you’re <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/8/18221878/michael-bloomberg-2020-president-campaign-democrat-policies">Mike Bloomberg</a> in 2020.</p>
<p id="96WSIv">The billionaire businessman, philanthropist, and former New York City mayor pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into television, radio, and digital ads to propel his campaign. He hired more than 2,000 staffers across 43 states after launching his presidential bid in November 2020. His bet: All that money would translate into<strong> </strong>big wins on <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/3/3/21157546/super-tuesday-2020-results-news-updates-winners">Super Tuesday</a> and beyond. But it appears not to be the case — on Tuesday, Bloomberg sort of crashed and burned, or at the very least picked up fewer votes and delegates than he might have hoped. He <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/4/21151245/mike-bloomberg-drops-out-2020-billionaire-bernie-sanders-joe-biden">dropped out of the race</a> the next day.</p>
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<cite>Joe Raedle/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Mike Bloomberg greets staff and volunteers as he stops by one of his campaign offices in Miami, Florida, on March 3, 2020.</figcaption>
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<p id="gvRMR6">It became relatively clear early in the evening that Bloomberg’s performance might not be as strong as he’d hoped. Bloomberg came in a distant fourth in <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/3/3/21154500/virgina-primary-winner-joe-biden">Virginia</a>, which former Vice President Joe Biden won, and appears to have failed to pass the threshold to get delegates. Not a great sign, given that he poured $18 million into television and digital ads there, spent millions of dollars there in the 2018 midterms, and held multiple campaign events and rallies there. A Bloomberg aide told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/super-tuesday-results-2020/h_5ca031474ef3544b17572b3678d5e471">CNN</a> that though Bloomberg’s operation was good, it’s a “breeding ground” for Biden voters. </p>
<p id="4sM1Gp">Bloomberg appears poised to potentially pick up some delegates in states such as Arkansas, Colorado, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah, and he appears to be close but not quite there in North Carolina and Oklahoma. But he’s not leading in any, and he’s very close to the 15 percent threshold across most. </p>
<p id="abtzee">Bloomberg did pull out one early victory — he <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/3/21163915/american-samoa-caucus-winner-mike-bloomberg">won American Samoa</a> and five delegates — but in multiple states, he probably wishes he’d done better, including Texas and Oklahoma. It will be days or weeks before we know the final results of the California primary because <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/3/3/21154848/california-primary-winner-super-tuesday-slow-vote-count">counting mail-in votes take so long</a>, and that will determine whether Bloomberg hits the 15 percent threshold to pick up delegates. </p>
<p id="Wwx2hY">On Tuesday night, he was campaigning in Florida, and he had other states — including swing states Michigan and Pennsylvania — on his schedule this week. But at least some of his decision to run in the first place <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/14/bloomberg-signals-he-would-run-for-president-if-biden-struggles-against-warren.html">was tied to Biden’s perceived weakness</a>, and now that Biden is rising, Bloomberg is getting out of the way. When he dropped out on Wednesday, he endorsed Biden.</p>
<p id="x5naQv">Speaking at a campaign event in West Palm Beach on Tuesday as the results came in, Bloomberg struck a humble tone: “No matter how many delegates we win tonight, we have done something no one else thought was possible. In just three months, we’ve gone from just 1 percent in the polls to being a contender for the Democratic nomination.”</p>
<p id="z5nqGV">On Wednesday, he acknowledged he didn’t see a path for himself. “I remain clear-eyed about my overriding objective: victory in November. Not for me, but for our country. And so while I will not be the nominee, I will not walk away from the most important political fight of my life,” he said in a statement.</p>
<p id="qWrLEq">Before everyone piles on the Bloomberg hate, it’s important to note he has said he’ll support whoever the Democratic nominee is and plans to keep his massive operations up and running through November. </p>
<h3 id="RweEgZ">If the lesson of having two billionaires in the race is that you can’t buy the presidency, that’s probably fine</h3>
<p id="6jLalP">Bloomberg is not the only billionaire presidential candidate who hasn’t managed to get as much bang for his buck out of the 2020 primary as he wanted. Tom Steyer, who <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/all-tom-steyers-money-11583194985">injected a quarter of a billion dollars</a> into his own White House run, had a similar experience. He put much of his energy (and money) into South Carolina and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/29/21157885/south-carolina-primary-live-results-2020">came in third place with 11 percent of the vote</a>, behind Biden and Sanders and short of the threshold to get delegates. He <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/29/20897497/tom-steyer-drops-out-presidential-race">suspended his campaign over the weekend</a>, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/tom-steyer-juvenile-back-that-azz-up-south-carolina-rally-960040/">though he seems to have had a fun time along the way</a>. </p>
<p id="lqyHv8">Was it great to have two billionaires in the primary? To a lot of Democrats, no. But if the takeaway is that you have to have more than your own money to propel you forward in presidential politics, that seems good.</p>
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<cite>Alex Wong/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Tom Steyer speaks to voters during a campaign event in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 14, 2020.</figcaption>
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<p id="ZZKduT">Many progressives bristled at Steyer being in the race — he’s a former hedge funder, though he turned to activism years ago — but it was Bloomberg who really set off a firestorm. He came into the race in November as the billionaire white knight no one invited to the party (at least not any of the cool kids). Over the past few months, it has really felt like Bloomberg is <em>everywhere </em>— even in New York City, where he is a known quantity and which votes on April 28, you watch a half-hour of <em>Jeopardy </em>in the evening and chances are you’re going to see a Bloomberg ad. </p>
<p id="FqIFTC">But it seems just because you spend a lot of money — even on <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/14/21137102/mike-bloomberg-instagram-meme-ad-campaign-backfiring">Instagram memes</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/2/19/21144339/mike-bloomberg-debate-social-media-wsj-twitter-facebook-polls">your own internet army</a> — does not mean you can win over everyone, or even a lot of people. Parts of Bloomberg’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020-presidential-election/2020/2/27/21153145/mike-bloomberg-record-mayor-racist-stop-frisk-new-york">mayoral record</a> came back to haunt him, namely, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/21/21144559/mike-bloomberg-stop-and-frisk-criminal-justice-record">his administration’s oversight of stop-and-frisk policing</a>, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/19/21144962/nevada-democratic-debate-mike-bloomberg-disaster">his debate performances left much to be desired</a>. Turns out you can sleep on some of the early states and struggle in debates if you’re Joe Biden. Not so much if you’re Mike Bloomberg.</p>
<p id="3c1Zcu">Perhaps what especially undercuts Bloomberg’s spending on his candidacy is that his riches are <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/18/21135149/mike-bloomberg-democrat-polls-debate-new-york-mayor-record">one of the prime reasons he and his supporters argued he could win</a>. He never has to meet with donors because he never took a dime from anyone else for his campaign, and he has the money immediately to beat the Trump machine. The sentiment was that Trump is a fake, in terms of his bank account, and Bloomberg, with more than $50 billion in the bank, is the real thing.</p>
<p id="HUhAtM">But Democratic voters couldn’t be convinced so easily, no matter how many ads they saw.</p>
<h3 id="LcniFZ">Bloomberg has done a lot of good things for the Democratic Party, and Democrats probably hope that will continue</h3>
<p id="zAmNNO">While progressives — <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/19/21145018/nevada-democratic-debate-elizabeth-warren-mike-bloomberg">Sen. Elizabeth Warren in particular</a> — have been hypercritical of him in the 2020 race, Bloomberg has done a lot of good things for the Democratic Party and the left. He has spent years fighting against climate change and illegal guns, and he’s been an important supporter of Democrats down the ballot, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/18/21135149/mike-bloomberg-democrat-polls-debate-new-york-mayor-record">which I explained earlier this year</a>: </p>
<blockquote><p id="xsDGcB">Bloomberg <a href="https://www.independenceusapac.org/News/democratic-house-candidates-win/">injected $110 million into the midterms</a>, and where he played, he overwhelmingly won: Of the 24 House races he sought to influence, Democrats won 21, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/30/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-democrats-donate.html">about half</a> of those districts had been considered Republican-leaning or toss-ups. Through Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun control organization he co-founded and backs, Bloomberg was able to target contributions and mobilization efforts at the state and federal level in 2018. Even the GOP admitted Bloomberg had made a difference.</p></blockquote>
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<cite>Joe Raedle/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Mike Bloomberg greets supporters during a stop at one of his campaign offices in Manassas, Virginia, on March 2, 2020.</figcaption>
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<p id="eSAxeO">At the same time, it’s hard not to wonder what Bloomberg could have done with the hundreds of millions of dollars he spent on his presidential campaign. Plenty of down-ballot candidates desperately leave money, and if Democrats really want to build power, they need to do it from the ground up. The White House is nice, but one of the lessons of Barack Obama’s presidency is that if you’re not paying enough attention to the rest, it can do a lot of harm.</p>
<p id="uk2rZH">The role of big money in the Democratic Party will continue to be a debate going forward — how Biden is funding his campaign, compared to Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, is different. But at the very least, if Democrats reject both Bloomberg and Steyer, they are saying that winning their votes is about more than dollars. </p>
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/3/21163970/mike-bloomberg-super-tuesday-results-2020-spendingEmily Stewart2020-03-04T10:15:13-05:002020-03-04T10:15:13-05:00Millions of dollars later, Mike Bloomberg quits the presidential race and endorses Joe Biden
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<figcaption>Mike Bloomberg greets supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 3, 2020. | Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Turns out maybe you can’t buy the presidency after all.</p> <p id="zxiBlu"><a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/8/18221878/michael-bloomberg-2020-president-campaign-democrat-policies">Mike Bloomberg</a> has ended his 2020 presidential bid and is endorsing <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/4/25/18185060/joe-biden-2020-presidential-election-campaign-policies">Joe Biden</a>.</p>
<p id="3YEUMp">The billionaire businessman, philanthropist, and former New York City mayor announced that he is suspending his White House run on Wednesday morning, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/3/21163970/mike-bloomberg-super-tuesday-results-2020-spending">the day after widely underperforming on Super Tuesday</a>. It marks the end of what was probably the most unconventional campaign of the 2020 election and certainly the fastest-spending one. Bloomberg has said he’ll keep the infrastructure he put in place for his campaign up and running until November, which could be an important boon for the Democratic Party, perhaps especially Biden.</p>
<p id="ZldrJK">“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. Not for me, but for our country,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “And so while I will not be the nominee, I will not walk away from the most important political fight of my life.”</p>
<p id="yk2Uxx">He commended Biden for “his decency, his honesty, and his commitment to the issues that are so important to our country” and said he believes the former vice president has the “best shot” of winning in November.</p>
<p id="FJ5SFV">Bloomberg’s campaign was a long shot from the start. He only <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/24/20971503/michael-bloomberg-2020-presidential-run-billionaire-new-york">announced</a> he was running in November 2019, after <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/5/18252225/michael-bloomberg-wont-run-2020">initially saying he wasn’t going to months before</a>, and he made it clear from the get-go that the path he would take to the Oval Office wasn’t the typical one. He skipped campaigning in the four early primary states — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina — and instead focused on Super Tuesday and more delegate-rich states. </p>
<aside id="sPj1rW"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"Super Tuesday: Live results","url":"https://www.vox.com/2020/3/3/21156481/super-tuesday-live-results"}]}'></div></aside><p id="hh2OyC">But what was most unique about Bloomberg’s bid wasn’t the states he was going to; it was his money. His campaign was entirely self-funded — you could not give a dime to him, and even his campaign merchandise was sold at cost. Bloomberg, whose net worth <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/michael-bloomberg/#4bdb6b1a1417">Forbes</a> pegs at more than $60 billion, dumped millions upon millions of dollars into television, digital, and radio advertising, to the point that he felt almost inescapable. His campaign opened more than 150 field offices with 2,400 staffers across 43 states and territories. </p>
