ToxicBloomberg.com 2020

Curated Info & Resources

Instances of Bloomberg Toxic Waste Politics

Michael Bloomberg is running for president and a large number of people are sympathetic to his campaign even though he is a deeply toxic and racist billionaire.

His potential presidency could be similar to Singapore, with accelerated authoritarian capitalism and curtailed civil liberties, loss of privacy and police harassment. (or he would lose to Trump for obvious reasons, see below)

JUST THE FACTS, JACK: I had not seen any good, lightweight 2020 oriented resource curation page about the issues so here we are. If you have similar pages or resources to share post them with the hashtag. Share this with your friends who are organizing, or people engaged in writing or talking about the 2020 U.S. election. More about this site You can tweet about these issues with #ToxicBloomberg.

Currently active hashtags:

#askBloomberg with lots of key issues raised, trending high on Feb 19 2020 (credit to mskellymhayes and others!)

#MyBloombergStory lots of people are talking about major civil rights abuses. (See below - more info here )

See also: #BloombergIsaRacist • #BloombergIsTrump

Jump to these issue sections:

General situation with Mike Bloomberg

Before we dive into the details here are a couple overviews on the Bloomberg position in this 2020 election and political era.

Bloomberg legacy on misogyny, sexual harassment and non disclosure agreements (NDAs)

Mike Bloomberg is keeping a lot of women with settled lawsuits under Non Disclosure Agreements he could release at any time (see Eric Levitz piece for a summary of some points)

Most existing references to "toxic bloomberg" on Google are about the toxic work environment he repeatedly fostered for women.

As we all have learned with the 'catch and kill' National Enquirer NDA tactics to assist Trump in his news positioning, these kind of misogynist men leave a trail of lawyer-managed coverups of their rotten behavior which can repeatedly surface on the campaign trail, which in 2020 would then create a drumbeat of news and depress turnout among key parts of the Democratic Party electorate. (Yet some 'experts' still think he is a safe choice or can buy his way out of this massive looming problem)

Bloomberg on racist policing and "Stop and Frisk"

"Black and Latino men... They don't know how to behave" -Mike Bloomberg pic.twitter.com/tldYkpoC0E — #VetsAgainstTrump (@SpectacularTime) February 18, 2020

Somehow Benjamin Dixon's surfacing of a long public 2015 Aspen YouTube clip cut through the media noise.

Share this far and wide. Unless the mainstream media picks it up, it will be isolated to twitter. pic.twitter.com/Fm0YCi4ZRy — Benjamin Dixon (@BenjaminPDixon) February 11, 2020

Surveillance and harassment of Muslim communities in NYC

More notes about the CIA and NYPD during Bloomberg in the Variety Pack section

Racist housing and redlining

Fingerprinting public housing residents

mike bloomberg wanted to fingerprint more than 600,000 nyc public housing residents to, according to him, prove they actually lived there pic.twitter.com/YpoDSyQheZ — Matt Binder (@MattBinder) February 13, 2020

Bloomberg's history as a critical, actual existing Republican

mike bloomberg: "i know donald trump. he's a great guy...i'm a big fan of donald trump." pic.twitter.com/2cGOv4tuT6 — Matt Binder (@MattBinder) February 19, 2020

For whatever reason some liberals keep forgetting Bloomberg was a key figure supporting the Republican Party for the last 20 years including fundraising for notoriously Islamophobic Rep. Peter King until very recently (2018 yes that 2018). [Has anyone even really looked at his fundraisers yet?]

His "Independence USA" SuperPAC contributed almost $10.1 million for GOP federal candidates in 2012-2016 (see next link)

Latest: Democratic Presidential Candidate Michael Bloomberg Is a GOP Bankroller, by Alex Kotch, Feb 14 2020:

Exposed by CMD, (Center for Media and Democracy). Alex Kotch: "Since 1987, according to Federal Election Commission records, Bloomberg donated over $900,000 directly to Republican candidates’ campaigns, national GOP party committees, and federal PACs of state Republican Party committees. Bloomberg has given $4.6 million to New York state GOP party committees and roughly $300,000 to Republican state and local candidates. ... Bloomberg’s Independence USA super PAC, which he funds exclusively, spent nearly $10.1 million supporting Republican federal candidates from 2012-16. "

To name but one bizarre example from the editor of talkingpointsmemo.com:

There are a lot of reasons to oppose Bloomberg. But calling him an "authoritarian Republican" is really just self-undermining hyperbole/nonsense. — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) February 13, 2020

As the links above show Josh Marshall is not being candid about the timeline here. Bloomberg as a key GOP NYC region supporter is not 'decades in the past'.

Bloomberg backs War on Drugs

He has tried to soften highly unpopular stance in last 120 days or so but there is a long policy record and many comments.

In Jan. of 2019, Bloomberg said legalizing marijuana "is perhaps the stupidest thing anybody has ever done." I asked him if the people of Colorado are stupid for legalizing it. "We shouldn't put anyone in jail over it. Colorado has a right to do what they want to do..." #9News pic.twitter.com/Wkuc84NGPh — Marc Sallinger (@MarcSallinger) February 1, 2020

Bloomberg on Medical marijuana: "One of the greatest hoaxes of all time"

Aside from racist policing noted above which led to wildly disproportionate arrests for cannabis in NYC via stop and frisk and other unconstitutional policies, Bloomberg has enjoyed cannabis but claims medical marijuana is fake. Far out of step with both the general US public and Democrats.

here's mike bloomberg on radio calling *medical* marijuana "one of the greatest hoaxes of all time" when he was nyc mayor pic.twitter.com/77NF1EFxIu — Matt Binder (@MattBinder) February 13, 2020

