While six Democratic candidates for president were on stage in Iowa, another candidate, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Bloomberg said that he has so far spent several hundred million dollars on the campaign. He called it “his investment in getting rid of Donald Trump and getting a decent president.”
While Bloomberg has not campaigned in the first four states that will hold contests, he said he has been to 20 states and 40 cities.
To participate in the debates, candidates need to hit certain donor quotas. Bloomberg says he only has one donor, himself.
WHAT IS MICHAEL BLOOMBERG’S NET WORTH?
When asked if he is qualified for the job, Bloomberg said he ran the biggest city in America. “Nobody goes into the office with the experience of running four million employees which the president has,” said Bloomberg. “But its not an entry level job that needs training wheels and I don’t need training wheels.”
Colbert asked about war in Iraq and what is the bar for military intervention?
“It has to really threaten America,” said Bloomberg. “If other countries are threatened, we have an obligation to go and help.”
Bloomberg said that Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s wealth tax plan doesn’t work. “We have to raise taxes on the wealthy, that’s how you fix income inequality. That’s where we get the money to do the things we need to do to keep the country safe and keep the economy going.”
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Bloomberg had been criticized over his “Stop & Frisk” policy while mayor, which he apologized for when announcing his presidential candidacy.
“It started out with murder in the city. I had a responsibility to stop the carnage,” said Bloomberg. “I realized we were doing it too much. I said lets try something. Stop doing the stop and frisk and we cut 95 percent out. I said I made a mistake and if you cant apologize, I don’t know how you live with yourself. Apologize and get on with it.”
OUTGOING NYPD COMMISSIONER SOUNDS OFF ON MIKE BLOOMBERG’S STOP-AND-FRISK APOLOGY
On gun control Bloomberg pointed to background checks. “You don’t want the wrong people get guns. You don’t want to sell guns to minors. We have the 2nd Amendment, we’re not going to change the constitution. You have the right to bear arms. But the courts let you say no guns to minors and no guns to people with psychiatric problems and no guns to people with criminal records.”
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Colbert did inject some comedy into the interview making note of Bloomberg being currently fifth in national polls and should he be concerned about his Big Gulp should he be elected.That’s a jab at the plan Bloomberg had while mayor to ban large-size sugary drinks.