<p id="CFQ5OH">Sometimes, his money allowed him to try out tactics that were, frankly, a little weird. He <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/14/21137102/mike-bloomberg-instagram-meme-ad-campaign-backfiring">paid some Instagram influencers to create a meme campaign around him</a>, and he also <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/2/19/21144339/mike-bloomberg-debate-social-media-wsj-twitter-facebook-polls">sought to hire 500 “deputy digital organizers”</a> to promote his campaign to their contact lists and on their personal social media accounts. The pay: $2,500 a month for 20-30 hours per week of work. Even Bloomberg’s unpaid social media strategy was at times a <a href="https://twitter.com/Mike2020/status/1225566201079848960">bit</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Mike2020/status/1217254115132235776">odd</a>.</p>
<p id="5Tid3c">His campaign strategy, as unconventional as it was, did gain him quite a bit of traction in the polls and in the national conversation. While many pundits, politicians, and experts brushed off his run initially, by January, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/1/17/21070295/michael-bloomberg-polls-advertising-spending-michigan-donald-trump">he began to rise in the polls</a>, and by mid-February, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/18/21142041/michael-bloomberg-poll-second-2020-democratic-primary">he reached the top tier nationally</a>. </p>
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<cite>Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Mike Bloomberg campaigns in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Super Tuesday, March 3, 2020. </figcaption>
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<p id="dLERpE">But as his campaign took off, so did scrutiny of his record. Bloomberg, who spent 12 years as New York City’s mayor and has been a fairly outspoken figure for decades, has a lot of baggage. He apologized for overseeing the city’s stop-and-frisk policing, which disproportionately targeted black and Latino young men, just before launching his presidential campaign, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/21/21144559/mike-bloomberg-stop-and-frisk-criminal-justice-record">but he defended the policy for years</a>, which came back to haunt him. More broadly, the former mayor has a history of making comments about minorities and the poor that can often seem crass and insensitive. </p>
<p id="ErSrsu">His presidential run also cast attention on <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/20/21143981/mike-bloomberg-sexual-harassment-nondisclosure-agreements-ndas">past harassment and discrimination claims</a> against Bloomberg and his company, Bloomberg LP. He initially refused to release women who made claims against him from nondisclosure agreements they had signed, but <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/21/21147785/mike-bloomberg-nondisclosure-agreements-elizabeth-warren-women-harassment">eventually he agreed to allow three women to speak out if they wished</a>. </p>
<h3 id="4x0efQ">It turns out you can only buy yourself partway to the White House</h3>
<p id="bg9mC4">Bloomberg’s bet on his presidential campaign was two-fold: One, a lot of money can go a long way in getting ahead in politics. And two, Democratic voters were looking for a Sen. Bernie Sanders alternative in the primary, and nobody who was then in the race — former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, etc. — was it.</p>
<p id="HvbWmn">He ultimately missed the mark on both fronts.</p>
<p id="0RJHGA">While Bloomberg spent a ton of money with positive messaging about himself in advertising, it wasn’t enough to blot out the parts of his record that Democratic primary voters might be bothered by. After a wobbly first <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/19/21144962/nevada-democratic-debate-mike-bloomberg-disaster">debate performance</a> in Nevada, it became clear that Bloomberg hadn’t been on a debate stage in a while. He probably isn’t often challenged on his views and decisions in his everyday life, and it showed. All of the candidates in the Nevada and South Carolina debates went after Bloomberg, and Warren, specifically, landed some big punches. <a href="https://morningconsult.com/2020/02/21/michael-bloomberg-polling-post-debate-las-vegas/">The debates took a toll on Bloomberg in the polls</a>.</p>
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<cite>Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>In a memorable debate performance, Sen. Warren skewered Bloomberg by saying, “I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: a billionaire who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians.’ And no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump; I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg.”</figcaption>
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<p id="0uemi4">Democrats wary of a Sanders candidacy have failed to coalesce around a non-Sanders contender, and Bloomberg attempted to make himself the last best option. Instead, he managed to scramble the non-Sanders vote even more than it already was. </p>
<p id="Lx4qgk">As Sanders emerged as the frontrunner, Bloomberg appeared to believe that in a one-on-one with Sanders, he could take him on. Heading into South Carolina and Super Tuesday, he began to roll out aggressive anti-Sanders ads and messaging. But Bloomberg’s theory on being able to beat Sanders — and, of course, everyone else — in the Democratic primary didn’t work. He underperformed on Super Tuesday, seemingly taking a big hit as Biden’s campaign gained steam.</p>
<p id="OPyEPf">Bloomberg has been toying with the idea of running for president for years, and at the very least, now he’s tried. He has pledged to keep his political operations up and running through November, which could have important implications for Democrats across the country and up and down the ballot, including at the top of the ticket. </p>
<p id="llGVhR">That’s sure to be important for Democrats as they turn to running against Trump for real.</p>
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/4/21151245/mike-bloomberg-drops-out-2020-billionaire-bernie-sanders-joe-bidenEmily Stewart2020-03-03T20:47:39-05:002020-03-03T20:47:39-05:00American Samoa also voted on Super Tuesday. Mike Bloomberg won.
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<figcaption>Mike Bloomberg visits a campaign event in Miami, Florida, on March 3, 2020. | Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP via Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Super Tuesday’s American Samoa caucuses gave a small victory to Bloomberg.</p> <p id="2ZAqYL">Mike Bloomberg won American Samoa’s Democratic caucuses on <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/3/3/21157546/super-tuesday-2020-results-news-updates-winners">Super Tuesday</a>.</p>
<p id="EFurHb">Bloomberg, who appeared on the primary ballot for the first time on Tuesday, defeated rivals Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Tulsi Gabbard. American Samoa’s caucuses were part of a slew of elections on Super Tuesday, with a massive 1,344 delegates on the line — around one-third of the total 3,979 pledged delegates.</p>
<p id="bI2NK3">With just six delegates at stake, American Samoa is, to be clear, a very small part of the overall count. But in a primary election that might come down to the last vote — with a real chance that no one will get the majority needed to clinch the nomination at the Democratic National Convention later this year — every delegate can matter.</p>
<p id="fOBrhJ">A candidate needs 1,991 delegates for a majority. If no candidate gets that on the first ballot, there will be a second ballot (and potentially more) on which unelected superdelegates are able to cast a vote.</p>
<p id="6iDBQu">American Samoa is a US territory, not a state. Its residents <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/13/us/american-samoa-us-citizenship.html">aren’t considered US citizens</a> — only US “nationals.” The island also doesn’t participate in the general presidential election, though it does get a voice in the nominating process for both Democrats and Republicans. (It also doesn’t get full representation in Congress, but similar to Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, it does get a nonvoting delegate in the US House.)</p>
<p id="lbAfw8">There seems to have been no polling in American Samoa leading up to Super Tuesday, making it unclear who would win or who was even a favorite prior to the caucus. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the territory with <a href="https://www.cnn.com/election/2016/primaries/states/as/Dem">68.4 percent of the vote</a>, besting Sanders’s <a href="https://www.cnn.com/election/2016/primaries/states/as/Dem">25.7 percent</a>.</p>
<p id="AKv4xT">This time around, a more divided party gave Bloomberg the victory.</p>
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/3/21163915/american-samoa-caucus-winner-mike-bloombergGerman Lopez2020-02-27T07:30:00-05:002020-02-27T07:30:00-05:00What Mike Bloomberg actually did in New York City
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<figcaption>Mike Bloomberg takes the oath of office for his third mayoral term at City Hall in New York City on January 1, 2010. | Hiroko Masuike/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>From stop and frisk to a smoking ban and 311, Mike Bloomberg’s mayoral record, explained.</p> <p id="VaKmz4"></p>
<p id="7UZQch"></p>
<p id="AehTvD">There are probably two things many people tuning in to the Democratic presidential primary know about <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/18/21135149/mike-bloomberg-democrat-polls-debate-new-york-mayor-record">Mike Bloomberg</a>’s mayoral record in New York City: He backed <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/21/21144559/mike-bloomberg-stop-and-frisk-criminal-justice-record">stop-and-frisk</a> policing, and he tried to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2013/03/11/the-new-york-city-soda-ban-explained/">ban giant sodas</a>. But Bloomberg’s record in New York is a lot more extensive — and complicated — than that. </p>
<p id="0CMWSa">Recently, critics have resurfaced videos and audio of him <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/us/politics/bloomberg-stop-and-frisk.html">speaking about people of color in crass ways</a>, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/audio-bloomberg-defended-banks-warren-scary-957637/">pledging to defend banks</a>, and making other remarks that aren’t appealing to a lot of Democrats. Bernie Sanders <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/17/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-presidential-campaign.html">has accused Bloomberg</a> of supporting “racist policies,” and he isn’t the <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/483687-steyer-calls-bloomberg-policies-racist-in-super-tuesday-ad">only one</a>. People are justifiably upset about all of this, and it’s worth questioning whether Bloomberg’s apology now that he’s running for the White House is more than a matter of political expediency than it is actual regret.</p>
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<cite>Yana Paskova/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Mike Bloomberg delivered an apology for his stop-and-frisk policy at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn on November 17, 2019 .</figcaption>
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<p id="hIkPkr">His experience running New York City is clearly central to his pitch. At the Democratic Debate in Charleston, he said, somewhat awkwardly, “I have been training for this job since I stepped on the pile that was still smoldering on 9/11. I know what to do. I’ve shown I know how to run a country. I’ve run the city which is almost the same size — bigger than most countries in the world.” </p>
<p id="JNWesY">Figuring out what he did as the mayor of America’s largest city<strong> </strong>is useful for evaluating what he might be like as president, beyond what’s in a tweet or a sound bite. </p>
<p id="BuMj6D">Truthfully, a lot of Bloomberg’s mayoral record is boring. Digging into it for this story, I talked for a long time with one source about how New York City manages its trash, and multiple people brought up their experiences in specific snowstorms. Bloomberg’s 311 hotline — his first big initiative as mayor (an idea that <a href="https://www.govtech.com/dc/articles/What-is-311.html">originated in Baltimore</a>) — was so successful that multiple cities across the nation copied it. And it’s worth remembering that when Bloomberg was elected mayor, he faced a unique challenge. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the future of New York was in question. People were afraid to visit the city, and people who lived and worked there were afraid to stay. </p>
<p id="jSjHqG">Was Bloomberg’s record perfect? Absolutely not. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/29/opinion/sunday/12-years-of-mayor-bloomberg.html">But he left much of the city better off than when he arrived</a>. </p>
<p id="ws2OyC">“You may not like what he did, fine. I do, other people may not, but he did the job,” said Steven Strauss, a visiting professor at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School who advised the Bloomberg mayoral administration on economic policy.</p>
<p id="F6ZeLs">Trying to sum up Bloomberg’s entire mayoral record is impossible. Yes, there’s Bloomberg the nanny and Bloomberg the cop, but there’s also Bloomberg the builder and Bloomberg the manager. He’s also a very rich man with a lot of political and philanthropic aspirations. </p>
<p id="3VquGG">Also, a lot of New Yorkers hate their mayors as a matter of course. “He generally did not like when the press or the politics were factors in making a decision,” one former City Hall employee, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, told me. “He would basically anger everybody equally.”</p>
<h3 id="dWWa5r">Bloomberg the nanny</h3>
<p id="PaccpF">There’s a reason Bloomberg has a reputation as the embodiment of the nanny state: He has a pretty good idea of what he does and doesn’t think should be allowed, and he’s not afraid to compel people to go along.</p>
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<cite>NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>The New York Daily News front page from August 9, 2002, depicting Mike Bloomberg’s smoking ban in restaurants and bars.</figcaption>
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<p id="UIA452">In 2013, <a href="https://gizmodo.com/the-complete-list-of-everything-banned-by-mayor-michael-1490476691">Gizmodo</a> compiled a list of Bloomberg’s nanny-state initiatives, including creating bike lanes, banning trans fats in restaurants, requiring chain restaurants to list calorie counts, kicking cars out of Times Square, and, of course, the failed attempt to ban giant sodas. They’re annoying, yes, but they’re essentially designed to not-so-subtly nudge people into doing the right thing. </p>
