The Miseries of the Nevada Debates: The Unmasking of Michael Bloomberg

“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren. And in no means was she talking about President Donald Trump. She was talking about the former Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg. He just now qualified to speak at his first presidential debate in Las Vegas, Nevada, after scoring 19% on the NPR, PBS NewsHour and Marist nationwide poll.

Bloomberg’s boost comes from more than $400 million spent on media ads. His political campaign machine has launched a financial onslaught by filling the airwaves with his progressive messages. In California, Bloomberg is paying voters $2,500 to tell everyone through their social media accounts to vote for him.

Biden and Warren are losing out to Bloomberg as the leading moderate candidates and the counterpunchers to Bernie Sanders. The candidates’ time is running out, and the personal attacks among each other are becoming brutal and hostile. Super Tuesday is approaching, and the nation will see who the real front-runner candidate is for the presidential democratic nomination.

The Race to Super Tuesday

The national polling averages are out for the third week of February going into the Nevada Caucus. This is where all of the democratic presidential candidates stand:

Bernie Sanders

• Polling Average: 24%


• Pledged Delegates: 21


• Personal Contributions: $95.9 million


• News Coverage: 1

Joseph R. Biden Jr.

• Polling Average: 23%


• Pledged Delegates: 6


• Personal Contributions: $60.8 million


• News Coverage: 2

Elizabeth Warren

• Polling Average: 14%


• Pledged Delegates: 8


• Personal Contributions: $71.1 million


• News Coverage: 4

Michael R. Bloomberg

• Polling Average: 10%


• Pledged Delegates: N/A


• Personal Contributions: N/A


• News Coverage: 6

Pete Buttigieg

• Polling Average: 9%


• Pledged Delegates: 22


• Personal Contributions: $76.2 million


• News Coverage: 3

Amy Klobuchar

• Polling Average: 5%


• Pledged Delegates: 7


• Personal Contributions: $25.3 million


• News Coverage: 5

Tom Steyer

• Polling Average: 1%


• Pledged Delegates: N/A


• Personal Contributions: $2.9 million


• News Coverage: 7

Tulsi Gabbard

• Polling Average: under 1%


• Pledged Delegates: N/A


• Personal Contributions: $10 million


• News Coverage: 8

Sexual Harassment Lawsuits

The Nevada debates started out in the usual manner. However, as the night progressed, candidates took their chance to lash out against Bloomberg and his policies while he was mayor of New York.

Warren accused Bloomberg of being racist and sexist, especially in particular regarding his stop and frisk policy, redlining, and his ongoing track record for making women sign non-disclosure agreements.

During Bloomberg’s business dealings, a number of women had been made to sign non-disclosure agreements for sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination. Warren asked Bloomberg to reveal the number of women who have been made to sign such agreements, but Bloomberg just stated that there have been a few women. Howbeit, Bloomberg stated that some women were upset about certain jokes he had made at the office.

Biden suggested that Bloomberg give verbal consent on nationwide television allowing all these women to come forward with their revelations and speak openly to the public. Nevertheless, Bloomberg declined.

“We don’t want Donald Trump’s twin in the White House.” Warren accused Bloomberg of being richer than Donald Trump, and hiding his tax returns. Bloomberg’s estimated net worth is over $60 billion which comes from his diverse interests in venture capitalism. Donald Trump’s overstated net worth may be estimated at just over $3.1 billion.

Stop and Frisk

Sanders said that Bloomberg’s stop and frisk policy was specifically targeting African Americans and Latinos. “Who will want to vote for a candidate whose political policies are racially charged and biased?”

The invasive policy put the majority of the New York City police officers in minority neighborhoods because that was where most of the city-wide crime was committed. According to Bloomberg, “We must get guns out of the kids’ hands, we must do stop and frisk.” Because of the policy, the police searched over 5 million black men while they were up against the wall. Bloomberg admitted that things got out of control.

Bloomberg sought to defend himself against such vicious attacks, but his speech lacked confidence and anticipation. He struggled to respond while saying that he had made mistakes in his stop and frisk policy. He apologized for his irregularities stating that all the candidates on the stage had committed similar transgressions which they now regret.

Bloomberg’s Health and Wealth

Bernie Sanders towards the end of the debates — who had a heart attack in the fall — attacked Bloomberg’s finances and health. Sanders, himself, owns three houses and has several million dollars in the bank. Both candidates are 78 years old.

Bloomberg admitted he had two stents put into his heart 10 years ago and that he was proud to be a billionaire — he had worked very hard for his money. “Maybe your workers played some role in that as well,” Sanders suggested that he exploited the American capitalistic system to make his billions. In the end, Bloomberg confronted Mr. Sanders: It is “ridiculous” to suggest that America would “throw out capitalism” in favor of socialistic ideas.