Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is willing to spend “whatever it takes” to defeat President Trump in 2020, a source close to the billionaire told Axios.
Bloomberg, who has a net worth of $52 billion, signaled on Thursday he is seriously considering jumping into the Democrat presidential primary by filing presidential primary paperwork in Alabama ahead of the deadline, according to reports. Sources close to Bloomberg initially mused he would not enter the presidential race unless Joe Biden (D) showed signs of weakening.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has certainly put a dent in his support in recent months, signaling the nomination is not a lock for the former vice president.
That considered, Bloomberg is taking steps to self-fund his campaign – a clear advantage considering his late dive into the field. A source close to the former mayor told Axios that the billionaire is reportedly willing to “spend whatever it takes to defeat Donald Trump.”
“Mike will spend whatever it takes to defeat Donald Trump,” the source said. “The nation is about to see a very different campaign than we’ve ever seen before.”
While Bloomberg has yet to make a final decision, Axios reports that one is coming “soon” and added that he will “quickly ramp up in other states with deadlines approaching, including Arkansas, New Hampshire, Florida, California and Texas.”
His consideration stands in contrast to the position he held in March, writing in an op-ed that he was “clear-eyed about the difficulty of winning the Democratic nomination in such a crowded field.”
“I know what it takes to run a winning campaign, and every day when I read the news, I grow more frustrated by the incompetence in the Oval Office. I know we can do better as a country. And I believe I would defeat Donald Trump in a general election,” he wrote.
“But I am clear-eyed about the difficulty of winning the Democratic nomination in such a crowded field,” he added.
Both Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) gave Bloomberg a cold welcome following the reports of his potential presidential bid. Warren invited him to fill out her calculator “for the billionaires,” and Sanders assessed the billionaire class is “scared”: