Celebrity Judy Sheindlin, “Judge Judy,” endorsed former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg (D) for president on Monday.
The famous television judge was featured in a 30-second ad for Bloomberg and appeared on television to explain her endorsement.
Sheindlin said to The View that she respected Bloomberg’s leadership during his time as mayor of New York City and believed that he could do the same for America.
“There was a good feeling. It was a feeling that things were run effectively and efficiently during his 12 years as mayor,” Sheindlin said. “I felt that way when he was the mayor, and he’s a brilliant, self-made guy.”
Sheindlin also spoke about her endorsement with CNN host Chris Cuomo on Monday night.
She argued that both President Trump and Democrats had behaved badly after the 2016 election and suggested that Bloomberg could help bring both sides together politically.
“I do think that the president had the capacity to calm down the rhetoric,” she said, adding that “many people were disappointed on that election night in November, and some, other than the president, reacted, I think, badly.”
Sheindlin said that Bloomberg was the strongest candidate to stand toe-to-toe with Trump and expressed doubts about the current Democrat field.
“I don’t think that anyone matches Mike Bloomberg’s experience,” she said, noting that even a former vice president like Joe Biden did not have the same credentials.
“Joe Biden is a very nice man. I’m sure he is. He wasn’t great for 40 years — wasn’t great,” she said, adding, “Nothing’s changed except he’s gotten older.”
Sheindlin defended Bloomberg’s “stop and frisk” policy as a policy of “public health” and saving lives, not racism.
“It was people being killed by guns, mostly minority people being killed by guns,” she said, noting that stop and frisk got 33,000 illegal guns off of the streets of New York City.