So the New York Times is reporting that Michael Bloomberg will enter the Democratic Primary on Friday. If they are not doing everything in their power to stop this, the Democratic establishment has shown itself to be a danger to itself and others.
First off, what happens if Bloomberg gets the nomination and loses? Right now DSA and Justice Democrats are not a leftwing tea party. If the establishment drops a candidate in at the last minute, and he then loses the general, they will be. It’s the height of white privilege to be able to lose an election, it means nothing really bad is going to happen to your community. Many people of color don’t have that luxury. If you want to start a war in the Democrats Party, a last-minute nominee who then loses would do it.
Secondly, how would this even work? Mr. Bloomberg enters the race and draws support from Biden. For the two candidates not to cannibalize each other’s support Mr. Biden would have to drop out, which probably advantages Mr. Sanders.
Third, let’s assume Mr. Bloomberg has enough money to self fund the primary until the end. What’s to cause him to drop out once the race is clearly lost? Do we have a situation like we did last cycle with a candidate who’s in it to the bitter end, and tying up resources that need to be pointed at Trump.
Fourth, is running a candidate that last held office as a Republican really a good idea for the Democratic Party.
Finally, you can’t be the Presidential nominee if you can’t raise money. Mr. Biden isn’t raising money, and shouldn’t be the nominee. Mr. Sanders, Ms. Warren and Mr. Buttigeig are raising money. There’s no bonus points by raising money only from the cool kids (big donors, a.k.a. Biden). We have no idea of Mr. Bloomberg’s fundraising capacity. Having a candidate self fund the primary only to be unable to raise enough money to compete in the general is among the worst-case scenarios. Expecting a billionaire just to buy the presidency is naive and asking for trouble.
This is simply a bad idea, and one we should expect Democratic leadership to attempt to avoid, not encourage. Leadership need look no farther than the 1972 campaign to see the damage excessive establishment snipping at a candidate can cause. Further, it is highly likely that the lib dems are to hand the British Parliament over the Conservatives in about a month by splitting the liberal vote. What happens when we start talking about the “madness of the moderates” and the center’s willingness to let everything burn if it doesn’t get its way? That’s not helpful to national stability.
All of this is outside of the very good point that I’ve seen no polling suggesting Mr. Bloomberg can win.