Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg told CBS News’s “60 Minutes” that he made the decision to enter the race because after watching the other candidates he concluded that President Donald Trump would destroy them in a general election match-up.

“I started watching and listening to the candidates,” Bloomberg said. “And they had ideas that made no sense to me whatsoever. Donald Trump is gonna eat ’em for lunch.”

Bloomberg, who skipped campaigning in the first four primary states, will finally appear on the ballot in the Democratic primary race on Super Tuesday, which is this week.

WATCH:

“Donald Trump is gonna eat ‘em for lunch,” says Michael Bloomberg about the other Democratic candidates. He says that’s why he entered the race. https://t.co/2ClQPr7xro pic.twitter.com/TVEZdEoOdD

Partial transcript of “60 Minutes” interview and report:

Scott Pelley: You told everybody who would listen that you’re not running for president.

Mike Bloomberg: I did.

Scott Pelley: What changed?

Mike Bloomberg: I started watching and listening to the candidates. And they had ideas that made no sense to me whatsoever. Donald Trump is gonna eat ’em for lunch.

That evening he would head to South Carolina and Texas. Bloomberg comes to politics like the electrical engineer he is, pragmatic not charismatic.



Mike Bloomberg: I have been training for this job for close to 20 years there is nobody else running that has any management experience whatsoever in any of these things, but you have to have somebody that’s been there done that and will do it right and will guide us through the tough times particularly day one.

Scott Pelley: What does the data today tell you about the voter that leads you to believe that you can win?

Mike Bloomberg: A few years ago there was a revolution against the intelligentsia. People said, “You know, those people, particularly on the coasts, are trying to tell us what to do.” They wanted a change. That explains Donald Trump. Now, people seem to have changed. This cycle, people want stability.

His political career began in 2001. He won the mayor’s office three times as a Republican, then once as an independent. His strategy was the one he is using right now: he massively outspent his opponents in self-funded campaigns. In 12 years, Bloomberg helped rebuild Ground Zero, helped the city survive the Great Recession. He banned smoking in restaurants, improved schools and balanced the budget. But there was controversy. Bloomberg expanded a police tactic called stop and frisk. More than 80% of those stopped were minorities. Less than 1% were carrying guns.

Scott Pelley: You defended stop and frisk right up to the point that you announced you were going to run for president. What have you learned?

Mike Bloomberg: We should’ve, in retrospect, been more careful and keep it from– and keep the numbers from growing and we did not and for that I am very sorry.

Scott Pelley: It was a mistake, the way that it rolled out–

Mike Bloomberg: Well, yeah, there’s no argument about it. It was a mistake. I erred. It was a mistake. I’ve took– I haven’t walked away from my responsibility for it.

Bloomberg is divorced with two daughters and two grandchildren. He still owns his boyhood home in Medford, Massachusetts.

Scott Pelley: Your parents bought this house through an intermediary because the owner wouldn’t sell to a Jew.

Mike Bloomberg: Correct. 1946, and the guy who sold it to us said his sister would never forgive him.

Scott Pelley: Do you think America’s ready for a Jewish president?

Mike Bloomberg: Nobody’s– virtually nobody’s mentioned it and I think in this day and age, yes. We’ve moved on. It’s a better world than it was back then.