The Onion Muses About Bloomberg's Aristocratic Presidential Hopes

Michael Bloomberg qualified for his first Democratic party debate as a 2020 presidential hopeful on Wednesday.

It seemed clear during and after the debate that maybe he was better off back when he still was not showing up to them, at least not physically.

The other candidates in the field took this opportunity with Bloomberg's actual, physical appearance to continually lampoon him, clearly portraying him as yet another version of Trump: an arrogant and sexist, eccentric billionaire with a false sense of entitlement and expectations that he could buy his way to the presidency. Regardless of whether they were generally seen as liberal Democrats, like Warren and Sanders, or as more conservative Democrats, like Klobuchar, Buttigieg, and Biden, they all seemed united, for once, in their attacks of Bloomberg.

There were a lot of commentaries about how brutally and mercilessly Bloomberg was attacked after the debate. 

But Bloomberg is a controversial addition to the Democratic debate. After all, he was not a Democrat until just recently, and he served as an outright Republican when he was mayor of New York City. And indeed, the fact that he is an unapologetic and often arrogant billionaire who seems to harbor delusions of grandeur and a false sense of entitlement sometimes make him feel more similar to Donald Trump, the man he allegedly is trying to replace, than to any of the Democrats, whatever their flaws may be.

In a satirical piece, the Onion may have touched on some of the unspoken undertones of Bloomberg's approach to politics and his overall campaign, reporting (again, not factually) that Bloomberg at one point declared, "I'll rule you peasants with an iron fist." The Onion then reported that there were thunderous applause by the Democrats in attendance, in a similar scene to Emperor Palpatine's announcement of the establishment of the Empire, which Padme marked was the end of the democracy of the Old Republic in "Revenge of the Sith." She also said noted that this end of democracy was marked with thunderous applause.

Here is the link to the Onion piece that prompted me writing this blog entry:

‘I’ll Rule You Peasants With An Iron Fist,’ Says Bloomberg To Standing Ovation During DNC Debate by The Onion, February 20, 2020:

https://politics.theonion.com/i-ll-rule-you-peasants-with-an-iron-fist-says-bloomb-1841790198?utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=SF&utm_content=Main&fbclid=IwAR03_GGhqO8f0nFp3Rg9X82LhF7L6UVb6KdD9M2rpkxQfMLUTX8lu3iYBz8