I could get used to this

| 9:15 pm EST January 13, 2020
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From the start I’ve been clear that I don’t think Michael Bloomberg should be the 2020 Democratic nominee. When it comes to billionaires trying to buy their way into the race, he’s just another Tom Steyer. And when it comes to moderates in the race, Bloomberg is a lesser Joe Biden. You may have a different opinion; that’s fine, that’s just how primary season works.

But over the past few days, something has shifted. Mike Bloomberg announced that if he doesn’t win the Democratic nomination, he’ll divert his campaign’s resources and money to help the Democratic nominee win in the general election. He made clear that this applies no matter who wins the nomination. This changes things, because it means the big money that Bloomberg is currently spending on his own campaign can now be viewed as simply one stage of his plan to spend big money to take Trump down.

So will all this money actually have the anti-Trump impact that Mike Bloomberg thinks it will? We’ll see. But Donald Trump sure seems to be worried about it. He’s spent all day today attacking Bloomberg on Twitter for “spending a lot of money” on advertising. This is notable because unlike Trump, whose financial existence is defined by debts he can’t afford to pay, Bloomberg is an actual wealthy person with money to spare.

If Mike Bloomberg wants to spend his money antagonizing Donald Trump, and Trump wants to spend the primary season attacking Bloomberg instead of attacking one of the viable candidates, I could get used to that. But Bloomberg had better mean it when he says that his current spending spree will continue on behalf of the actual Democratic nominee when the time comes.