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Breaking: Mike Bloomberg is Rich, I Mean, Really Rich …
… and his entourage is none-too-discreetly leaking to The New York Times that if the electorate doesn’t get its head straight, soon, he’d be willing to drop a billion on an independent bid:
Galled by Donald J. Trump’s dominance of the Republican field, and troubled by Hillary Clinton’s stumbles and the rise of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on the Democratic side, Michael R. Bloomberg has instructed advisers to draw up plans for an independent campaign in this year’s presidential race.
Mr. Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, has in the past contemplated running for the White House on a third-party ticket, but always concluded he could not win. A confluence of unlikely events in the 2016 election, however, has given new impetus to his presidential aspirations.
Mr. Bloomberg, 73, has already taken concrete steps toward a possible campaign, and has indicated to friends and allies that he would be willing to spend at least $1 billion of his fortune on it, according to people briefed on his deliberations who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss his plans.
Apparently, he’s decided it would only be worth his money if the GOP nominates Trump or Cruz and the Democrats nominate Sanders or Hillary’s indicted. (Too bad the Times didn’t make a little flow chart to help us visualize the decision tree.) Otherwise, he figures it’s not worth the investment.
Envision a Trump-Bloomberg campaign. Trump’s net worth is $4 billion. Bloomberg’s is $37.2 billion. Since Trump’s running on the idea that winning-ness can be measured by net worth …
Published in Elections, General
We’ll load up the van, Grapes of Wrath-style.
I think you are in full comedy mode today. Love it!
That’s 4 sets of NYC values. The country is saved!
Brent – how in the world can Texas defend its borders when it can’t even turn out decent barbecue?
Oooh, you want a fight, I guess? Straight from talk of secession to civil war?
Which is it, Carolina or St. Louis?
Never mind. You’re taking Carolina. Who’s taking St. Louis? Anyone? This seems to be the year when two competitors just won’t do.
There are many things to be said about Bloomberg that wouldn’t scare Republicans : had a phenomenally successful business career ( he did build that); inherited a repaired NYC from Rudy, but kept things humming along; friendly to charter schools and school reform; not friendly to unions; tough on crime. If it wasn’t for the crazy nanny statism , the war on salt and Big Gulps, he wouldn’t be that objectionable.
Hillary, Sanders, Trump, Bloomberg … They all good. Just so long as we don’t have to consider an LP candidate.
Bloomberg hates guns with a passion. He is spending millions of his own dollars in a crusade to elect anti-gun politicians anywhere they have a chance of prevailing. I also don’t trust him with my Fourth Amendment rights, since he (and a lot of my fellow Ricochetti, sadly) support “stop and frisk” policing.
You can’t make a secession retroactive, can you? Maybe shoot for 2017. Include Tennessee and the Carolinas in your new Republic and I may have to move.
Matthew, when the Republic of Texas tears up the treaty we will take our BBQ with us and you can have your hamburger and tomatoe sauce.
I am somewhat surprised by the discrepant billionairity ratio between Bloomberg and Trump. If the former has nine times more billions than the latter why is he holding back in such a penurious way? By Trumpian standards he would have to commit to a campaign budget (one fourth of his fortune) of eight or nine billion. And if he does not get the required opposing array of Clinton (or Sanders) and Trump he could always buy Belize.
Randy, those other states are on their own.
I just have to put my stake into the ground as the first to predict a Bloomberg run.
Nice call Z.
Not at all.
Once Texas re-establishes the Republic of Texas, then the negotiations begin. All of the Confederate states would secede in order to join Texas. OK, NE, NM would soon join. Missouri might have a civil war of their own over whether to join. WV and Indiana would be likely, as would WY, MT and ID.
I think it is a real possibility.
Don’t worry! Just practice in the mirror saying “Dadgummit” and “Dadburnit,” and nobody will know you’re a furriner.
I see a new Sinatra mix coming out of this: New York, New York, New York
First off, Clinton and Bloomberg doesn’t belong in any mention of “populism”. Clinton is about as far from Trump’s appeal as you can get, as is Bloomberg. Clinton is the Democrat’s Jeb!, the candidate that the powers that be in the party have tried to make inevitable. This is why Sanders… who is a real populist candidate… spooks them so bad. He’s a threat to her coronation.
Bloomberg is the same way. An arrogant man that thinks if he spends enough, he can get anything he wants. Ironic, as one barb thrown at Trump is that he thinks he can “buy” the election. Which completely ignores the facts: he’s spent a pittance, less than $250k, vs tens of millions burned like kindling by Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio in a vain attempt to get people to care about them. Whatever Donald Trump’s sins are, “buying the election” ain’t among them. If anything, voters are giving it to him, on the cheap.
He couldn’t plow or salt the streets of NY, but he can save us all. Better stock up on salt folk, the only thing Bloomberg can do is take the salt out of our cheeseburgers.
Wow … you called it. What a shame you didn’t put money on that bet! You know, we should open a Ricochet betting pool. With members putting real money behind their predictions. That would be a lot of fun — and possibly very interesting, too. Don’t you think?
Yes, an investigation by state’s attorney generals for running an illegal internet book is always both fun and very interesting.
The law — it seems to me — would be on our side. These activities are excluded from U.S. Code § 5362:
Basically, the way it’s been interpreted is that fantasy sports are a game of skill, and therefore not gambling. I’d say that predicting political events is very much a game of skill, wouldn’t you?
Tell that to FanDuel and Draft Kings who have been the targets of the AG in New York. They got an injunction to keep operating but stopped taking deposits. They have also been targeted in Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, and Washington State.
President Dewey would no doubt agree.
Ricochet can take it all the way to the Supreme Court. It will be good for America.
Oh no you don’t….you’re not succeeding without the other T state.
How many members will we need to pay the lawyers?
Ah, we’ll make up for it with all the free publicity it will get us.