Michael Bloomberg says will not run for White House

NEW YORK, USA – US billionaire Michael Bloomberg announced Monday, March 7, that he would not throw his hat into the volatile race for the White House, fearing that his candidacy could lead to the election of Republican usurpers Donald Trump or Ted Cruz.

The 74-year-old former New York mayor has long considered an independent run for the White House, expressing public dismay about a 2016 race dominated by the insult-flinging Trump, the current Republican frontrunner.

Bloomberg, whose $41.7 billion fortune makes him the eighth richest person in the world according to Forbes, accused fellow New York tycoon Trump of waging “the most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign I can remember.”

“Abraham Lincoln, the father of the Republican Party, appealed to our ‘better angels.’ Trump appeals to our worst impulses,” Bloomberg wrote in a column for his eponymous news agency.

He savaged Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, threatened deportation of millions of Mexicans and threatened trade wars against China and Japan as “all dangerously wrong.”

“The end result would be to embolden our enemies, threaten the security of our allies, and put our own men and women in uniform at greater risk,” he said.

Cruz, the first-time senator from Texas who is second in the race to win the Republican nomination, “is no less extreme,” Bloomberg wrote.

The self-made billionaire and philanthropist, perhaps best known nationally for campaigning to tighten gun controls, said he had been urged to run out of “patriotic duty” by opponents of the current candidates.

“But when I look at the data, it’s clear to me that if I entered the race, I could not win,” he said in a statement published by his eponymous news agency.

“There is a good chance that my candidacy could lead to the election of Donald Trump or Senator Ted Cruz. That is not a risk I can take in good conscience.”

Bloomberg stopped short of endorsing Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, who was New York senator during his time as mayor, or any other candidate, but said he would not stay silent in the face of partisan extremism.

No endorsement

“I will continue urging all voters to reject divisive appeals and demanding that candidates offer intelligent, specific and realistic ideas for bridging divides, solving problems, and giving us the honest and capable government.”

The New York Times lifted the lid Monday on details that showed the seriousness with which Bloomberg had mulled an independent run.

He had laid out his ambitions in private conversations with US Vice President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister David Cameron, and had held “extensive talks” with Michael Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with a view to making him possible running mate, the paper reported.

His aides conducted polling in 22 states, drafted a website, produced television ads and set up campaign offices in Texas and North Carolina where the process would have been begun to put his name on the ballot, it added.

Aides planned an elaborate branding campaign that would have stressing his credentials as a self-made man and a problem solver beholden to neither party at a time of growing US voter dissatisfaction with the political establishment.

Had self-declared democratic socialist Bernie Sanders – and not Clinton – been on track to win the Democratic primary and Trump the Republican ticket, Bloomberg was determined to run, the Times reported.

A pragmatist rather than an ideologue, Bloomberg was a Democrat before turning Republican in 2001 and then switched his affiliation to independent in 2007. He is less known nationally than on the East Coast.

Close to Wall Street, a hawk on security but favorable to immigration reform and socially liberal, his unusual mix of positions for an American seeking top office could have cost him votes on both sides of the aisle.

As mayor of New York from 2002 to 2013, he pushed through a strong health agenda, banning smoking in bars, restaurants and public spaces, and forcing restaurant chains to put calorie counts on menus.

The last independent to run for the US presidency was billionaire Ross Perrot. In 1992, he won 18.9% of the vote and contributed to the defeat of Republican incumbent George Bush to Bill Clinton. – Jennie Matthew, AFP / Rappler.com