All Eyes on Michael Bloomberg as Joe Biden Flops in Debate

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg addresses the United States Conference of May
Joe Raedle/Getty
Hannah Knudsen

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg has signaled he would consider jumping into the presidential race if Joe Biden (D) – who lost his status as the solid frontrunner in recent weeks – falters in the primary.

He cautioned ahead of Tuesday evening’s debate that Democrat candidates need to tell voters how they will practically implement their lofty policy proposals.

Bloomberg wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post urging Democrat candidates to explain how they would make their grandiose proposals a reality.

The former mayor said it is likely the next president will face a “closely divided Congress.” Because of that, candidates need to explain how they would implement their ideas – such as Medicare for All and their multi-trillion-dollar Green New Deal proposals.

“Rarely are the candidates asked, and more rarely still do they talk about, how they would go about achieving their goals,” Bloomberg wrote.

“The fact is: A legislative proposal is only as good as the execution plan that accompanies it. And even the best plans must be flexible enough to accommodate necessary changes, to prevent the perfect from being the enemy of the good,” he continued.

He added:

The presidential aspirants are not short on big ideas. But voters must demand they explain how they intend to move from proposing plans to actually implementing them, including passing them through Congress. Those who dodge the question by speaking of revolution and the bully pulpit aren’t up to the job.

The op-ed follows reports of Bloomberg’s rumored reconsideration of a presidential bid. While he announced his intention of staying out of the presidential race due to the “difficulty of winning the Democratic nomination in such a crowded field” in March, Biden’s slow and steady fall has the former mayor rethinking his decision.

Bloomberg has told associates that he is considering throwing his hat in the presidential ring of Biden drops out.

“Bloomberg is in if Biden is out,” a source, described as a “New York billionaire with ties to Bloomberg,” told CNBC.

As CNBC reported:

Bloomberg has signaled he’s “still looking at” running for president, but people close him say that the only way he could even go down that path is if Biden’s fortunes suffer so much that he drops out before or during the early stages of the primary. Bloomberg could then enter the race as one of the rare moderates with enough name recognition and campaign funding to make a run. Forbes estimates his net worth at $51 billion, and he was planning to spend over $100 million on a campaign for president if he ran.

While Biden has not signaled any intention to drop out of the race, his lackluster debate performance is not expected to elevate his position in the polls. The former vice president failed to have a breakout moment during the three-hour debate and experienced at least seven gaffes, mistakenly pronouncing exponentially as “expodentially,” mentioning Roe. v Wade before correcting himself to the subject of gun sales, and claiming that people are “clipping coupons in the stock market” during a discussion on the economy:

If Bloomberg does, in fact, jump into the presidential ring in coming months, he would likely face questions surrounding his recent praise of China– particularly that Chinese Communist Party chairman Xi Jinping is “not a dictator”:

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