Michael Bloomberg accused President Trump of cozying up to white supremacists in a speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention on Thursday night where he asked voters to fire the commander in chief.
“Four years ago I came before this very convention and said, ‘New Yorkers know a con when we see one,’” the former Big Apple mayor and failed 2020 Democratic candidate began, appearing via video link.
“But tonight I’m not asking you to vote against Donald Trump because he’s a bad guy, I’m urging you to vote against him because he’s done a bad job,” he continued, calling Trump’s tenure a “sorry chapter in American history.”
The media mogul, 78, created shockwaves when he announced his own White House bid in November and was instantly considered a front runner by political pundits as Biden’s own campaign flat-lined.
But Bloomberg was forced pulled the plug just 102 days later later after pumping a staggering $1 billion of his own fortune into his campaign, undone by weak debate performances and other gaffes.
The businessman took Trump to the mat on his own history as a property developer and accused him of running America into the ground.
“Trump said we should vote for him because he’s a great businessman. Really? He drove his companies into bankruptcy six times, always leaving behind customers and contractors who were cheated and swindled and stopped doing business with him,” Bloomberg said.
“Well, this time all of us are paying the price, and we can’t let him get away with it again,” he continued, speaking from Colorado.
The former three-term New York City mayor is the founder of financial media company Bloomberg LP and is one of the richest men in the world, with an estimated worth of $65 billion.
A major philanthropist, Bloomberg praised Joe Biden and said he had created millions of jobs by saving the auto industry and would create a promising future with great plans for climate change, infrastructure and training.
“Let’s put an end to this whole sorry chapter in American history and elect leaders who will bring integrity, stability, sanity and competence back to the White House. Joe and Kamala; got get him, for all of us,” he said.
Bloomberg was forced to call his campaign quits after fellow candidate Elizabeth Warren steamrolled the billionaire in a brutal debate stage exchange and his lone electoral success was in the tiny island of American Samoa.
After luring staff with new iPhones, fat paychecks and three meals a day, his former staffers sued him for suddenly laying them off when he promised to keep them on until November.
Bloomberg promised to pour his immense wealth into defeating President Trump but after suspending his campaign has been largely MIA, raising questions about why he was feted as one of the final convention speakers.
The vanishing act angered fellow Democrats who said he “stiffed” the party.
“He stiffed our party and all the monthly workers he promised to keep on through November. Why is Bloomberg speaking?” activist Amy Siskind asked on Twitter.