2020: Billionaires'  'war' In Usa

By Emmanuel Onwubiko
Emmanuel Onwubiko
Emmanuel Onwubiko

The biggest news of the day is that one of the richest living human beings on the planet Earth by name Michael Bloomberghas officially announced his late-entry into the Democratic presidential bid by unveiling a campaign that he, the former NewYork mayor said will be squarely aimed at defeating President Donald Trump.

The international media are already feasting on this political phenomenon which if you like has signalled one of the World'sfiercest political contests of all times in which the leading opposition candidate is regarded as by far richer than the maincontestant and current President Mr Donald Trump who doesn't shy away to announce to the media that he is a man oftremendous means.

The emergence of this billionaire Michael Bloomberg into the race to become the Presidential candidate of the Democraticparty has added more energy to the whole competition for who becomes the 46th United States President come 2020 onTuesday November 3rd.

And if in the next three Months that the Democratic primary election will take place, if this Billionaire wins the ticket he wouldsquare up with President Donald Trump of the Republican party in what will be the Political war of the Billionaires.

The flamboyant billionaire Mr. Michael Bloomberg, had in a letter explaining his candidacy on his campaign website, lays out amore moderate vision for the country and casts himself as "a doer and a problem solver -- not a talker."

"I'm running for president to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America. We cannot afford four more years of PresidentTrump's reckless and unethical actions," Bloomberg wrote.

Cable News Network which openly supports the Democrats against President Trump hinted that Bloomberg's late 2020 bid --along with the money the billionaire can spend to fund his campaign -- injects a new level of uncertainty into the race less thanthree months before the first voting in the race begins.

The Cable News Network's reporter stressed that in the last several days there was little doubt he was running. Ironically, there seems to be some other similarities and attributes between Trump and Bloomberg aside the fact that both are men of immense wealth. Both Bloomberg and Trump are somewhat eccentric and both can be considered as outsiders in their political families- Republican party and democratic party. Bloomberg moved from Republican to being an independent and then registered in the Democratic party. Trump emerged as Republican Presidential nominee completely from outside the core hierarchy of the Republican party.

The billionaire Mr. Bloomberg, who had said earlier this year that he would not run, reversed his decision because he doesn'tthink there's a candidate in the current field of Democrats who can beat Trump next November, several people close to theformer mayor told CNN.

In the considered opinion of the CNN, the pepper weight candidates according to the assertion of Michael Bloomberg includes former Vice President Joe Biden, who Bloomberg has watched fade in Iowa polling and struggle withfundraising even as this rich donor doesn't trust him to be good enough to defeat Donald Trump to an extent that he wouldn't financially support him.

Former President Barrack Obama had also expressed his apprehension that the Democrats are seriously derailing from thecore ideology of the party whose philosophy of modern liberalism advocates social and economic equality, along with welfarestate. Democrats seek to provide government regulation in the economy.

But ex-President Barack Obama had warned that the Democratic party influential members are leaning dangerously towardsfar left.

"The average American doesn't think we have to completely tear down the system and remake it. And I think it's important forus not to lose sight of that."

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, two of the more than twenty other candidates in the Democratic party disagreed withObama and insisted that there is the need for a massive structural changes and for implementation of policies that woulddramatically alter the role of government in American's lives." The dramatic entry of Bloomberg barely 48 hours after thisBarack Obama's intervention may be strategic going by the widespread apprehension that the leftist leaning candidates maynot be able to defeat Donald Trump.

However, CNN observed that Mr. Bloomberg is not the first late entry candidate to get into the race. Former MassachusettsGov. Deval Patrick also announced earlier this month that he, too, would run for the Democratic nomination.

To show that money wouldn't be his problem the money man Mr. Bloomberg has placed at least $37 million worth oftelevision advertising over the next two weeks, according to data from Kantar Media/CMAG.

As can be discerned from the initial investment in advertisements running into princely sums, the 2020 election campaign willbe the fight of dollar for dollar, millions for millions.

Specifically, the CNN reports that the ads highlight the mayor's biography -- "He could have just been the middle class kid ...but Mike Bloomberg became the guy who did good," said the ad -- and his post-mayoral work on combating climate change.Then the spot turns to Trump, saying now the mayor is "taking on him" as an image of Trump freezes on screen.

The spot ends with narrator saying "'Mike Bloomberg for President" with Bloomberg saying "I'm Mike Bloomberg and Iapprove this message."

Bloomberg's massive buy -- 60 second spots across some 100 markets -- they reckon will begin next week, representingmore than the entire Democratic field has spent on TV advertising in the race so far, excluding businessman Tom Steyer, whowill have aired nearly $63 million of TV ads by the end of Bloomberg's initial bookings.

The 77-year-old entrepreneur and philanthropist, Bloomberg reportedly made his fortune creating technology that bankersand traders use to access market data so says his biographer officially.