<p id="3a9S7P">Perhaps objectively the best case of Bloomberg’s nanny tendencies is the smoking ban he imposed in restaurants and bars in New York City. While it was unpopular at the time, it has become widely implemented, and one of Bloomberg’s favorite talking points is that due to it and other health initiatives he implemented, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-12-11/new-york-life-expectancy-rises-to-record-81-years-mayor-says">New Yorkers’ life expectancy increased by three years</a>.</p>
<p id="W3rQXr">“Every other Democrat is talking about health care, but Bloomberg did something, because he said health care is not just a matter of diseases coming to you, it’s also making sure people understood the risks they faced in their everyday lives,” said Mitchell Moss, a professor of urban policy and planning at NYU who has advised Bloomberg and other New York politicians.</p>
<p id="diqTF4">At the South Carolina debate, Bloomberg touted the smoking ban and the increased life expectancy in New York under his watch. But he also noted that not all of his nanny-state policies would accompany him to the White House — as in, probably no executive orders on trans fats. “I think what’s right for New York City isn’t necessarily right for all the other cities; otherwise, you would have a naked cowboy in every city,” he said. </p>
<p id="yJwNp6">The subtext of a lot of this is that Bloomberg didn’t seem to believe that people were capable of making the right decisions on their own — often, low-income people.</p>
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<cite>Allison Joyce/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Mike Bloomberg famously tried and failed to ban the sale of giant sodas in 2013. </figcaption>
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<p id="sC2kYc">For example, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.npr.org/2012/01/30/145905246/the-clash-over-fingerprinting-for-food-stamps">insisted on fingerprinting food stamp recipients</a>, even when the vast majority of the country and the rest of the state had abandoned the practice. He argued that if people weren’t fingerprinted, fraud would escalate, because people would be able to open multiple cases. But that’s usually not where food stamp fraud, <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45147.pdf">which is rare</a>, even happens — most of the time, it’s people trading benefits for cash. Bloomberg’s opponents on fingerprinting argued it stigmatized those in need and could deter them from collecting benefits, and <a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/210148-cuomo-ends-fingerprinting-food-stamp-recipients/">Gov. Andrew Cuomo eventually ended the practice</a>. The number of New Yorkers receiving food stamps increased between 2001 and 2013, but it’s unclear how much of that is attributable to Bloomberg’s policies and how much of it is because of broader problems in the economy.</p>
<p id="pU2Wqz">Bloomberg also <a href="https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/08/16/bloombergs-public-housing-fingerprinting-idea-stuns-infuriates-residents/">advocated fingerprinting people who live in public housing</a>, and he <a href="https://ny.curbed.com/2019/11/25/20981929/michael-bloomberg-2020-campaign-housing-homeless-nyc">ended the practice of families getting priority for federal housing vouchers</a>, worrying that people might enter the shelter system to get vouchers faster. When in 2009 the Obama administration <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/nyregion/18stamps.html">extended food stamp benefits</a> for able-bodied adults, Bloomberg’s administration insisted it wasn’t obligated to extend benefits to people not enrolled in its welfare jobs program. In 2011, Esquire described poverty as Bloomberg’s “<a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a9308/mayor-bloomberg-homeless-5022779/">blind spot</a>.”</p>
<p id="aME9IN">“There were policies that actively kept federally funded food away from hungry people,” said Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, a nonprofit group.</p>
<h3 id="M646KP">Bloomberg the cop</h3>
<p id="SzHUeJ">During the 2020 presidential primary, stop and frisk has probably been the most discussed part of Bloomberg’s mayoral record. Bloomberg apologized for the practice, which has been widely discredited and was struck down by a court in 2013, before announcing his White House bid, but he defended it for years.</p>
<p id="kK9BND"><a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/21/21144559/mike-bloomberg-stop-and-frisk-criminal-justice-record">As Vox’s German Lopez explained</a>, when Bloomberg became mayor in 2002, crime was still a top concern among New Yorkers, and so he continued the “broken windows” philosophy embraced by his predecessor, Rudy Giuliani, that policing low-level offenses reduces crime overall. He and his police commissioner, Ray Kelly, expanded stop and frisk significantly. The policy disproportionately affected communities of color, namely, black and Latino men, and stops were often aggressive and humiliating. Per Lopez:</p>
<blockquote><p id="Jal8nc">These stops were highly concentrated in minority communities: In 2011, for example, <a href="https://www.nyclu.org/en/stop-and-frisk-data">53 percent</a> of people stopped were black, and <a href="https://www.nyclu.org/en/stop-and-frisk-data">34 percent</a> were Latin, even though black and Latin people made up around <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/data-maps/nyc-population/census2010/pgrhc.pdf">23 and 29 percent of the population</a>, respectively. About <a href="https://www.nyclu.org/en/stop-and-frisk-data">88 percent</a> of the stops were of people that the New York Civil Liberties Union classified as innocent — meaning they led to no citations, summonses, arrests, or other police actions.</p></blockquote>
<p id="NHmB7L">In 2013, federal court judge Shira Scheindlin <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/13/nyregion/stop-and-frisk-practice-violated-rights-judge-rules.html">struck down stop and frisk</a>, finding that the NYPD had resorted to a “policy of indirect racial profiling” in the practice. “Their argument for stop and frisk was that whatever it took to, in their view, deter crime and protect crime victims was okay, but that isn’t the law,” she told me. “You have to operate within the Constitution.”</p>
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<cite>Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Jose LaSalle, wearing a “CopWatch” jacket, protests outside the Bronx district attorney’s office on April 3, 2019.</figcaption>
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<p id="0vPq7y">She noted that the “furtive movements” excuses officers used to stop people were “almost funny” — someone was walking too slow or too fast, looking over their shoulder or straight ahead, stuttering. Moreover, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/8/9/12405440/stop-and-frisk-end-new-york-city">1 percent of black people who were stopped had weapons or contraband, compared to 1.4 percent of white people stopped</a>. “There was plenty of data, but they did ignore constant reports that showed racial bias,” Scheindlin said.</p>
<p id="In1TCa">Crime did fall under Bloomberg’s tenure. But as <a href="https://www.nyclu.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/20190314_nyclu_stopfrisk_singles.pdf">police stops have fallen</a> under Bill de Blasio, Bloomberg’s successor, crime in New York has not increased. And there is <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/13/18193661/hire-police-officers-crime-criminal-justice-reform-booker-harris">evidence to suggest</a> that just having more police walking around reduces crime. </p>
<p id="RV0R0s">In a recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/opinion/bloomberg-stop-and-frisk-judge.html">New York Times op-ed</a>, Scheindlin wrote that Bloomberg’s stop-and-frisk record is “unforgivable” but also has to be taken on balance with the rest of his record, including job creation for low-income people, anti-poverty initiatives, and other programs.</p>
<p id="gyS6BG">Michael Tubbs, the 29-year-old mayor of Stockton, California, who is now backing Bloomberg’s campaign, told me that while stop and frisk was “terrible,” Bloomberg is hardly the only politician who has to answer for his record on criminal justice and race. He pointed to the 1994 crime bill, which Joe Biden helped author and Bernie Sanders backed, and noted that stop and frisk is not the whole story on the Bloomberg administration and criminal justice. The murder rate fell under Bloomberg, he launched the “<a href="https://www.bloomberg.org/press/releases/young-mens-initiative-to-aid-young-black-and-latino-males/">young men’s initiative</a>” to try to boost young men of color, and the Rikers Island jail population declined.</p>
<p id="kfgPzs">“Let’s look at the plans moving forward and the people he’s surrounding himself with,” Tubbs said. “None of us are stop-and-frisk people. None of us believes that law enforcement is the answer to everything.”</p>
<p id="ftcFZX">But it’s not just stop and frisk that is questionable. Bloomberg also oversaw a police department that enacted a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2012/02/21/us/new-york-muslim-surveillance/index.html">years-long Muslim surveillance program</a>, even while <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703545604575407673221908474">advocating</a> to allow a mosque to be built near the World Trade Center site.</p>
<h3 id="MGciiq">Bloomberg the builder</h3>
<p id="srIIyv">Bloomberg took office just months after two World Trade Center towers collapsed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. There were grave doubts about New York City’s future, and the city’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/17/nyregion/17bloomberg.html">budget was underwater</a>.</p>
<p id="Udd9TL">“He took office as mayor at a time of great uncertainty about the future of New York,” said Eric Kober, former director of housing, economic, and infrastructure planning at the New York City Department of City Planning.</p>
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<cite>Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s West Side, completed in 2019, was one of Bloomberg’s biggest development accomplishments.</figcaption>
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<cite>Gary Hershorn/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Bloomberg was responsible for the renovation of the High Line Park, also on Manhattan’s West Side.</figcaption>
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<cite>Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Construction continues on a 52-story apartment building in downtown Brooklyn on August 23, 2015.</figcaption>
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<p id="yrsTIe">As mayor, Bloomberg undertook initiatives not only to recover from 9/11 but also to develop and build out vast swaths of the city. In his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/30/nyregion/mayor-michael-r-bloombergs-state-of-the-city-address.html">2002 state of the city address</a>, he called for rezoning Manhattan’s West Side, building up its waterfront shoreline, and said the city would compete to host the 2012 Olympics and the Republican and Democratic conventions in 2004. On some of those fronts, he failed — the 2012 Olympics went to London, and the Democrats held their convention in Boston — but on others, he succeeded. Bloomberg’s administration ultimately rezoned about 40 percent of New York, paving the way for new residential buildings in areas such as Greenpoint and Williamsburg in Brooklyn and Long Island City in Queens, and more commercial activity in downtown Brooklyn.</p>
<p id="zcjSi3">Two of Bloomberg’s biggest development accomplishments are his renovation of the High Line, an elevated park, and the Hudson Yards project, a real estate development, both of which are on Manhattan’s West Side. When the state, which funds New York City’s subway system, couldn’t afford to extend the subway to the Hudson Yards project, Bloomberg maneuvered for the city to pay for it itself.</p>
<p id="ki4cbt">“It was the most complicated thing I ever worked on,” Kober, who worked in New York City planning for more than 30 years, said of the Hudson Yards project. “It was really a huge, complicated effort with a lot of different players, all of whom had to be kept happy, and an extraordinary achievement for the Bloomberg administration, which took the lead on it.”</p>
<p id="DfBoMo">But Hudson Yards and Bloomberg’s building efforts overall are not without critics. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/09/nyregion/hudson-yards-new-york-tax-breaks.html">Tax breaks and other government assistance for Hudson Yards</a> hit about $6 billion. Post-9/11, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/11/nyregion/goldman-sachs-decides-to-stay-at-ground-zero.html">Goldman Sachs got hundreds of millions of dollars in state and city incentives</a> to stick to its plans to build in lower Manhattan.</p>
<p id="xJGNHk">Bloomberg’s development efforts, overall, were seen by some to benefit businesses and rich people while pushing out lower-income people and communities of color. “His rezonings across the city were overwhelmingly to the benefit of more well-off newcomers to New York City,” said Jonathan Westin, director of the advocacy group New York Communities for Change.</p>
<p id="UTJ1iw"><a href="https://ny.curbed.com/2019/11/25/20981929/michael-bloomberg-2020-campaign-housing-homeless-nyc">Curbed recently did a deep dive into Bloomberg’s housing record</a> and found that the city’s affordable housing crisis in many ways became worse under his tenure, and while some of it was beyond his control, a lot of it wasn’t. The “affordable” housing his administration developed often wasn’t actually affordable, and across the city, rents went up.</p>
<p id="0zOaJs">“People couldn’t afford to live in the city that he made more expensive,” said Nelini Stamp, strategy director of the Working Families Party, which has endorsed Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential run.</p>
<p id="Y9dPia">“Bloomberg’s orientation was really not to maximize the number of affordable housing units but to provide a measure of economic integration and maximize the number of housing units overall,” Kober said.</p>
<h3 id="RX7EPq">Bloomberg the manager</h3>
<p id="Vzs7EW">Those who worked with Bloomberg at City Hall describe him as a savvy manager who put people he thought were the best in positions and let them run.</p>
<p id="F6M7Ma">“He was a hands-on mayor,” Strauss said. “This wasn’t a part-time job, he wasn’t chairman of the board, he was at the meetings making decisions.”</p>
<p id="WZGQ6M">His people were supposed to look at data. (Whether they were always looking at the data, or understanding the context around it, I’ll get to later.) “You couldn’t present him an idea, initiative, or review something that had been in the works without presenting the data behind it,” the former City Hall employee said. “He likes to say, ‘If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.’”</p>
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<cite>Craig Warga/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Mike Bloomberg presides over the first staff meeting of his second term at City Hall on November 9, 2005. </figcaption>
