Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed Hillary Clinton in his speech on Wednesday at the Democratic Convention – and offered a forceful denunciation of fellow New York billionaire Donald Trump.
Drawing upon his business background, Bloomberg said a Trump administration would be disastrous for the nation’s economy and described the GOP presidential nominee as a “risky, reckless, and radical choice.”
Bloomberg also said that the country must unite around Clinton because she can “defeat a dangerous demagogue.”
Citing Trump’s “well-documented” record bankruptcies, lawsuits, angered shareholders and cheated contractors, Bloomberg said:
Trump says he wants to run the nation like he’s running his business? God help us.
Often compared to Trump as a successful American businessman, Bloomberg pointed out that he is self-made, while Trump started with a “million dollar cheque” from his father.
Support For Hillary
A three-term mayor who left office in 2013, Bloomberg considered making a third-party run for president this year before opting against a campaign due to the fear of siphoning away votes from Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and inadvertently helping elect Trump.
Now an independent, Bloomberg said that Clinton was “not a flawless candidate,” he praised her work ethic, intelligence and attempts at bipartisanship that made her “the right choice – and the responsible choice – in this election.”
To me, this election is not a choice between a Democrat and a Republican. It’s a choice about who is better to lead our country right now, better for our economy, better for our security, better for our freedom, and better for our future.
Bloomberg deemed Trump’s economic plan “a con” and “a disaster in the making”.
He would make it harder for small businesses to compete, do great damage to our economy, threaten the retirement savings of millions of Americans, lead to greater debt and more unemployment, erode our influence around the world, and make our communities less safe.
Bloomberg, worth an estimated $47 billion, is the founder of the financial news and information provider Bloomberg LP. He was a political novice when he launched an unlikely bid for mayor in 2001. Largely a social liberal but a fiscal conservative, he served for 12 years, overseeing a gilded age in the nation’s largest city even as the gap between its rich and poor grew.
(With inputs from AP)
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