After building a successful financial information business, he turned to politics. He officially launched a bid to become mayorof New York in 2001 and was victorious.

Despite running as a Republican in an overwhelmingly Democratic city, Bloomberg won the election and was reelected twice.During this second term, he reportedly switched parties and became an independent -- only to re-register as a Democrat in2018.

Because of his late entry, aides to the former mayor have said he won't compete in the first four voting contests, in Iowa, NewHampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Instead, Bloomberg is staking his chances on an unconventional strategy of buildingsupport in the states that hold primaries on March 3, also known as Super Tuesday.

Pundits say it's a strategy that has never been successful in Democratic presidential politics. Party officials in Iowa and NewHampshire have publicly expressed disappointment with Bloomberg's decision.

But on the positive side, the media say Mr. Bloomberg can tout his recent efforts advancing causes important to Democraticvoters. He's put his significant financial resources behind efforts to defend reproductive rights and to tackle climate changeand gun violence. The big spender is also reported to have bankrolled several campaigns of many democratic congressionalmembers.

There is the report that Bloomberg spent more than $100 million to help the democratic party take control of the Houseduring the 2018 midterm elections and, more recently, contributed to important state races in Virginia.

Political pundits say a Bloomberg candidacy could face several challenges, including countering the narrative that progressivecandidates like Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have already set: that billionairesshouldn't be able to "buy elections", so reports a political analyst.

Those who know the United States political terrain vastly have stated that it may also be difficult for Bloomberg to meet thepolling and donor thresholds to make it onto debate stages.

Political watchers in the USA wrote that the major criticism of Bloomberg grew over the weekend when it became clear thatBloomberg was slated to spend tens of millions of dollars on ads at the outset of his campaign.

"I see this as one more example where how come when you have someone who is already a multimillionaire in the WhiteHouse do you think that the people in this country are going to go, 'Oh, we need someone wealthier,'" Minnesota Sen. AmyKlobuchar said in New Hampshire on Saturday.

And California Sen. Kamala Harris turned Bloomberg's entry into a call for campaign finance reform. "Listen, we got to getmoney out of politics," she told an audience in Iowa. "I mean, I got to raise a ton of money to be competitive." From the blackcommunity, Bloomberg faces a backlash because of what reporters in the USA stated as his past support for "stop and frisk,"a type of aggressive policing that allowed -- critics say encouraged -- officers to detain a person on virtually any type of vaguesuspicion. After defending it for years, Bloomberg apologized last week at a predominantly African American church forimplementing the controversial policy.

Media is reporting however that some observers have begun to question the timing of Bloomberg's backtrack on the issue ashe made moves toward a presidential run.

"It's interesting timing that the mayor would apologize for that now," said one of his rivals for the nomination, former Housingand Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro.

If Bloomberg wins the Democratic ticket, here is the man Donald Trump that he would confront in a battle of the Billionaires.

According to an entry from www.biography.com/.amp/US-President/donald-trump, Mr

Donald John Trump is the 45th and current President of the United States; he took office on January 20, 2017. Previously, hewas a real estate mogul and a former reality TV star.

Born in Queens, New York, in 1946, Trump became involved in large, profitable building projects in Manhattan. In 1980, heopened the Grand Hyatt New York, which made him the city's best-known developer.

In 2004, Trump began starring in the hit NBC reality series The Apprentice. Trump turned his attention to politics, and in 2015he announced his candidacy for president of the United States on the Republican ticket.

After winning a majority of the primaries and caucuses, Trump became the official Republican candidate for president on July19, 2016. That November, Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States, after defeating Democratic candidateHillary Clinton.

Trump’s father, Frederick Trump, was a builder and real estate developer .

From the look of things and the political development in America, it would seem that what will shape the colour of thecampaign would be the question of whether the efforts by the Democratic party dominated House of Representatives todamage the Donald Trump's brand through the ongoing impeachment moves will succeed. The entry of Bloomberg wouldseem like a confirmation that this effort by the Democrats in the house of Representatives to destroy the Donald Trumppolitical persona is not clicking.

A public affairs analyst Nat Apir agrees with my postulation above.

However, he added thus: "But we must always subject our democractic practice and it's institutions to rigorous tests and evaluation - the principles & idea of multiparty democracy and the separation of powers embedded in it are the pillars that have made the American democracy unique and enduring".

"The Democrats are only testing the waters for 2020. They know and are very much aware that it is almost impossible to impeach Trump as things currently stand in America today - good Economy and Jobs", he concludes.

The coming days would be intriguing in the political firmament of the United States of America. As outsiders, we will keep ourfingers crossed.

*Emmanuel Onwubiko is the Head of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria(HURIWA) and [email protected],www.huriwa.blogspot.com, www.emmanuelonwubiko.com.

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