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<p id="0dkA9x">Sometimes, Bloomberg’s management was successful. New Yorkers largely applauded <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/15/nyregion/the-blackout-of-2003-the-mayor-bloomberg-cast-as-a-figure-of-calm-authority.html">his handling of the 2003 blackout</a>. Other times, it was not. He was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/nyregion/30snow.html">blamed for the city’s inefficient response</a> to a major snowstorm in 2010, during which he said things were “going fine” in part because “<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nyc-mayor-bloomberg-criticized-for-storm-response/">Broadway shows were full</a>,” seeming oblivious to the hardships many New Yorkers were facing.</p>
<p id="aCpsGh">When Bloomberg came into office, he was facing a major budget deficit in New York City and managed to turn it around. When he left office, <a href="https://ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/2013fiscaloutlook.html">the city had a $2.4 billion budget surplus</a>.</p>
<p id="szkyQt">He told <a href="https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/14573/">New York magazine in 2005</a> that he enjoyed the complexity of dealing with the budget because “the more complex the job, the more satisfying it is if you do it correctly.” And doing it “correctly” often meant upsetting lots of people from all across the spectrum. After 9/11, <a href="https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2019/11/28/michael-bloomberg-on-taxes-president-run-2020-presidential-election-taxing-the-wealthy">Bloomberg begrudgingly raised property taxes and personal income taxes on the wealthy</a>; he also hiked taxes after the recession. <a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/bloomberg-and-garbage-pile-unfinished-business/">His trash plan incensed the Upper East Side</a>. He also slashed the city’s payroll and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/09/why-michael-bloomberg-vetoed-living-wage">bristled at wage hikes for city contractors</a>.</p>
<p id="uGZTs5">“That’s the job of government, that’s the job of leadership, and it’s certainly the job of the executive: You have to get stuff done every day,” said Michael Nutter, who came to New York to meet Bloomberg before becoming mayor of Philadelphia and is now a surrogate for Bloomberg’s presidential campaign.</p>
<p id="lPI3Nz">Bloomberg took control of the New York City school system as mayor, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/02/25/mike-bloomberg-was-charge-countrys-largest-public-school-district-here-are-8-key-questions-him/">and what he did with it subsequently was controversial</a>. His administration closed more than 100 underperforming schools and oversaw the expansion of charter schools in the city. He raised teacher pay but clashed with the teachers union. A <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/25q5zoqaewfqs93/Bloomberg%20Open%20Letter%20from%20NYers%20of%20Color%202-24-2020.pdf?dl=0">letter</a> signed by dozens of New York activists of color ahead of Super Tuesday hit Bloomberg’s actions on schools, arguing that he disregarded the demands “of thousands of black and brown parents, students, and families” that he invest in underperforming schools instead of shutting them down and saying he promoted a “test and punish regimen” in New York. </p>
<p id="39UGRh">At the South Carolina debate, Bloomberg touted his record on education “When I came into office, zero New York City schools were in the top 25 of the state. When I left, 23 out of 25 were from New York City,” he said. </p>
<h3 id="hQLLXj">Bloomberg the billionaire businessman, mayor, and philanthropist</h3>
<p id="aIkgZl">It’s impossible to delve into all the ins and outs of Bloomberg’s record as mayor without, frankly, writing a book. He <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/026-05/mayor-michael-bloomberg-signs-legislation-increasing-gun-safety">fought against illegal guns</a> and introduced PlaNYC, <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/119-07/mayor-bloomberg-presents-planyc-a-greener-greater-new-york#/0">a green New York initiative that didn’t achieve all it set out to</a> but was ahead of the curve. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/11/mayor-bloomberg-explain-occupy-wall-street-eviction/335480/">He kicked the Occupy Wall Street protesters out of the park</a>. He sought to build up the city’s tech prowess. The list goes on.</p>
<p id="HKB085">“He really could and did strike a more independent streak, but at the end of the day, you are who you are,” said Eddie Bautista, executive director at the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance and former director of city legislative affairs under Bloomberg. “Naturally, there are going to be blind spots.”</p>
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<figcaption>Mike Bloomberg waits for his turn to speak to the media after a meeting with then-President Barack Obama at the White House on April 19, 2011.</figcaption>
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<p id="eKHBhz">The picture of Bloomberg’s record as mayor is a complicated one. He certainly seemed to have run the city with a “rising tide lifts all boats” theory and fit the fiscally conservative, socially liberal mold, though he wasn’t afraid to break it from time to time. He has openly said he <a href="https://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2013/09/20/mayor-bloomberg-wants-every-billionaire-on-earth-to-live-in-new-york-city/">wants every billionaire in the world</a> to move to New York City in order to increase the tax base and boost the economy. As mayor, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/nyregion/29oneway.html">his administration also bought homeless people one-way tickets out of New York</a>. After he cut the budgets of arts groups to try to balance the budget when he became mayor, <a href="https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/14573/">he sent them personal checks</a>.</p>
<p id="0HowZh">And Bloomberg was looking at the data, but he sometimes focused too much on the data that fit his assumptions or didn’t take into account the human impact.</p>
<p id="VDCqgP">“There’s a tendency to be swayed by data, and even data needs to be contextualized,” Bautista said.</p>
<p id="P5UYVn">Berg was more cutting in his assessment. “The common perception that the city was all about data, data, data under Bloomberg I don’t think is factually true. It was about gut instinct and values.”</p>
<p id="EwRshb">As we weigh Bloomberg’s mayoral record today, it’s also worth noting that he had his eye on the White House while he was still at City Hall, and he knew people might someday be paying attention.</p>
<p id="Ch58gz"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/09/nyregion/09bloomberg.html?searchResultPosition=38">At his 2006 staff holiday party</a>, Bloomberg sported a mullet wig and bandana and sang Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” with lyrics about his presidential ambitions: “We’ll win, you’ll see, and beat the GOP and Democrats, unite the country, make more jobs, and banish all trans fat.”</p>
https://www.vox.com/2020-presidential-election/2020/2/27/21153145/mike-bloomberg-record-mayor-racist-stop-frisk-new-yorkEmily Stewart2020-02-25T20:19:18-05:002020-02-25T20:19:18-05:00Mike Bloomberg’s stop-and-frisk problem, explained
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<figcaption>Mike Bloomberg waits to speak to a group of Baptist ministers in Houston, Texas, on January 29, 2020. | Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post via Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Bloomberg was synonymous with stop and frisk. Now he’s trying to run away from it.</p> <p id="28bHIZ">One of the first things Mike Bloomberg did as he prepared to run for president last year was apologize.</p>
<p id="qZcFzd">Even before announcing his run, Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, was under fire for his embrace of stop and frisk, a policing strategy that disproportionately targeted minority communities and was later deemed unconstitutional. “I was wrong,” he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/17/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-speech.html">said</a> in November. “And I am sorry.”</p>
<p id="upWdoH">That didn’t put the issue to rest.</p>
<p id="U8FkFT">Earlier this month, a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/11/politics/bloomberg-stop-and-frisk-comments/index.html">2015 video</a> resurfaced in which Bloomberg defended stop and frisk in racist terms. In the video, he claimed “95 percent of murders, murderers, and murder victims” were “male minorities 16 to 25” and that one could “take the description, Xerox it, and pass it out to all cops.” He later added, “We put all the cops in minority neighborhoods. Yes, that’s true. Why do we do it? Because that’s where all the crime is. And the way you get guns out of the kids’ hands is to throw them up against the wall and frisk them.”</p>
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<cite>Tony Savino/Corbis via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Tens of thousands of New Yorkers participate in a silent march to protest NYPD racial profiling, including the stop-and-frisk program, which disproportionally targets young men of color, on June 17, 2012. </figcaption>
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<p id="j222HX">Bloomberg has since <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/13/politics/bloomberg-apologize-stop-and-frisk/index.html">reiterated his apology</a> on the campaign trail and <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/19/21144877/who-won-nevada-democratic-debate-2020">debate stage</a>. “There is one aspect of approach that I deeply regret, the abuse of police practice called stop and frisk,” he said this month. “I defended it, looking back, for too long because I didn’t understand then the unintended pain it was causing to young black and brown families and their kids. I should have acted sooner and faster to stop it. I didn’t, and for that, I apologize.”</p>
<p id="wZzFn6">But at Tuesday’s debate in South Carolina, the issue came up once again — and the other candidates roundly criticized Bloomberg for a stop-and-frisk policy they described as racist.</p>
<p id="09RixS">Bloomberg’s policing strategy deployed officers to stop and frisk people, particularly in minority communities. The majority of people stopped — 80-plus percent — were people of color, typically young black or Latin men. The stops could be violent, with cops throwing kids against walls or on the ground while shouting and cursing at them. Based on the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/9/17955340/trump-chicago-shootings-stop-and-frisk">research</a> and New York City’s continued drop in crime after a significant reduction of stop and frisk, the approach did little to nothing to combat crime.</p>
<p id="Bp7nHT">“Stop and frisk was this low-intensity warfare that people didn’t see unless they were right in it — unless you lived in those few blocks where people were constantly harassed,” Monifa Bandele, who’s on the steering committee for the Communities United for Police Reform Action Fund, told me. “Stop and frisk was killing our young people in a different kind of way — very deeply emotional, mental health, causing people to lose jobs, to be late to school. I called it the death by a thousand cuts.”</p>
<p id="d3siq2">Stop and frisk was part of a much broader “broken windows” approach to policing, first adopted by Bloomberg’s predecessor, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Bloomberg continued and expanded Giuliani’s policies, not just through the greater use of stop and frisk but by emphasizing misdemeanor arrests, citing people for low-level offenses like jaywalking and open containers, and deploying more cops in schools, leading to more arrests particularly among students of color.</p>
<p id="Sjr1YT">He also reformed some parts of the criminal justice system. Under his watch, the Rikers Island jail population continued to fall. His administration also oversaw probation reforms, and worked to end the incarceration of youth in state prison facilities, instead moving them closer to home or opting not to lock them up at all.</p>
<p id="JLvrw2">The mixed record speaks both to Bloomberg’s unorthodox tendencies — he ran for mayor as a Republican, then independent, and now is a registered Democrat — and to a management style in which he delegated tasks to a wide, diverse cast of people under him. It also reflects the rapid shifts in the criminal justice reform landscape, which began while he was in office and has led to many Democratic presidential candidates, including <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/4/25/18282870/joe-biden-criminal-justice-war-on-drugs-mass-incarceration">Joe Biden</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/25/18225011/amy-klobuchar-president-prosecutor-criminal-justice-record">Amy Klobuchar</a>, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/23/18184192/kamala-harris-president-campaign-criminal-justice-record">Kamala Harris</a>, facing criticism in the past year for their “tough on crime” pasts.</p>
<p id="Ibz5t6">Bloomberg’s campaign said that he reduced stop and frisk as mayor — although he only did that once legal challenges against stop and frisk seemed likely to win, and he continued defending stop and frisk even after he left office. The campaign also pointed to the criminal justice reforms he implemented as mayor, arguing “his long and impressive track record demonstrates his commitment to this issue.”</p>
<p id="jdxlLh">But his support and expansion of stop and frisk is a key part of his legacy — and puts him at odds with much of the modern Democratic Party in the era of Black Lives Matter. Whether and how he is able to overcome that legacy could define his path to the White House.</p>
<h3 id="D3OUYV">Stop and frisk was at the core of Bloomberg’s policing approach</h3>
<p id="NWfQob">When Bloomberg took office in 2002, crime remained one of the top concerns in New York City. It hadn’t been too long since the city hit its peak for murders in 1990 — with <a href="https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/04/03/new-yorks-annual-murder-statistics-are-still-worse-than-londons">more than 2,000</a> in the city — and New Yorkers were fed up.</p>
<p id="CQ98sO">So Bloomberg embraced the “broken windows” philosophy — which argued that by policing even the lowest-level offenses, police could deter and stop all kinds of crime. Bloomberg, along with his police commissioner, Ray Kelly, massively expanded stop and frisk: In 2002, there were more than 97,000 reported stops. By 2011, that <a href="https://www.nyclu.org/en/stop-and-frisk-data">grew to nearly 686,000</a>.</p>
