Ian Bremmer is the president and founder of Eurasia Group, a political research and consulting firm.

Donald Trump has built an entire presidential campaign on the fact that his wealth allows him to do and say what others can’t. Michael Bloomberg has amassed an even larger fortune. But in presidential politics, not all billionaires are created equal. Trump uses his personal treasury to advance his personal brand. If he runs, Bloomberg will use his billions to finance a serious-minded centrist candidacy.



Only a wealthy man could afford such a challenge from the center. Bloomberg never pandered to voters. He had political courage.

Bloomberg spent 12 years as New York City’s mayor driving down crime rates, planting trees and raising graduation levels. He managed the city’s finances well enough to leave a $2.4 billion budget surplus. His tenure was far from perfect. Income inequality spiked, and police profiling took root on his watch. These issues provoke questions that Bloomberg would have to answer as a candidate. He’s not a man with a talent for public empathy. But he served the nation’s largest and most complex city as an effective and pragmatic manager, one who prioritized competence and creativity over political allegiance.



It’s inevitable that Bloomberg and Trump will be scrutinized as a pair. Both are political outsiders. Neither can claim credibly that immense personal success alone qualifies him to be president. But Bloomberg, unlike Trump, has a record of governance. Trump can use his wealth and style to pander to voters who hate authority. Bloomberg proved as mayor that he need not pander to anyone. We saw that in his defense of construction of the “Ground Zero Mosque” at a time when a majority of New Yorkers opposed it. Agree or disagree with his opinion, his political courage speaks for itself. At this moment in our history, that’s exactly what the country needs.

Too bad that only a billionaire could even hope to make this run. Maybe it’s time for a president who can afford to ignore the absurd extremes of left and right and call them for what they are and let millions of voters show their enthusiasm for effective, sensible government.





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