American billionaire Michael Bloomberg may soon announce his participation in the US presidential race. He took the first step - he applied for registration as a participant in the primary election of a presidential candidate (primaries) from the US Democratic Party in Alabama.

“We need to finish the job and guarantee the defeat of Trump. But Michael is increasingly worried that the current candidates are not good enough for this, ”his adviser Howard Wolfson justified Bloomberg’s participation in primaries on Twitter, noting that the billionaire spent more than $ 100 million to support Democrats in the midterm congressional elections 2018 year.

We now need to finish the job and ensure that Trump is defeated - but Mike is increasingly concerned that the current field of candidates is not well positioned to do that.

- howard wolfson (@howiewolf) November 7, 2019

Recall that now 17 candidates are fighting for the right to represent the party in the 2020 presidential election. They have already held four rounds of televised debates. According to their results, the former vice president Joe Biden, Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders are recognized as the press leaders.

Bloomberg is quite popular among supporters of the Democratic Party, experts say. From 2002 to 2013, he was mayor of New York, re-elected to this post three times. In addition, Bloomberg is a successful and well-known businessman in the American public. Forbes magazine estimates his fortune at $ 52 billion. He is the founder of one of the most famous news agencies in the world, Bloomberg.

Although earlier Bloomberg had repeatedly criticized Trump's policies, until the last moment he stated that he did not intend to run.

“I believe that I could defeat Donald Trump in the general election. But I also clearly recognize the complexity of winning a campaign for nomination from the Democratic Party with such an abundance of candidates, ”wrote Bloomberg in a March article for his agency.

It is reported that in the near future Bloomberg will go through the registration process as a participant in the primaries in other states, where the deadline for submitting documents is drawing to a close. This will allow him to take part in the so-called super Tuesday, which will be held on March 3, 2020. Then the primary election of a Democratic candidate will be held simultaneously in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia.

  • Democratic Party Debate
  • Reuters
  • © Shannon Stapleton

Forced decision

The US president, who is essentially a non-alternative Republican candidate in the 2020 presidential election, told reporters that his new rival will fail in the primaries due to the lack of "the magic that would provide him with a good result."

“I know Michael Bloomberg relatively well - not too well, but enough. He will not achieve an outstanding result. Of course, if he succeeded, I would only be glad. For me, there is no more desirable opponent in the election than little Michael, ”Trump said, hinting at Bloomberg’s short stature: 173 cm (the height of the current head of the White House is 192 cm).

According to experts, the US president is in vain writing off his opponent.

“Bloomberg is a fairly successful and experienced politician who has proven that he can win the votes of various voters. Recall: after all, he was elected mayor of New York once from the Republicans, and the other with the support of the Democrats. And many current candidates from the Democratic Party are really lacking the ability to work not only with their usual audience. Of course, Bloomberg is a strong figure. He will be a dangerous rival for Trump, ”said Yuri Rogulev, director of the Franklin Roosevelt United States Research Foundation at Moscow State University, in an interview with RT.

HSE Assistant Professor Alexander Domrin points out that Bloomberg is much more conservative in his views than Sanders and Warren. They hold leftist views, traditionally unacceptable to a significant portion of American voters. According to the expert, Bloomberg is close in his convictions to Biden. At least there are no differences between them on foreign policy issues, Domrin believes. However, according to the expert, the former vice president, although he now has a high rating, is unlikely to defeat Trump because of the scandal with the possible presence of a corruption component in the work of his son Hunter Biden in Ukraine.

“Biden is toxic to an American voter. He is smeared in a corruption scandal. No matter how Biden tries to launder himself, the party establishment is well aware that he has no chance of winning, ”Domrin said in a comment to RT.

The expert believes that the decision of 77-year-old Bloomberg to enter the election race primarily speaks of a “terrible personnel crisis” in the Democratic Party. The debate and the course of the internal party struggle showed that there is no politician who is able to fight on equal terms with Trump in the camp of the democrats.

“I do not think that Bloomberg himself decided to run. Most likely, his party members came to him and said: “Michael, help, because you see that we have no one else.” And he succumbed to persuasion, ”says Domrin.

  • Donald Trump
  • © Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

The hard way to victory

Referring Bloomberg to the favorites of the election campaign, experts at the same time do not believe that he will be guaranteed a victory in the party primaries.

“He has two very serious drawbacks: age and possession of a multi-billion dollar fortune,” Vladimir Vasiliev, the chief researcher at the Institute of the USA and Canada, commented in RT commentary.

However, other experts exclude age from the number of Bloomberg shortcomings.

“Yes, he is 77 years old. Well, Trump is not young: he is 73 years old. Warren is 70 years old. Biden is practically his age: he was born in 1942. And Sanders is a year older. Against them, Bloomberg is no exception. Now in the USA the time has come for gerontocracy. What matters here is not Bloomberg’s age, but what program he will offer and how he will look during the election campaign, ”Rogulev says.

However, analysts agree that one of the richest people in the country is really not the most suitable person for the role of the main candidate from the Democratic Party.

“Trump has positioned himself as a non-systemic politician who challenges the Washington establishment. Democrats are trying to destroy this image. Remember the party debate. They criticized Trump for being a billionaire, which means he thinks about the interests of the rich and does not care about the poor and the middle class. And suddenly, the Democrats themselves put forward the role of a billionaire candidate, ”says Vasiliev.

He believes that Bloomberg’s candidacy may alienate left-wing people from the Democratic Party, whose number is growing in the modern United States.

“Many Americans can decide that they are being led by the nose, that there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats, that they both defend the interests of the establishment and the richest sections of society. The pathos of the entire election campaign of the party will disappear, ”said Vasiliev.

According to Domrin, Bloomberg’s nomination in the end will not help the Democrats win.

“My prediction: Trump will win the election anyway,” the expert concluded.