<p id="POtIMq">“As a New Yorker, I understood the visceral concern about crime. It was driving everything,” Vincent Schiraldi, who was the probation commissioner under Bloomberg from 2010 to 2014, told me. “One, he was super concerned about shootings and killings. And two, he really believed stop and frisk was an important component of reducing that. He definitely believed that stuff. No question. We used to argue about it.”</p>
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<cite>Spencer Platt/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>People walk past a police car in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn on November 18, 2019. Brownsville saw some of the highest numbers of stop-and-frisk incidents.</figcaption>
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<p id="nAzCZX">These stops were highly concentrated in minority communities: In 2011, for example, <a href="https://www.nyclu.org/en/stop-and-frisk-data">53 percent</a> of people stopped were black, and <a href="https://www.nyclu.org/en/stop-and-frisk-data">34 percent</a> were Latin, even though black and Latino people made up around <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/data-maps/nyc-population/census2010/pgrhc.pdf">23 and 29 percent of the population</a>, respectively. About <a href="https://www.nyclu.org/en/stop-and-frisk-data">88 percent</a> of the stops were of people that the New York Civil Liberties Union classified as innocent — meaning they led to no citations, summonses, arrests, or other police actions.</p>
<p id="nR58ZQ">“Even if it’s just one stop, if you’re being stopped because you’re black, whether you were thrown up against the wall or spoken to politely, it’s traumatizing,” Bandele said, describing how black students at her daughter’s high school could be stopped, separated from the white peers they were walking with, and questioned on their way to class. “There’s a harm to racial profiling no matter how it’s done.”</p>
<p id="zCCWY2">These weren’t just police pat-downs. As Bloomberg implied in his comments about throwing kids against walls, police were often very aggressive. A common story was that cops would jump out of cars, round up entire groups of black and brown kids, curse at them, throw them against the wall or ground, and thoroughly frisk them — going under their clothes at times. </p>
<p id="I53uUZ">One teenager, identified only as Alvin, <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/stopped-and-frisked-being-fking-mutt-video/">recorded one of the stops</a> against him. The police were aggressive, never explained why they stopped him and used racist language. When Alvin asked why he was being threatened with arrest, one officer said, “For being a fucking mutt.” Holding Alvin’s arm behind his back, a cop said, “Dude, I’m gonna break your fuckin’ arm, then I’m gonna punch you in the fuckin’ face.”</p>
<p id="LthY2t">These kinds of stops happened hundreds of times a day, particularly in black and brown neighborhoods.</p>
<p id="IENpqu">“‘Broken windows policing is a Giuliani-era approach to policing which has no consideration for any of the norms of justice and really demonizes and terrorizes communities of color,” Donna Lieberman, executive director of the NYCLU, told me. “I believe it’s either a corollary to or a product of — it doesn’t matter which — the war on drugs, which was <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/3/29/11325750/nixon-war-on-drugs">set out as a war on people of color by the Nixon administration</a>.”</p>
<p id="alWtqs">Bloomberg characterized the policing of minority communities as necessary in the 2015 video, suggesting police only went to where the crime was. But that wasn’t true: Jeffrey Fagan, a law professor and criminal justice researcher at Columbia University, <a href="http://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/assets/files/Expert_Report_JeffreyFagan.pdf">found</a> that higher minority populations in a community “predict higher numbers of stops, controlling for the local crime rate and the social and economic characteristics of the precinct.” In other words, it was the demographic makeup of the neighborhood — not the rates of crime — that appeared to drive the stops.</p>
<p id="Pqta6P">The approach also didn’t appear to reduce crime much, if at all; <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24928/proactive-policing-effects-on-crime-and-communities">studies</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/1/14/17991690/crime-drop-murder-police-broken-windows-policing">found</a> that stop and frisk had <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07418825.2012.712152#.Ugoz6mTXi0I">weak to no effects</a>, and crime in New York <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/8/16865730/national-review-stop-and-frisk-police">continued to drop</a> after the police greatly reduced the use of the policy, beginning in 2012.</p>
<p id="G6jPoJ">Bloomberg was still in office when stop and frisk was reduced. But the drop in stops was mainly in response to mounting legal challenges and a subsequent court ruling, which <a href="https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/08/stop-and-frisk-four-years-after-ruled-unconstitutional/537264/">found</a> that stop and frisk, as implemented in New York City, was unconstitutional. In his last year as mayor, Bloomberg resisted the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-08-16/new-york-city-appeals-rulings-attacking-stop-and-frisk">court ruling</a> and the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/city-council-overrides-mayors-vetoes-on-nypd-bills-1377205241">City Council’s attempts</a> to reel back stop and frisk. And he defended stop and frisk after he left office in 2014, as evidenced by the recently resurfaced video from 2015.</p>
<h3 id="sE7FgE">Stop and frisk is one part of Bloomberg’s record</h3>
<p id="q3gddM">Stop and frisk was only one component of the broader “broken windows” approach. Under Bloomberg, police also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/nyregion/11jails.html">went after</a> lower-level offenses, including marijuana possession. The approach even extended to policing in schools, where kids were more likely to be cited and arrested under Bloomberg. There were racial disparities in these other actions too: Between October and December 2011, 94 percent of students arrested <a href="https://www.nyclu.org/en/press-releases/new-nypd-data-shows-racial-disparities-nyc-school-arrests">were black or Latin</a>.</p>
<p id="Nsjp5V">Some of these policies have remained in place even after Bloomberg. Despite pulling back, for example, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/reforming-police/stop-and-frisks-plummeted-under-new-york-mayor-bill-de">stop and frisk</a> as well as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/21/us/new-york-de-blasio-marijuana/index.html">marijuana arrests</a>, the current mayor, Bill de Blasio, has <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/darrensands/de-blasio-broken-windows-policing-got-a-bad-name-but-it-had">continued to embrace</a> some “broken windows” tactics — which critics say led to the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/12/3/7327745/eric-garner-grand-jury-decision">death of Eric Garner</a> when police stopped him for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes and put him in a chokehold.</p>
<p id="7UGoPw">“What replaced [stop and frisk] was the kind of thing that got Garner killed,” Fagan told me. “The police were making tens of thousands of misdemeanor arrests on ‘broken windows’ stuff — turnstile jumping, selling loose cigarettes, tens of thousands of arrests on the lowest-level misdemeanor charges — plus issuing citations for things like jaywalking, open containers, and the like.”</p>
<p id="HH11Fg">Separately, Bloomberg’s police department also conducted a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/02/17/mike-bloomberg-new-york-muslim-surveillance/">wide-ranging surveillance program on Muslim communities</a> — which, while not usually considered part of a “tough on crime” agenda, demonstrated his willingness to aggressively police minority communities.</p>
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<img alt="A woman in a hijab holds a sign that reads “We are not anti police. We are anti police misconduct! We want a better NYPD.”" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/SDxTZ3SPQ3KmBflziuuZq-exDKI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19734151/GettyImages_170806227.jpg">
<cite>Timothy Clary/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Demonstrators hold placards calling for police reform outside One Police Plaza in New York on June 18, 2013. </figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="xL51R7">The punitive approaches fostered more distrust in police, particularly in communities of color. That could have led to more crime — if, as <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/7/12/20679091/thomas-abt-bleeding-out-urban-gun-violence-book-review">some research</a> suggests, people took matters of the law into their own hands when they didn’t trust the police — or, at the very least, likely made cops’ jobs harder. </p>
<p id="2of9S6">“The police rely on cooperation from the people that they’re supposed to protect in order to do their job,” Lieberman said. “When you lose that trust, people won’t talk to you. That’s a well-known phenomenon.”</p>
<p id="58lyPL">Still, it’s true that crime continued to fall in New York City during Bloomberg’s tenure. The number of murders in New York City <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/analysis_and_planning/historical-crime-data/seven-major-felony-offenses-2000-2019.pdf">fell</a> from nearly 600 in 2002 to less than 340 in 2014, the year after Bloomberg’s final term ended. That was a continued drop from the early 1990s, when murders <a href="https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/04/03/new-yorks-annual-murder-statistics-are-still-worse-than-londons">hit more than 2,000</a> in the city.</p>
<p id="Qu1fW6">What caused that massive drop? Fagan pointed to the city’s <a href="https://citylimits.org/2015/04/14/the-nypd-has-more-cops-than-45-states/">larger police force</a>, arguing that the presence of more cops — though not necessarily their tactics — <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/13/18193661/hire-police-officers-crime-criminal-justice-reform-booker-harris">deterred some crime</a>. The generation that grew up under the violent 1970s and ’80s also <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/2/12/18184070/maximum-prison-sentence-cap-mass-incarceration">aged out of crime</a>, and the new generations have been, for whatever reason, less predisposed to crime and violence. And the end of the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and ’90s was a big contributor as well. (More broadly, crime and murder rates have plummeted across the country since the 1990s, and criminal justice experts point to <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/1/14/17991530/violent-crime-drop-murder-usa-statistics-why">all sorts of factors</a> besides police for the nationwide crime decline.)</p>
<p id="DHTHFj">Bloomberg also implemented some criminal justice reforms. He embraced programs that diverted people, particularly those accused of low-level offenses, away from jail and prison. That helped continue the fall in the Rikers Island jail population; by 2014, the jail population <a href="https://rikers.cityofnewyork.us/">dropped by half</a>, to 11,000, from its 1991 peak. Under Schiraldi, Bloomberg’s Department of Probation also <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/prob/downloads/pdf/dop_progress_report.pdf">took steps</a> to make probation less punitive — by penalizing fewer people for technical violations and by reducing probation terms. And Bloomberg helped put an end to the practice of locking up juveniles in state facilities, using the <a href="https://justicelab.columbia.edu/moving-beyond-youth-prisons">Close to Home program</a> to move them, well, closer to home in New York City, if they were locked up at all.</p>
<p id="K3eEuc">The seeming contradiction between some criminal justice reforms and a “tough on crime” approach elsewhere may reflect Bloomberg’s management style. He tended to delegate major roles to his commissioners and other staffers, rarely micromanaging or getting involved on a daily basis outside some demands for data and evidence to support a new approach. As Schiraldi, who served under Bloomberg, put it, “He truly believed his people.”</p>
<p id="SRXqWP">Whatever the explanation, the result is at best a mixed record on criminal justice issues and at worst a collection of policies overwhelmed by a policing approach that terrorized people of color in New York City for more than a decade, all under Bloomberg.</p>
<h3 id="nOYCJZ">The question for criminal justice reformers: Can they trust Bloomberg?</h3>
<p id="1qwQJJ">As he’s scaled up his presidential campaign, Bloomberg has apologized for stop and frisk, while putting out <a href="https://www.mikebloomberg.com/policies/criminal-justice-reform">criminal justice reform plans</a> that attempt to show he’s serious about reform.</p>
<p id="Gf4qPz">Many of the reforms are very ambitious. He proposes setting up a hub in the Department of Justice that will evaluate and fund state-level reforms to cut incarceration by 50 percent by 2030. He calls for $2.5 billion over 10 years to boost public defense. He suggests <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2018/10/17/17955306/bail-reform-criminal-justice-inequality">ending cash bail</a>. He wants to expand reentry services for formerly incarcerated people, including housing, mental health, and addiction treatment, and help kids whose parents are in prison.</p>
<p id="wuyQ09">In apologizing for stop and frisk, Bloomberg has cited his criminal justice reform proposals as evidence he’s trying to do better. “Let me make it clear, as president of the United States, I will work to dismantle systems that are plagued by bias and discrimination,” he <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/13/politics/bloomberg-apologize-stop-and-frisk/index.html">said</a>. “I will invest in the communities that [bore] the brunt of those systems for generations. And I’ll put this work at the very top of our agenda.”</p>
<p id="de2kfq">Still, his proposals also expose some of his moderate roots. For one, Bloomberg only backs the decriminalization of marijuana, falling short of full legalization — a stance he <a href="https://content.mikebloomberg.com/Mike-Bloomberg-2020-Criminal-Justice-Policy.pdf">explained</a> by saying there’s a need for more research into cannabis. That puts him at odds with other Democratic candidates except for Biden; the party has broadly shifted to backing legalization, and <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/267698/support-legal-marijuana-steady-past-year.aspx">polls</a> <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/14/americans-support-marijuana-legalization/">show</a> more than 75 percent of Democrats support legalizing pot.</p>
