Mike Bloomberg wasn’t on the debate stage last night and likely won’t be any time soon, thanks to the DNC’s debate qualification rules. While Bloomberg isn’t polling terribly (some national polls even have him edging ahead of Buttigieg), candidates also need a certain number of individual donors to qualify and he has none. The choice to self-fund his campaign is both smart because no one wants to see a mega-billionaire asking for donations and also feels a bit like the political equivalent of “You can’t break up with me, I break up with you.”
Anyway, Bloomberg wasn’t on the stage but he sure did get a lot of attention from those following along on Twitter. Before the debate started, he tweeted a heads up that his campaign “may have a thing or two to say” during the event. But I don’t think anyone was expecting the “fun stuff” they had in store.
We promised to tweet stuff. We promised fun stuff. We promised the best stuff. Here we go. #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/pFX0mNulzt
— Team Bloomberg (@Mike2020) January 15, 2020
As a reminder, this is the actual, official Twitter account of Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign. And here’s how they chose to kick off the night:
Test your political knowledge:
SPOT THE MEATBALL THAT LOOKS LIKE MIKE. pic.twitter.com/CkzdgwpzdI— Team Bloomberg (@Mike2020) January 15, 2020
So I guess Bloomberg is on board with the whole “eat the rich” thing? I genuinely don’t know. Here are some other standout tweets from the night:
WHICH EAGLE LOOKS MORE DISGUSTED WITH DONALD TRUMP? pic.twitter.com/Gd0lYzzeds
— Team Bloomberg (@Mike2020) January 15, 2020
Mike can telepathically communicate with dolphins. #BloombergFacts #DemDebate
— Team Bloomberg (@Mike2020) January 15, 2020
In lieu of an inaugural address, Mike plans on singing “Shallow” with Lady Gaga. #BloombergFacts #DemDebate
— Team Bloomberg (@Mike2020) January 15, 2020
POLL TIME!
WHICH WILD ANIMAL WOULD BE MOST FUN TO RELEASE ONTO THE DEBATE STAGE WITHOUT WARNING?— Team Bloomberg (@Mike2020) January 15, 2020
While Mike is currently the 14th richest person in the world, that position could change depending on how he does tonight at the dog track. #BloombergFacts #DemDebate
— Team Bloomberg (@Mike2020) January 15, 2020
Much like a real wolf, debate moderator Wolf Blitzer can devour an elk carcass in one sitting. #DebateFacts #DemDebate
— Team Bloomberg (@Mike2020) January 15, 2020
WHAT IS THE BEST PART OF THE BODY TO GET A BLOOMBERG 2020 TATTOO?
— Team Bloomberg (@Mike2020) January 15, 2020
Remember last month when a comedian changed his Twitter bio to say he was a communications intern for Bloomberg and posted a fake supporter dance reminiscent of Buttigieg’s campaign’s “High Hopes” routine?
Look out #TeamPete because us Bloomberg Heads have our own dance! Taken at the Mike Bloomberg rally in Beverly Hills. #Bloomberg2020 #MovesLikeBloomberg pic.twitter.com/UCNo0fRZcE
— Nick Ciarelli (@nickciarelli) December 13, 2019
Last night’s tweets felt like Bloomberg saw that video and said “Yeah, those are the guys I want running my team for real.” None of it was offensive, it was just … stupid. Which, actually, coming from someone who is pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into something for which he’s actively working to project a sense of snarky apathy, is pretty offensive. Especially when held in contrast to how other candidates denied a spot on the debate stage, like Julían Castro, have used their social media platforms during those events.
Bloomberg did, at one point, try to use the contrived wackiness to draw attention to a more serious point, but he did so from an entirely different account, meaning it felt like more of an afterthought and anyone who has retweets disabled (which is a lot of people) wouldn’t even see it.
Now that my team @mike2020 has your attention, I think it’s important that you see what @realDonaldTrump said to voters in Wisconsin tonight.
Battleground states like Wisconsin will decide the 2020 election.
This is not a joke.https://t.co/ktFPQCIeqe pic.twitter.com/74GoaKId1z
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) January 15, 2020
Bloomberg’s campaign’s tweets might have gotten attention, but I hope he sees the overall reactions as the loss that they are.
The Mike Bloomberg account trying to be funny is bumming me out, I beg of you to stop putting it in my timeline
— Paul F. Tompkins (@PFTompkins) January 15, 2020
It took a 12-person team 8 weeks to come up with this and it cost $9,000,000. https://t.co/KDWzHRoUJr
— Freddie Campion (@FreddieCampion) January 15, 2020
The @mike2020 account is what happens when the people you hire don’t actually like you, but you pay them well. pic.twitter.com/NUdgJNvB8b
— Rachel R. Gonzalez (@RachelRGonzalez) January 15, 2020
(image: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
