Someone is dropping oppos on Mike Bloomberg today and it’s glorious.

The latest? Comments the mayor made in 2015 defending Russia’s invasion of Crimea and comparing it to the U.S. annexation of California:

Mike Bloomberg, in newly surfaced 2015 remarks, compares Putin's attack on Ukraine to US annexing California: "What would America do if we had a continuous country and a lot of people in that country wanted to be Americans. Does California ring a bell? We just went and took it." — Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) February 11, 2020

“And you want a warm water port? Guantanamo Bay ring a bell? We kept that”:

Bloomberg then compares Russian aggression to U.S. military bases: "I'm not suggesting Putin's doing a good thing or it should be allowed. But we did this. That was 200 years ago, but we did it. And you want a warm water port? Guantanamo Bay ring a bell? We kept that." — Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) February 11, 2020

He went on to blame NATO expansion:

Bloomberg believes NATO expansion gave Putin justification for aggression: "One of the reasons that Putin has reacted the way he did is there was a movement to have NATO be right along the Russian border… so they know this meant that the world was out to get them." — Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) February 11, 2020

Russia as a partner to stop Iran’s nuclear program? Crazy talk (if you’re a Dem):

More Bloomberg on foreign policy: "With the whole crazy Islamic world with all of its chaos that's going on, we'll never be able to stop Iran from being a nuclear power. To do it, if we did, you have to have Russia as an ally in these things." — Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) February 11, 2020

So, have his view evolved?

Would be curious to see what Bloomberg says now. https://t.co/78PbHjSn8C — Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) February 11, 2020

And we eagerly await the media coverage of Bloomberg’s many conflicts with Russia and China:

Bloomberg has a lot of sympathy for Putin and a Xi Jingping and unlike some stupid scrubbed Trump Tower Moscow deal has ACTUAL massive financial entanglements with authoritarian governments But let me guess at how much coverage this will get https://t.co/rq6VRY3hVV — Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) February 11, 2020

Dems, do your thing:

These comments from Bloomberg are Jill Stein-level analysis on Russia. https://t.co/PK75S6oDhe — Casey Michel ?? (@cjcmichel) February 11, 2020

Maybe there’s a tape?

America’s Next Top Russian Asset Mogul https://t.co/L6ydd2cWUz — Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) February 11, 2020

More please:

Vetting Bloomberg is gonna be ? https://t.co/ZO7Dr3McLD — David Carroll ? (@profcarroll) February 11, 2020

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