<p id="EQPfAp">For criminal justice reformers, the question is if they can really trust Bloomberg. Can they believe that he’s come around to reform, after supporting a policy — stop and frisk — that helped lead to the rise of Black Lives Matter to begin with? And what message would his election send about reform efforts?</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A man holds a photo of Eric Garner during a demonstration." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/BoMMlpNcoZdzZQ6s91KOBKjRAkk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19734180/GettyImages_1162625792.jpg">
<cite>Spencer Platt/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>People participate in a protest in Staten Island to mark the five-year anniversary of the death of Eric Garner after federal prosecutors announced they will not charge former New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo for Garner’s death on July 17, 2019.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="8SrCDS">“I’m very concerned,” Bandele said. “By electing him, it almost takes those policies off the hook.”</p>
<p id="z2KEd2">The concern here isn’t just figuring out if Bloomberg is an honest person. A constant worry in criminal justice work is what would happen if the crime rate started to rise once again. In such a scenario, there would be considerably more pressure on lawmakers to go back to “tough on crime” rhetoric and policies — even if they are racist and, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/9/25/16340782/study-mass-incarceration">based on the research</a>, ineffective for fighting crime in the first place.</p>
<p id="OnY60d">It’s happened before. From the 1960s through the ’90s, crime and drug use were skyrocketing in the US. Especially in the early 1990s, Americans were much more likely to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/8/30/9223105/why-mass-incarceration">say</a> that crime was the most important problem facing the country at the time. That drove lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, to try to find solutions that they could sell to the public — and they, by and large, landed on a more punitive criminal justice system.</p>
<p id="OXZGQw">Just how much all of this hurts Bloomberg remains to be seen. <a href="https://www.vera.org/blog/overwhelming-majority-of-americans-support-criminal-justice-reform-new-poll-finds">Various</a> <a href="http://vop.org/overwhelming-bipartisan-majorities-support-bill-giving-judges-discretion-moderate-prison-sentencing/">polls</a>, including <a href="https://cdn3.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7052005/160812_crosstabs_Vox_v1_AP.0.pdf">one from Vox and Morning Consult</a>, have found the majority of Democrats support at least some criminal justice reform efforts. But other surveys, like <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1675/most-important-problem.aspx">Gallup’s</a>, have also found that criminal justice issues aren’t too important for voters, falling behind concerns about the government and poor leadership, immigration, the economy, health care, and race relations.</p>
<p id="GxoZ97">But stop and frisk is a big enough part of Bloomberg’s legacy that he, at least, has already repeatedly apologized for it.</p>
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/21/21144559/mike-bloomberg-stop-and-frisk-criminal-justice-recordGerman Lopez2020-02-25T18:10:00-05:002020-02-25T18:10:00-05:00What a Mike Bloomberg foreign policy might look like
<figure>
<img alt="French President Emmanuel Macron and Mike Bloomberg shaking hands." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/GSEUj-orQIejfJoaYiL224KCQHM=/123x0:2786x1997/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66374355/890928692.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>French President Emmanuel Macron and Mike Bloomberg in Paris on December 12, 2017, during the One Planet Summit. | Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A different kind of billionaire dealmaker?</p> <p id="dkUn94">“I know more about foreign policy than any of the candidates. I’ve negotiated deals around the world, I’ve dealt with politicians in every one of these countries, we do business with their companies and with their governments.”</p>
<p id="FTP42u">You’d be forgiven for thinking <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/donald-trump-president-foreign-policy-213677">Donald Trump</a> said this. But you’d be wrong. </p>
<p id="QMR0GD">It was Mike Bloomberg, according to veteran reporter and columnist Joyce Purnick, who cited the quote in her 2009 book, <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2009/09/exclusive-see-mike-not-run-027118"><em>Mike Bloomberg: Money, Power, Politics</em></a><em>, </em>recounting Bloomberg’s dalliance with a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/09/nyregion/09bloomberg.html?searchResultPosition=38">potential presidential run</a> back in 2008.</p>
<p id="f3vX1B">Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman and three-term mayor of New York City, also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-not-running-for-president.html">contemplated a run in 2016</a> before ultimately <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/25/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-hillary-clinton-dnc.html">backing Hillary Clinton</a>. Ahead of the 2020 race, Bloomberg thought about it, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/5/18252225/michael-bloomberg-wont-run-2020">decided against it</a>, and then <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/24/20971503/michael-bloomberg-2020-presidential-run-billionaire-new-york">changed his mind</a> and got into the mix late in 2019.</p>
<p id="pR9toS">And now that he’s officially in, the former mayor is facing the first real test of what a Bloomberg administration foreign policy might look like. </p>
<p id="eOkHgP">Bloomberg is running as a Democrat, but he wasn’t always one, and his foreign policy reflects his evolution from <a href="https://theboard.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/bloomberg-for-president/?searchResultPosition=2">Democrat</a> to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/mike-bloomberg-then-now-1488111">Republican</a> to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/21/us/politics/21bloomberg.html">independent</a> to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-10/michael-bloomberg-registering-as-democrat-as-he-weighs-2020-bid-jn2z6gyr">Democrat</a> once again. </p>
<p id="PNBFHx">He’s strongly in favor of free trade, <a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/michael-bloomberg">backing deals</a> such as President Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). He supported the Iraq War and has since said <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-01-06/bloomberg-presidential-campaign-iraq-iran">he doesn’t regret</a> that, though he’s also described it as one <a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/michael-bloomberg">of the US’s biggest foreign policy mistakes</a>. He’s promised to restore American global leadership and <a href="https://www.cfr.org/event/conversation-michael-bloomberg-0">sees the private sector as having a big role in that</a>, especially on issues such as climate change.</p>
<p id="ARAgvJ">And Bloomberg does have a global profile. His multinational company, Bloomberg LP, continues to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bloombergs-business-in-china-has-grown-that-could-create-unprecedented-entanglements-if-he-is-elected-president/2020/01/01/71536318-1cfd-11ea-9ddd-3e0321c180e7_story.html">do business the world over</a>, though he’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bloombergs-business-in-china-has-grown-that-could-create-unprecedented-entanglements-if-he-is-elected-president/2020/01/01/71536318-1cfd-11ea-9ddd-3e0321c180e7_story.html">stepped aside from day-to-day operations to run his campaign</a>. </p>
<p id="oOZwQd">He became mayor of New York right after 9/11 and <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/18/21135149/mike-bloomberg-democrat-polls-debate-new-york-mayor-record">steered the city</a> through its rebuilding and, later, the 2008 financial crisis. He had a robust <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/24/nyregion/mayor-with-a-well-worn-passport-bloomberg-as-envoy-selling-the-world-on-new-york.html?searchResultPosition=24">travel portfolio</a>, including visiting <a href="https://www.theintelligencer.com/news/article/N-Y-Mayor-Visits-Afghanistan-10520624.php">troops in Afghanistan after 9/11</a>. He’s poured millions and millions into philanthropic efforts, particularly around <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/440013-bloomberg-donates-55-million-to-fill-in-paris-agreement-gap">climate change</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.org/program/public-health/obesity-prevention/">public health</a>. He served as the <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2018/sga1791.doc.htm">United Nations special envoy for climate action</a>.</p>
<p id="eb5BE4">Bloomberg, then, has his fair share of foreign policy credentials. Cities, and by extension their mayors, are grabbing a more prominent role <a href="https://unu.edu/publications/articles/forget-the-nation-state-cities-will-transform-the-way-we-conduct-foreign-affairs.html">in world and economic affairs</a>. Yet, as mayor, Bloomberg had a degree of independence he wouldn’t necessarily have as president. And as a philanthropist, he often undertook initiatives <a href="https://www.cfr.org/event/conversation-michael-bloomberg-0">that made up for the shortfalls of national governments</a>. </p>
<p id="vQoDwo">There’s still plenty in Bloomberg’s foreign policy <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/bloomberg-foreign-policy-presidential-run">that is unclear</a> and untested, especially if he ends up facing off against Trump. A spokesperson for Bloomberg’s campaign confirmed to Vox that Bloomberg will put his company into a truly blind trust if elected president in November, and that he “strongly believes there should not even be the appearance that public office can be used for personal benefit.” Still, that hasn’t stopped his company’s business ties to places like China from <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/19/2020-presidential-race-bloomberg-democratic-primary-china-russia/">coming under scrutiny</a>. </p>
<p id="V9ly6r">But Bloomberg’s campaign is bargaining that after the volatility of Trump on the world stage, voters are looking for a candidate who will offer steady, predictable leadership: restoring America’s reputation, rebuilding alliances, and helping the country look a bit like the good guy again on issues like climate change and foreign aid.</p>
<p id="UlnXvi">Bloomberg is likely to use his record both at home and abroad to make the case that he can get results — a bet that he’ll be the better billionaire businessman to serve as America’s chief diplomat. </p>
<h3 id="0i41PZ">The foreign policy of a New York City mayor</h3>
<p id="PE0Lhv">Bloomberg isn’t the first New York City mayor to have national ambitions. (I mean, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/7/16/20694916/bill-de-blasio-2020-polls-eric-garner">another one also ran in this very election</a>.) America’s largest city and financial capital has always given its mayors a certain stature <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/4/21121636/pete-buttigieg-beat-trump-win-2020-election-primaries">that others probably wish they had</a>. </p>
<p id="9lZ5zL">Bloomberg defined New York in the 2000s, serving three four-year terms, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/26/nyregion/26trailer.html">one of which he muscled through the city council to get</a> for himself. He was first sworn into office on January 1, 2002, and the rebuilding of lower Manhattan and economic recovery happened under his watch. This transition wasn’t <a href="https://www.npr.org/2016/09/08/492960193/how-new-york-city-rebuilt-anew-after-its-darkest-day">always smooth</a>, but Bloomberg, untested in government until that time, took over a city still raw from the tragedy.</p>
<p id="Mrx6fi">He also <a href="https://www.mikebloomberg.com/mayoral-record/public-safety/counterterrorism/">touts</a> his record at keeping the city safe from another terror attack. He created the New York City Police Department’s counterterrorism force, which <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/inside-new-york-city-s-elite-counterterror-police-unit-n784441">grew to about 1,000 officers</a> and had <a href="https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/features/n_8286/">a robust intelligence unit</a> that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/21/nyregion/terrorism-nypd-intelligence-crime.html">posted officers overseas</a> and worked closely with federal law enforcement. </p>
<p id="UieV9E">Bloomberg’s campaign website says the NYPD’s unit, with federal authorities, <a href="https://www.mikebloomberg.com/mayoral-record/public-safety/counterterrorism/">deterred at least 15 terror attacks on NYC</a>. In 2012, <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/fact-check-how-the-nypd-overstated-its-counterterrorism-record">ProPublica examined </a>a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2012/07/15/156815759/counterterrorism-and-the-nypd">widely cited figure of 14 attacks</a> and found that some instances overstated the NYPD’s role, or overestimated the seriousness of the plots foiled. The NYPD’s intelligence division also engaged in a <a href="https://www.aclu.org/other/factsheet-nypd-muslim-surveillance-program">highly controversial surveillance program</a> that effectively amounted to spying on New York City’s Muslim population. </p>
<p id="Ufega7">New York City mayors are also no strangers to foreign travel. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=TgQLg7ZhTYIC&pg=PA203&lpg=PA203&dq=three+i%27s+israel+ireland+italy+new+york&source=bl&ots=xrxyj8N6l4&sig=ACfU3U1N9qsNLGfBOOThrUZn2dBT0PXiPg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjtybjAp-vnAhVJl3IEHTQcBqIQ6AEwAXoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=three%20i's%20israel%20ireland%20italy%20new%20york&f=false">As former New York City Mayor Ed Koch put it</a> in his book <em>The Koch Papers</em>: <em>My Fight Against Anti-Semitism:</em> “This is not exclusively a New York phenomenon, but it is primarily a New York phenomenon.” </p>
<p id="kptGAM">Koch said that New York’s diverse communities meant a mayor’s constituents took interest in what was going on in their homelands. It used to be “de rigueur that mayors would visit the three ‘I’ countries — Israel, Ireland, and Italy,” Koch wrote, though that changed as the city’s demographics changed, and Puerto Rico (which, of course, is a US territory) and the Dominican Republic soon joined the list. </p>
<p id="kHQPB0">Bloomberg kept up this tradition. He traveled <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/1.5494675">to Israel as mayor-elect</a>. He went on official visits to the Dominican Republican and Puerto Rico <a href="http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/dominican/bloomberg.htm">before</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/26/nyregion/bloomberg-s-trip-to-caribbean-points-to-rising-stature-of-latinos.html">after</a> he was sworn in. Later in his first year, he traveled to Greece and Turkey, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/24/nyregion/mayor-with-a-well-worn-passport-bloomberg-as-envoy-selling-the-world-on-new-york.html">then to visit troops in Afghanistan</a>.</p>
