Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. During an interview with ABC News, the two socialists shared their thoughts about former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg tossing his hat in the ring.
"You know, I think there's some real issues that Mayor Bloomberg had in the city," Ocasio-Cortez said. "To this day, he still defends his policy of 'stop and frisk,' which impacted families like mine. It was my cousins and my friends that were stopped on the New York City subway system, and racially profiled, and patted down, and thrown into jail for low-level marijuana offenses and I think that you know, we need to talk about those issues, and we need to talk about the fact that there were real issues in New York City, especially along the lines of race, that we have to contend with."
It's not clear how many of AOC's cousins were thrown into jail for "low-level marijuana offenses."
The interviewer then asked the congresswoman if she thought Michael Bloomberg would make a good president.
"You know, I don't think billionaires should be president right now," Ocasio-Cortez answered. "I don't think that's what this country needs, and I think that it's going to take us further in a direction of wealth and political power concentrating at the very, very top of our country, and I think that our democracy should be for everyday people, not for purchase."
Bernie Sanders was then asked what he thought about reports suggesting Michael Bloomberg was entering the race because the former mayor didn't think any of the current candidates were up to the job, not even him.
"Not even me," Sanders repeated. "Well you know, that is the arrogance of billionaires. As I understand it, he is planning to skip the first four states we're doing... but he's too important. You see, when you're worth 50 billion dollars I guess you don't have to have town meetings, you don't have to talk to ordinary people."
The Associated Press reported earlier that Bloomberg's team plans to focus their efforts on Super Tuesday when primary voters in 15 states head to the polls on Mar. 3, 2020.
"I don't think billionaires should be president right now."
— ABC News (@ABC) November 11, 2019
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells @rachelvscott she doesn't think former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, considering a 2020 bid for president, is "what this country needs." https://t.co/0ohmkTYgWO pic.twitter.com/AtwmawGDbz
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