OPINION:
How serious is the destruction of the Democratic Party? The entrance into the 2020 presidential race by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg confirms the party essentially doesn’t even exist anymore.
Mr. Bloomberg officially launched his campaign with an ad and is proceeding to spend $34 million in a television ad campaign, a record in presidential campaign history.
Politico reported, “Advertising Analytics tracked buys of around $34 million in reservations so far, touching parts of all but two of the lower 48 states. ’This buy is MASSIVE,’ said Ben Taber, an analyst for the television ad tracking firm Advertising Analytics. … ’I think it’s going to be the biggest buy of all time,’ he wrote. Then-President Barack Obama had a $30 million, one-week long buy in 2012, Taber said.”
Mr. Bloomberg’s entrance into the race makes it clear that the establishment is panicking about its hopes of dislodging the enormously successful President Trump. Perhaps they finally understood that the American people are enjoying a different kind of “woke.” Citizens are enjoying a new awareness of what good governance can bring, like a healthy, booming economy, historic employment impacting all Americans, and a confident foreign policy.
We are now woke to the fact that peace and prosperity, and a first couple that actually loves the country and us, is not only possible, it’s happening.
Both Sens. Bernard Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, two leading Democratic Party presidential contenders, are understandably critiquing Mr. Bloomberg’s entrance into the race. They argue that Mr. Bloomberg believes he can buy the nomination, and it sure looks that way.
But even more indicative of the general chaos in the Democratic Party and its perceived lack of principles and discipline is Mr. Bloomberg’s comfort with his company, Bloomberg News, telling reporting staff that they are not allowed to report on or investigate Mr. Bloomberg as a candidate.
NPR reported on a comment Mr. Bloomberg made last December to Radio Iowa when asked what would happen to Bloomberg News if he were a candidate: “I happen to believe in my heart of hearts — you can’t be independent, and nobody’s going to believe that you’re independent. And quite honestly, I don’t want all the reporters I’m paying to write a bad story about me. I don’t want them to be independent.”
Bloomberg News also noted it will not investigate or report on any of the Democratic candidates. Out of “fairness,” it says. But don’t you worry. In the same breath, the journalists there assure everyone they will continue to investigate and report on Mr. Trump. One can presume as a result, that they will also report and investigate on Republicans in general.
There are two ways to handle this situation: Either his company covers all politics, or they cover no politics. The other option is for him to sell the company.
As of this writing, none of the 2020 Democratic candidates have commented on the Bloomberg News plan. There is constant condemnation of Mr. Trump for saying the media is unfair and “an enemy of the people.” Shouldn’t the Democratic Party condemn this publicly stated commitment to bias and unfairness and demand full coverage?
Every day the hypocrisy and corruption of the establishment and its toadies in the media is laid bare. It has become so inherent in the DNA of legacy media, Mr. Bloomberg and the editors at Bloomberg News perhaps don’t even realize what their position says to the American people.
In the meantime, Mr. Bloomberg will try to buy the nomination with spending that no other candidate can match. He is not competing in Iowa or New Hampshire, likely to see how former Vice President Joseph R. Biden performs. It appears his commitment is to simply focus on Super Tuesday states. These larger states, unlike the smaller states that require actual campaigning and meeting people, can be blanketed with television ads, which are expensive. This approach is out-of-reach for every other Democratic candidate.
While I am not a fan of any of the Democratic candidates, each and every one of them should see this for what it is — an insulting statement about the field in general and an attempt to buy the nomination while avoiding having to actually campaign. The current slate of candidates has been playing by the rules, upending their lives, fundraising, sometimes making fools of themselves, eating hot dogs at state fairs and looking voters in the eye. Good for them.
Democratic primary voters should be enraged that someone is entering the race who believes campaigning the old-fashioned way is too icky, instead preferring to stay at arms-length by drowning the average person in a swamp of political ads.
The odds of Mr. Bloomberg gaining the Democratic nomination the natural way are low. One thing he can do is win a few of the Super Tuesday states, keeping those delegates away from the original group of candidates. This could result in a nomination convention with no candidate having enough delegates to win outright, resulting in a brokered, or contested, convention.
How many stars are out there who would eschew the “denigrating” primary campaign process of having to meet with people from — gasp — the Midwest, but wouldn’t mind being “chosen” as the nominee? Hillary Clinton? Michael Bloomberg? Deval Patrick? Oprah? Michelle Obama?
Now it’s up to the average Democratic voter. Rejecting this cynical and insulting plan of the establishment via Mr. Bloomberg will be the first chance they get to say enough is enough to an arrogant, hypocritical and dangerous establishment.
• Tammy Bruce, president of Independent Women’s Voice, author and Fox News contributor, is a radio talk-show host.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.