<p id="Axpkgd">He <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/22/nyregion/bloomberg-to-visit-jerusalem-to-support-bombing-victims.html">returned to Israel</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/16/nyregion/among-premiers-and-presidents-bloomberg-tours-israel.html?searchResultPosition=9">quite a</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/nyregion/05mayor.html?searchResultPosition=31">few times as mayor</a>. He stopped by the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/WN/mayor-mike-bloomberg-york-city-london-examine-security/story?id=10618444">UK</a> and <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/227-06/mayor-bloomberg-travel-ireland-friday-july-28-2006">Ireland</a> and <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/174-08/mayor-michael-bloomberg-speaks-the-u-s-northern-ireland-investment-conference">Italy</a>. He traveled to China in 2007, where he implicitly criticized the regime’s censorship, <a href="https://gothamist.com/news/mayor-bloomberg-visits-china">saying</a> “access to information is a strength, not a threat, and it is a fundamental part of innovation” — though he didn’t <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/nyregion/11nyc.html">go as far as some human rights groups wanted</a>. From there, <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/462-07/mayor-michael-bloomberg-speaks-environmental-defense-forum-bali">he went to Bali</a> for a climate conference, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/bali-talking-climate-95141?amp=1">breaking with the Bush administration</a> he once backed.</p>
<p id="PMqgWJ">A lot of these trips were for ceremonial reasons, <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=bloomberg+ireland+memorial&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS769US769&oq=bloomberg+ireland+memorial&aqs=chrome..69i57l3j69i59j69i60l3.2228j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8">like dedicating memorials</a>, or to promote <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/089-08/mayor-bloomberg-speaker-quinn-plans-attend-economic-conference-northern-ireland">business relations and cross-cultural ties</a> or best practices. Exchanges <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/31/nyregion/new-yorks-immigrant-affairs-office-has-become-a-model-for-other-cities.html">went both ways</a>, too. </p>
<p id="QdaLh7">A well-worn passport does not exactly mean an established worldview, but mayors do engage in a bit of parallel diplomacy. For Bloomberg in particular, politics had to crop up in his increasing global advocacy on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/09/nyregion/metro-briefing-new-york-manhattan-bloomberg-to-address-un.html">climate change</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/nyregion/bloomberg-promotes-city-health-efforts-in-un-address.html">public health</a>. Yet these issues often seem much more political than they really are when viewed in the domestic context; in reality, such initiatives tend to generate a little bit more goodwill on the international stage than, say, discussing trade or national security concerns.</p>
<p id="11GrEM">New York City mayors also have to work closely with the United Nations, which is headquartered in the city. That can naturally draw mayors into world affairs. The mayor’s office has <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/site/international/about/history-of-the-office.page">long had a liaison office with the UN</a>, which Bloomberg <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/site/international/about/history-of-the-office.page">rebranded as the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs</a>. The office both promotes NYC to the world and does the nitty-gritty work of dealing with diplomats when they descend on the city. </p>
<p id="pD5yXG"><a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2006/08/10/a-ticket-for-corruption">Bloomberg set off a bit of a dispute</a> over diplomats’ parking violations early in his tenure that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/09/nyregion/colin-powell-and-mayor-bloomberg-have-a-little-chat-about-parking.html">went all the way up to the State Department</a>, but otherwise, he tended to see the UN as a platform to promote some of his key policies, including once speaking there about his public health initiatives. As the New York Times wrote at the time, it wasn’t exactly the Gettysburg Address, but “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/nyregion/bloomberg-promotes-city-health-efforts-in-un-address.html">he was not above giving advice to the world.”</a></p>
<p id="bwwWmQ">And Bloomberg couldn’t entirely avoid national issues in New York. He supported the Bush administration in the Iraq War (and Bush for reelection in 2004), and his opinion carried weight because he was the mayor of the city attacked on 9/11. ‘’Don’t forget that the war started not very many blocks from here,” Bloomberg <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/11/nyregion/on-iraq-war-bloomberg-lends-support-to-first-lady.html">said</a>, standing alongside then-first lady Laura Bush in 2004. </p>
<p id="9QsZt4">Though Bloomberg’s views have shifted on the Iraq War, his remarks fed into some of the flimsy justification and misdirection <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3689022?seq=1">to frame the war in Iraq as connected to the war on terror</a>.</p>
<p id="FjPgkc">In 2007, Bloomberg switched from Republican to independent, saying it better reflected his <a href="https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/19/bloomberg-leaving-republican-party/">“nonpartisan approach”</a> in New York. It amped up speculation that he was contemplating a third-party run for president, especially as he was becoming more vocal on issues like climate change. </p>
<p id="6ez5vF">There <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/09/nyregion/09bloomberg.html?searchResultPosition=38">was probably something</a> to this, as Bloomberg began to publicly dabble more in foreign policy in the lead-up to 2008. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/us/politics/31bloomberg.html">The Times reported</a> that he got regular briefings on foreign policy with as diverse a crew <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/5/9/11640562/kissinger-pentagon-award">as Henry Kissinger</a>, Richard Nixon’s national security adviser and secretary of state; and former Clinton ambassador Nancy Soderberg. </p>
<p id="xawHCt">Still, Bloomberg’s actual foreign policy views remained a bit opaque beyond his initial support for the Iraq War and strong<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/nyregion/05mayor.html"> support for Israel</a>. In late 2006, as questions about a possible Bloomberg presidential run started up, he described himself in a radio program as <a href="https://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/the-bloomberg-doctrine/?searchResultPosition=10">“a bit more of a hawk</a>.” </p>
<p id="rxf6ed">He also suggested American power should be used to intervene to defend human rights, specifically referencing <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/11/21133429/sudan-al-bashir-icc-genocide-darfur">the genocide in Darfur</a>: “We go back and we say, ‘Oh, we should have done more to stop the holocaust in the late ’30s in Europe,” <a href="https://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/the-bloomberg-doctrine/?searchResultPosition=10">he said</a>. “Well, Darfur is another place where we haven’t learnt anything, unfortunately.”</p>
<p id="PqCFCW">In his answer, he also seemed to suggest some of the country’s entanglements abroad at the time had made such intervention difficult, though he wasn’t explicit: </p>
<blockquote>
<p id="hWDnGr">I think this country has an obligation to help people around the world. One of the real problems with where we are today is America is a superpower and it has responsibilities. And if God forbid we were called upon to defend people who were getting massacred elsewhere in the world, do we have the resources and the stomach to go and do that.</p>
<p id="dALSFQ">That’s one of the problems of being tied up in one part of the world. And goodness knows there are places in this world where people are getting massacred. And I don’t think that we’re doing enough.</p>
</blockquote>
<p id="EGszUU">Bloomberg didn’t run for president in 2008, instead serving a third term as mayor, which ended in 2013. After he left office, he continued to pursue issues like climate change and public health through his philanthropic work. </p>
<p id="vdIMk9">Bloomberg has funded <a href="https://www.bloomberg.org/program/environment/americas-pledge/">America’s Pledge,</a> which brings together state and local leaders committed to meeting the goals of the Paris climate accord. In 2018, <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2018/sga1791.doc.htm">he was named the United Nations special envoy for climate action</a>, and he personally covered the US’s share of contributions <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/news/336143-bloomberg-pledges-15-million-to-un-to-repay-us-climate-debt">to the UN’s efforts to meet the Paris benchmarks</a>. He runs the <a href="https://gbf.bloomberg.org/">Bloomberg Business Forum</a>, which had its third annual conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, which brings together government officials (including some heads of state) and businesses to talk about “global challenges.” As Vox’s Umair Irfan put it, Bloomberg turned himself into America’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/25/21145525/bloomberg-2020-debate-climate-change-beyond-coal">“de facto climate ambassador.”</a></p>
<p id="wDnlSt">That already sets up quite a contrast with President Trump, whose decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement has in some ways elevated Bloomberg’s activism in this area. Global warming is undoubtedly going to be a huge challenge for the next president — and something Bloomberg <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/25/21145525/bloomberg-2020-debate-climate-change-beyond-coal">has said he will make a priority</a>. But, as with any administration, it’s just one of the many crises ahead.</p>
<h3 id="sd1tSi">Bloomberg’s foreign policy baggage: The Iraq War and China</h3>
<p id="PN6409">Bloomberg isn’t the only candidate <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/10/15/20849072/joe-biden-iraq-history-democrats-election-2020">who will have to answer for his support</a> of the Iraq War. As New York mayor, Bloomberg didn’t exactly have a say in what happened, though he supported the war and later opposed Congress trying to <a href="https://www.nysun.com/new-york/bloomberg-faults-congress-on-war/51396/">put a timetable on withdrawal in 2007</a>. </p>
<p id="mfNFYl">He has become a bit more skeptical of the US’s prolonged commitment over time, and especially of the war’s ability to distract from other issues at home and abroad. He <a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/michael-bloomberg">told the Council on Foreign Relations</a> last month that “in hindsight, the biggest U.S. foreign policy mistake since World War II was the 2003 invasion of Iraq.”</p>
<p id="Ritdzk">So he’s acknowledged the mistake, but his stance also largely seems to be: Let’s move on and deal with the situation as it is, not as one wishes it could be.</p>
<p id="v0Qqc9">“America wanted to go to war, but it turns out it was based on faulty intelligence, and it was a mistake,” <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-01-06/bloomberg-presidential-campaign-iraq-iran">Bloomberg said in January 2020</a>. “But I think the people that made the mistake did it honestly, and it’s a shame, because it’s left us entangled, and it’s left the Middle East in chaos through today.”</p>
<p id="j1NsPv">He <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-foreign-policy.html">has previously said</a> he would keep a small number of troops in places like Afghanistan for counterterrorism missions, though a campaign spokesperson also told Vox the candidate will support efforts to reach a peace plan in Afghanistan that will allow for the “judicious withdrawal” of US troops. </p>
<p id="CZKhiu">Bloomberg has also faced criticism for his somewhat soft approach to China. In an interview last year, Bloomberg told Margaret Hoover, the host of PBS’s <em>Firing Line, </em>that the country’s president, Xi Jinping, “was not a dictator.”</p>
<p id="oCUQDV">“He has to satisfy his constituents, or he’s not going to survive,” Bloomberg said. </p>
<p id="GIG8Um">Xi has steadily increased power, cracked down on dissent both within and outside of government, interned more than 1 million ethnic Uighurs in <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/8/15/17684226/uighur-china-camps-united-nations">“reeducation” camps</a>, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2019/8/22/20804294/hong-kong-protests-9-questions">steadily encroached</a> on Hong Kong’s autonomy. Though the crisis around the coronavirus may be <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=xi+regime+coronavirus&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS769US769&oq=xi+regime+coronavirus&aqs=chrome..69i57.4691j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8">rattling his regime</a> in a way these other challenges haven’t, it has mostly exposed the limitations of China’s authoritarian rule. </p>
<p id="0P6v5Y">As the Washington Post has reported, Bloomberg’s business has grown in China, and he’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bloombergs-business-in-china-has-grown-that-could-create-unprecedented-entanglements-if-he-is-elected-president/2020/01/01/71536318-1cfd-11ea-9ddd-3e0321c180e7_story.html">built relationships with Chinese officials</a> — the same ones he’ll have to deal with on tough issues like trade, climate change, and human rights. </p>
<p id="baMSMW">A Bloomberg News reporter <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/18/world/asia/reporter-on-unpublished-bloomberg-article-is-suspended.html">has also said</a> a story got killed over fears that its publication could hurt Bloomberg’s company in China. That’s of course not the first time China’s economic potential has put some businesses in awkward positions: <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=nba+hong+kong&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS769US769&oq=nba+hong+kong+&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l7.3162j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8">Look at the NBA</a>, which faced a major controversy over one Hong Kong tweet. </p>
