The potential presidential candidacy of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has elicited harsh criticism from other candidates in the race.
Bernie Sanders supporter Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez played the “class warrior” card.
“There are folks that are trying to completely purchase our political system, running as Republicans and now tossing in their hats as Democrats in the field as well,” she said.
“But what we’re here to say is that in a democracy, it shouldn’t matter how much money you have. What should matter is whether you vote, whether you caucus, whether you turn out. It’s the numbers. It’s the people. it’s the movement.”
Sanders himself echoed AOC’s criticism.
Tonight we say to Michael Bloomberg and other billionaires: Sorry, you’re not going to buy this election. pic.twitter.com/15sVnuPxwR
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 10, 2019
Class warfare or class envy? I think it’s a lot more of the latter than the former. But what Democrats really fear is that Bloomberg could self-finance a campaign that could bury them. Bloomberg’s billions give him an advantage that only Donald Trump enjoyed in 2o16.
Interestingly, the report that fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos convinced Bloomberg to run had the socialists seeing a rich man’s conspiracy.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was in Iowa campaigning for Sanders, jumped in while Sanders composed himself.
“Of course!” she said in an interview with the Des Moines Register. “They’ve got class solidarity. The billionaires are looking out for each other. They’re willing to transcend difference and background and even politics.
“The fact that Bill Gates seems more willing to vote for Donald Trump than anyone else tells you everything you need to know about how far they’re willing to go to protect their excess, at the cost to everyday Americans.”
Sanders jumped in to joke that the two billionaires make for their own “strong grassroots movement.”
Note AOC’s use of the Marxian theory of “class solidarity.” Rich people stick together because, well, they’re rich. The individual preference for president becomes a plot against “everyday Americans.”
But what about Democrat billionaires like George Soros, Tom Steyer, or Donald Sussman? Why are they different than Gates, or any Republican billionaire? Here’s where AOC’s Marxian nonsense comes a cropper. She might be surprised to find out that billionaires are people too. They have their own opinions that have nothing to do with “class.” If AOC were right, all of those super-rich would vote one way, think one way, and act one way. But she’s a socialist with the mind of a child and lacks critical thinking skills.
Sanders told ABC News that Bloomberg showed “the arrogance of billionaires.”
I’m doing five events this weekend right here in Iowa. We’re all over New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, California. But he’s too important,” Sanders said, referring to reports that Bloomberg would not aggressively compete in the first four voting states. “You see, when you’re worth $50 billion, I guess you don’t have to have town meetings, you don’t have to talk to ordinary people. What you do is you take out, I guess a couple of billion dollars, and you buy the state of California.”
Other Democrats were less harsh in their criticism of Bloomberg, but all suggested he wasn’t going to do well with such a late start. That may be. It hasn’t been done before. But this election promises to be one for the books and no one should be counted out.
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