Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had said he planned to make a decision on whether he’d run for president in the coming weeks but gave no hints in his Tuesday speech about his timing. | Al Drago/Getty Images 2020 Elections Bloomberg tees off on potential 2020 rivals as he inches toward run

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Michael Bloomberg made his second visit to New Hampshire Tuesday, using the opportunity to step up his criticisms of President Donald Trump.

But he didn’t stop there.


Bloomberg also trashed fellow billionaire Howard Schultz for considering an independent presidential bid, and dismissed Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s proposed wealth tax as “probably unconstitutional.”

“We shouldn't be embarrassed about our system. You want to look at a system that's not capitalistic, just take a look at what was perhaps the wealthiest country in the world and now people are starving to death. It's called Venezuela," Bloomberg said of Warren's proposal, speaking to reporters after an afternoon factory tour in Nashua.



The billionaire slammed a Medicare for All proposal floated by 2020 candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, saying the country could "never afford" replacing the employer-offered health care system in its entirety. "It's just not practical," Bloomberg said.

He also balked at tuition-free college, a key pillar to Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 bid for the White House. "Free college tuition would be a nice thing to do but unfortunately professors want to get paid," Bloomberg said. "It's totally impractical."

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Bloomberg, who has made fighting global warming and the gun lobby central tenets of his political identity, made the case at St. Anselm College that climate change poses one of the biggest challenges to the planet, from increasing the risks from hurricanes and wildfires to killing iconic wildlife.

“Here in New Hampshire, and in Maine, one study showed that 70 percent of baby moose are being killed by ticks that are now surviving through the winter,” Bloomberg said in his prepared remarks.

A former New York mayor, media mogul and philanthropist, Bloomberg launched his speech by criticizing Trump not over climate change, at least not initially, but for the just-ended government shutdown sparked by the president's demands for border wall funding. The event was the most-attended book event the New Hampshire Institute of Politics has hosted, with around 200 people, according to Executive Director Neil Levesque.

“To me, the government shutdown was an utter failure of executive leadership, and it's an example of just totally incompetent management that needlessly hurt millions of people,” Bloomberg said.

“I’m glad the shutdown is over for now, but the American people will continue paying a steep cost for the White’s House incompetence,” he continued, “because the president is fixated on a wall we don’t need instead of the real challenges we face: Creating good paying jobs; making health insurance more affordable; stopping the opioid crisis that is tearing so many families and communities apart; improving our public schools and making college more affordable; investing in our infrastructure; and the list goes on and on.”

"Nothing political," Bloomberg joked. "I always come to New Hampshire in the winter when it snows."

Bloomberg last week began stepping up his criticisms of Trump amid the shutdown, saying the president was “way in over his head.”

"You need a leader, not someone who makes these speeches that say 'I've got a secret plan … elect me and I'll tell you what it is,'" Bloomberg said. "You've gotta ask for some specifics."

Bloomberg said the president ought to make all parts of government work, and to be the "unifier" and spokesperson for the public, including getting the rest of the world on board for issues like clean energy.

On Monday, Bloomberg added another target: fellow billionaire Howard Schultz, a Democrat-turned-independent who said he plans to mount a third-party bid for president that, Bloomberg worries, would help Trump win reelection.

"I did not want to be the one to give us Donald Trump so I did not run as an independent," Bloomberg told reporters on Tuesday.

Bloomberg had said he planned to make a decision on whether he’d run for president in the coming weeks but gave no hints Tuesday about his timing.

Bloomberg, though, said he’ll focus on putting ideas behind the so-called “Green New Deal” for environmental preservation and climate change that Democrats say should be a major plank in the party’s platform in 2020.

“I’ve already begun working on putting together the details of what I believe a Green New Deal should look like,” he said, declining to give specifics. “And whether I run for president or not, I will work to ensure that fighting climate change — and spurring economic development in areas that have depended on fossil fuels — is a top priority for the Democratic nominee.”

If he were to seek higher office, Bloomberg said he would put his foundation into a blind trust or sell it. "Don't call us, it's not for sale," he joked during a 15-minute question-and-answer session after his speech.

"I did that while I was mayor," Bloomberg said. "The company, I put in a blind trust or I just stayed away from it."

Drug prices are too high, Bloomberg said, but a larger problem is the wide-ranging cost of health care at different hospitals. He also said drug companies need to be profitable so they invest in "orphan disease drugs" for uncommon illnesses.

"There's an enormous amount of lobbying done of government by drug companies, just like the enormous amount of lobbying done by social media companies in Washington today," Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg, who is 76, also stressed that he's in good health. He was asked by a student whether he is vegan, drives a clean energy vehicle or tries to reduce waste. Bloomberg said he's "addicted to Cheez-Its and popcorn" and Subway sandwiches, but eats less red meat than he used to and is trying to go a year without having a drink.