Bloomberg’s long shot

By Niall Ferguson (original source The Times)

“Contrary to popular belief, money isn’t everything in American politics. In 2016, Hillary Clinton’s campaign spent roughly twice as much as Donald Trump’s. She won the popular vote but lost in the Electoral College.

So the mere fact of former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s vast wealth —he’s worth about $64 billion ― by no means guarantees that he will be the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, much less that he will defeat Trump.

Indeed, being a billionaire may actually be a disadvantage in this year’s Democratic contest. After all, the front-runner in the opinion polls is now the Democratic socialist Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The mood among activists seems even more radical this year than in 1972, when George McGovern was the nominee — though he was much more of an anti-war candidate than an anti-capitalist one. Coastal elites, curb your enthusiasm.”

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