As much as the left complains about the influence of money in politics, self-funded billionaire elitist Michael Bloomberg is gaining traction in the polls. Bloomberg has already poured over $350 million into his own campaign, and the former New York City mayor won't rule out spending up to a billion dollars in his efforts to remove Donald Trump from the White House.
The billionaire has decided to ignore the early states in the nomination process – like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – and instead saturate his millions in states that vote on Super Tuesday, which will take place on Mar. 3 this election year.
At a campaign stop in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Wednesday, one protester took over the microphone to warn the crowd of supporters that Michael Bloomberg was a plutocrat who was in the process of buying the Democratic presidential nomination.
"Bloomberg is a billionaire buying this election," the protester could be heard yelling before climbing her way onto the stage. Once she reached the microphone, the woman warned, "This is not democracy. This is plutocracy."
The microphone was cut almost immediately, and several people took the stage in an effort to coax the protester away from the podium. The woman did not appear to step onto a box before speaking into the microphone.
Democrats in disarray: protester seizes mic at Bloomberg event, this “is not democracy”https://t.co/J2FGENxceZ pic.twitter.com/hZ6EVUbyK6
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 12, 2020
Audio of a Bloomberg speech before the Aspen Institute surfaced earlier this week. In the speech, the former New York City mayor defended his controversial 'stop and frisk' policy which has been wildly denounced as 'racist' by left-wing critics. The hashtag, #BloombergIsRacist, was trending on Twitter much of Tuesday. But money talks, and for one reason or another three members of the Congressional Black Caucus have now endorsed Bloomberg even amid fallout from the billionaire's incendiary remarks.
Similarly, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) has eased its debate requirements, a move which makes it much more likely that Bloomberg will participate in upcoming debates. When previous candidates like Cory Booker and Julian Castro made similar requests, the DNC vigorously defended its debate requirements and refused to make any concession at the time.