Bloomberg on Immigration

Some horrible ID card trial balloon

mike bloomberg wanted to put fingerprints on every social security card to keep people who are "illegal" from getting jobs so they wouldn't cross the border pic.twitter.com/2B034g05aa — Matt Binder (@MattBinder) February 14, 2020

Double standard on aging / health problems

Bloomberg has elderly health issues. While many candidates are advanced in years this kind of attention is not evenly distributed. (As of Feb 14 he is the same age as Bernie Sanders and one year older than Joe Biden)

HOLY SHIT. Mike Bloomberg (who is the same age as Bernie) developed an irregular heartbeat in 2018, and “had heart surgery in 2000 to have two stents implanted in a coronary artery because of blockage” pic.twitter.com/R0cPLg7Nbk — 29 U.S.C. § 157 (@OrganizingPower) February 14, 2020

People like @neeratanden and @JRubinBlogger have concern trolled for months about Bernie’s medical records, even though he has released FAR more info than Bloomberg, who has released nothing more than a one-page doctor’s note pic.twitter.com/q9w2Lewwwk — 29 U.S.C. § 157 (@OrganizingPower) February 14, 2020

2004 Republican National Convention

Thousands of people arrested as Bloomberg bragged about being a Republican in 2004. Similarly Occupy Wall Street faced police repression in 2011.

Guantanamo On the Hudson: Detained RNC Protesters Describe Prison Conditions Democracy Now (September 02, 2004)

Remember when Bloomberg had RNC protestors illegally interned on Pier 57 even though it was unfit for human habitation? And then he endorsed Bush on national tv? I sure do. https://t.co/H0KQiCY2Dl — tuunbaq for what (@BespokeHoover) February 14, 2020

7 years later: Occupy Wall Street: police evict protesters, The Guardian

Mistreatment of NYC workers and anti-union activity

A complex subject with levels of details. Against living wage and benefits in many cases. Bloomberg tried to curtail public workers rights and is no friend to the US union movement, not surprisingly since he was mostly a Republican during the first two decades of this century.

*'Living wage' reminds Bloomberg of Soviet communism; he says he'll stop it in court if he has to, Dana Rubenstein, Politico, April 13 2012

Bloomberg a poor choice to unite Democratic voters for general election

Per recent head-to-head poll Bloomberg is among the least popular of Democratic primary candidates - and he is a weaker contender for 'organizing the coalition' than the others.

Data for Progress Bloomberg message tests(pdf). Shows effect of discussing serious Bloomberg problems on favorability.

Bias against transgender people

A clip from 2019 features Bloomberg disparaging the rights of transgender people, at the link here:

Queer supporters of Mike Bloomberg, how do you explain this to our transgender family and friends? Because they deserve a Democratic nominee that doesn’t refer to them as “it.” pic.twitter.com/HNwuxDZzhf — H. Alan Scott / Sadie Pines (@HAlanScott) February 19, 2020

Bloomberg’s past comments make trans voters wonder how much he’ll prioritize trans rights, Katelyn Burns, Vox, Feb 19, 2020

The Variety Pack: Additional Bloomberg items

This section covers items that don't fit amid the others.

Biden video (Feb 19) overviews Bloomberg record:

Welcome to the debates, Mike. We have a lot to catch up on about Barack Obama’s record. pic.twitter.com/bMYPLYwnfQ — Joe Biden (Text Join to 30330) (@JoeBiden) February 19, 2020

Bloomberg said: “Double the class size, with a better teacher, is a good deal for the students.” This is wrong. And dangerous. pic.twitter.com/0AzhdXS0oI — Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) February 14, 2020

Bloomberg favored preventing elderly people from getting medical care saying that society was not "yet" ready for his measures.

Bloomberg explaining how healthcare will “bankrupt us,” unless we deny care to the elderly.



“If you show up with cancer & you’re 95 years old, we should say...there’s no cure, we can’t do anything.



A young person, we should do something. Society’s not willing to do that, yet.” pic.twitter.com/7E5UFHXLue — Samuel D. Finkelstein II (@CANCEL_SAM) February 16, 2020

Gumby notes the close collaboration between CIA and NYPD under Bloomberg:

More info on the Bloomberg Support Network

Calls to action

This is not an endorsement of calls to action but things to know are out there.

What is to be done?

If Bloomberg does reasonably well in this primary that could encourage Jeff Bezos or Peter Thiel (to name two likely suspects) to run in 2024 or 2028. Billionaires have vastly different class interests than most people.

To paraphrase David Graeber the hostile technocratic class is highly unlikely to win elections. One obvious analysis to draw now: Bloomberg is almost the caricature of this class and therefore a terrible choice.

As the information here illustrates, almost any other candidate would be better for Democrats in particular and the country as a whole. It is important to respect the experiences of countless thousands of people harmed by Bloomberg policies over many years - not short or temporary arrangements, and recognize what that vision means for the rest of America.

About this site

This curation site was created by Dan Feidt (@hongpong) as an editorial publication commenting on the 2020 election. You are welcome to link to this site or re-use portions of it. Credit to this site is welcome but really it is mainly intended as a curation of the hard work of other reporters so I recommend crediting them.

In lieu of donations to this site please support your local organizations trying to address the social problems created by Bloomberg style leadership (including police brutality, sexism and housing insecurity), with respect to the voices of people harmed.

To contact the website use the form here (preferred) or email hongpong AT hongpong.com with subject "ToxicBloomberg"

Credits:

All reporting and memes generated by their creators. Thank you to everyone for sending in links and memes!