<p id="ucn3Uv">Bloomberg has said he will put his company in a blind trust. But whether he will still carry over the mentality <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/19/2020-presidential-race-bloomberg-democratic-primary-china-russia/">of making compromises with China to protect or grow economic ties</a> into his presidency seems to be the outstanding question. </p>
<p id="MIZxv9">Either way, Bloomberg has said the US and China must <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/2142338/us-media-mogul-michael-bloomberg-vows-scuttle-donald-trumps-trade-war">“find ways to work together”</a> and dismissed Trump’s hostile trade war as a viable strategy. A campaign spokesperson acknowledged that China isn’t playing by the rules but said a Bloomberg administration doesn’t think the trade war is the right approach. </p>
<p id="WJPMP0">Instead, Bloomberg would invest infrastructure and education at home in the US and strengthen alliances with other Asian countries. “Then, from a position of strength, [Bloomberg] will lead new and better trade partnerships, and revive international institutions such as the World Trade Organization, in order to write stronger global rules and pressure China to play by them,” the campaign spokesperson said. </p>
<p id="33WaKG">Bloomberg has also said he would support <a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/michael-bloomberg">legislation to sanction those responsible for</a> human rights violations in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, where Uighurs are being surveilled and detained. It’s a promising sign of some toughness, but that may make “finding ways to work together” much harder for both the US and China. Bloomberg’s engagement stance contrasts with <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f3b9202e-760c-11e9-bbad-7c18c0ea0201">some of his Democratic rivals</a> — and it’s a definite departure from Trump.</p>
<h3 id="Gk56ku">Bloomberg’s foreign policy approach: Diplomacy, professionalism, and bringing his global ambitions to government</h3>
<p id="qWNjLf"><a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/18/21135149/mike-bloomberg-democrat-polls-debate-new-york-mayor-record">As Vox’s Emily Stewart has written</a>, Bloomberg “is facts over fiction, data over politics, and realism over rhetoric.” Expect this to translate to foreign policy, too. </p>
<p id="hxg4M2">Bloomberg’s campaign has said restoring American leadership will be a top priority, including rebuilding alliances and renewing a focus on diplomacy as a first resort. Action on climate change requires both of these, and Bloomberg would already have a head start with a fair amount of global goodwill and a robust profile on this issue. </p>
<p id="9ZtZ7C">If Trump’s State Department has been marked by <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/07/31/how-the-trump-administration-broke-the-state-department/">chaos</a> and politics and the undermining of civil servants, expect a Bloomberg State Department to swing in the opposite direction with data, experts, and buzzwords like “strategic investment” and “coordinated application” — in other words, a kind of conceptual merging of government bureaucracy and a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.org/program/public-health/tobacco-control/">Bloomberg global initiative</a>.</p>
<p id="5klMNU">Bloomberg will certainly look to private philanthropy and civic groups to continue to partner with the public sector on issues like climate change. Public-private partnerships are nothing new for government, but a Bloomberg campaign spokesperson said that the candidate sees them as necessary across a range of issues, from hacking and cybercrime to pandemics. Global health is likely to be another key issue and is another area where the US could reassert leadership it’s <a href="https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/issue-brief/a-check-up-on-u-s-global-health-policy-after-one-year-of-the-trump-administration/">largely vacated</a>.</p>
<p id="2YeeC3">Otherwise, Bloomberg seems prepared to follow a pretty centrist Democratic foreign policy. He supported the TPP. Though he initially opposed the Iran nuclear deal, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-foreign-policy.html">he says he’ll get back into the Iran deal without preconditions</a>. He says he is committed to trying to find a realistic peace agreement in Afghanistan. </p>
<p id="Dz8uds">It’s a promise to get restore steadiness and maybe a degree of normalcy to American foreign policy — this time with a billionaire businessman who prefers pragmatism and plans.</p>
https://www.vox.com/2020/2/25/21147049/mike-bloomberg-president-foreign-policy-climate-changeJen Kirby2020-02-25T17:40:00-05:002020-02-25T17:40:00-05:00Why Twitter says Bloomberg’s fake Sanders tweets don’t break its rules
<figure>
<img alt="Mike Bloomberg speaking at a campaign rally in Salt Lake City." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Uy5foLJHlEuss_h16kmS5FrpLHw=/331x0:3839x2631/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66374131/1201979986.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Facing criticism, the campaign of Mike Bloomberg deleted a series of fictitious quotes by Bernie Sanders, which the campaign said was satire. | Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The Bloomberg campaign’s controversial tweets fictitiously quoting Bernie Sanders, briefly explained.</p> <p id="FFROlh">On Monday, presidential hopeful and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s campaign posted — and then deleted — several controversial tweets about rival Sen. Bernie Sanders that prompted confusion and tested the rules of what political campaigns can share on social media. </p>
<p id="b8Gzh2">The tweets, which Bloomberg’s campaign called satire, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/michael-bloomberg-bernie-sanders-cnn-castro-1488933">featured fictitious quotes</a> attributed to Sanders, in which Sanders appeared to praise dictators like Kim Jong Un, Bashar al-Assad, and Vladimir Putin, <a href="https://twitter.com/hshaban/status/1232072850082799623">with the hashtag “#BernieonDespots.”</a> </p>
<p id="jG7zSi">While the tweets are now gone, people are continuing to debate social media companies’ responsibilities when it comes to policing political speech online. Though Twitter and other platforms have implemented rules that limit the sharing of certain types of political misinformation, controversy abounds. </p>
<p id="1fVkLH">The Bloomberg campaign posts are another example of how much confusion exists online about what’s true and what’s not, and what’s the difference between a joke or an attack — and how finding a clear answer often depends on context and nuance that doesn’t always come through clearly in a tweet or a Facebook update. </p>
<div id="sLotMH">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Bloomberg campaign just tweeted out 6 fake/mock quotes attributed to Bernie Sanders.<br><br>Then, in a separate tweet, the campaign said that "to be clear" the tweets were satire.<br><br>Has Twitter commented on whether the string of tweets violate its policies on misinformation? <a href="https://t.co/g8pPL8YyYV">pic.twitter.com/g8pPL8YyYV</a></p>— Hamza Shaban (@hshaban) <a href="https://twitter.com/hshaban/status/1232072850082799623?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2020</a>
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<p id="PikIR4">With the Bloomberg campaign’s tweets about Sanders, for example, the account followed up on the thread by tweeting, “To be clear — all of these are satire — with the exception of the 60 Minutes clip from last night.” (Sanders <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/24/21147388/bernie-sanders-cuba-60-minutes-nicaragua">recently said on the CBS program</a> that he opposes the authoritarian regime of Cuba’s late Fidel Castro, but that it’s “unfair to simply say everything is bad” about the leader, such as a mass literacy program he implemented). </p>
<p id="koGA7U">To many, it was obvious these tweets were an attempt at a joke. But others criticized the Bloomberg campaign for posting what they saw as a <a href="https://twitter.com/ClareMalone/status/1232068355542130692">misleading</a> attempt to smear Sanders using fabricated quotes. </p>
<p id="omMeED">When the series of tweets were viewed together, it was more obvious that they were satirical. But the fake Sanders quotes appeared on some people’s Twitter feeds in isolation — lacking context, seemingly serious to some, and all the more confusing.<strong> </strong>It’s just <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/22/technology/bloomberg-social-media.html">one of several recent instances</a> where Bloomberg’s tweets, sponsored memes, and other social media activity have tested the boundaries about what is allowed on social media.</p>
<div id="9WwSn3">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Not sure who's running this twitter feed, but these aren't real quotes & it's misleading for them to be in quotation marks. You might think the "joke" is obvious but a lot of people on the internet won't know it's satire. This is how disinformation spreads <a href="https://t.co/6TCATqsD2n">https://t.co/6TCATqsD2n</a></p>— Clare Malone (@ClareMalone) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClareMalone/status/1232068355542130692?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2020</a>
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<p id="01shov">Even when they’re not being satirical, politicians generally have a lot of leeway in what they can say on social media without violating company rules around misinformation or hate speech. President Trump has repeatedly tweeted false statements about everything from <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/impeachment/2020/01/how-many-impeachment-lies-can-you-find-in-this-trump-tweet/">his impeachment proceedings</a> to <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1073195450033950720">immigration</a>, and he has posted media that some see as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/aoc-defends-omar-after-trump-9-11-video-calls-more-n994131">inciting violence toward political opponents</a>. All of this has remained on Twitter because the company considers Trump’s posts newsworthy, despite calls for the company to take them down. </p>
<p id="3NKoVJ">And Facebook (unlike Twitter and YouTube) continues to enforce a controversial policy that allows lies in political ads, such as the <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/10/30/20939830/facebook-false-ads-california-adriel-hampton-elizabeth-warren-aoc">Trump campaign’s ad making false claims about the activities of former Vice President Joe Biden</a> and his son in Ukraine. Democratic candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren has tested those boundaries by running a fake ad claiming Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg endorsed Donald Trump for president, meant to be a critique of the rule. </p>
<p id="8XsWgy">Twitter, like other major social media companies, doesn’t ban content just because it’s false or potentially misleading, but it does have a set of rules barring any content that’s <a href="https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/platform-manipulation">considered “platform manipulation” or “spam.”</a> A spokesperson for Twitter told Recode that the Bloomberg campaign’s specific tweets falsely quoting Sanders didn’t violate any of its current rules on the site.</p>
<p id="L9jNjg">If Bloomberg’s campaign had posted an edited image, like a fake screenshot (as opposed to text) of Bernie making fictitious statements, then it would likely be a violation of Twitter’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/2/4/21122653/twitter-policy-deepfakes-nancy-pelosi-biden-trump">upcoming manipulated media policy</a> that is rolling out on March 5. </p>
<p id="jl6e2b">The spokesperson also told Recode, “Admittedly, satire is a challenging one. Context of the content is important. As it pertains to the synthetic and manipulated media rule it is pretty well explained in the blog in that we evaluate the potential impact of the media i.e. is the content in question ‘shared in a deceptive manner.’”</p>
<p id="EFRwdl">Twitter’s policy is far from clear and will continue to require some subjective calls on what is and isn’t a joke. The rules on <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/11/18/20970942/facebook-political-ads-policy-carolyn-everson-code-media">Facebook</a> or <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/9/26/20885783/facebook-twitter-youtube-policies-political-content">YouTube</a> are not much clearer because every major tech company is grappling in 2020 with how to balance users’ free speech with their ability to do harm.</p>
<p id="8agBGX">Meanwhile, Bloomberg consistently (and perhaps smartly) continues to push the boundaries of these platforms’ rules — garnering criticism, but also getting free publicity.</p>
<p id="qY2TAc">Last Friday, Twitter <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-02-21/twitter-suspends-bloomberg-accounts">suspended 70 pro-Bloomberg accounts</a> run by people paid by the Bloomberg campaign who were posting identical tweets in favor of the candidate. Twitter said the accounts violated its policies on “platform manipulation and spam.” In this case, because the language of many of the posts were word-for-word copies of the same coordinated language, it was a clear violation of the platform’s rules. </p>
<p id="yK1YoK">The campaign also posted a doctored video of the last Democratic presidential debates that made it seem as though Bloomberg had an “epic mic drop” moment that stumped his opponents — even though, as <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/20/21145926/mike-bloomberg-debate-video-twitter-fake">my colleague Alex Ward explained</a>, he didn’t. </p>
<p id="m2IIam">The campaign has more broadly been paying people <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/2/19/21144339/mike-bloomberg-debate-social-media-wsj-twitter-facebook-polls">$2,500 a month to post positive content about Bloomberg on social media and text their friends</a> about him. And it’s paying much more to big-name influencer Instagram accounts to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/14/21137102/mike-bloomberg-instagram-meme-ad-campaign-backfiring">post ironic memes about the candidate</a>.</p>
<p id="dsAkxb">In every case, Bloomberg has received criticism, and in some cases, social media companies have hit the candidate with a slap on the wrist for these tactics that blur the lines between spam, misinformation, and clear advertising. </p>
<p id="Je1kC2">But in the end, the publicity may be well worth any criticism. Whether you agree with it or not, Bloomberg is smartly exploiting the gray areas social media companies have established around politics and free speech online. It’s a difficult problem that will only get more complicated for social media platforms as we get closer to Election Day.</p>
<p id="dnzNej"></p>
https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/2/25/21153061/bloomberg-bernie-sanders-tweets-twitter-fake-dictators-fidel-castro-putin-kim-jong-unShirin Ghaffary