Bloomberg aims to take on Trump at his own game

Billionaire Democrat uses insults and mockery to rile president as he prepares to enter race for nomination

AT the 2016 Democratic convention in Philadelphia, Michelle Obama made a heartfelt plea to the party to stick to the moral high ground when taking on Donald Trump.

“When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level.

Our motto is when they go low, we go high,” she said to rapturous applause.

Andrew Gillum, the Democrat who ran for the Florida governorship, expressed similar sentiments, albeit more colourfully, in a Twitter spat with the US president. “As my grandmother told me – never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty,” he said.

But the rule book is now being ripped up by former New York mayor and multi-billionaire Mike Bloomberg, who has propelled himself into the Democratic presidential race as one of the front-runners.

He has flooded Twitter and Instagram with posts designed to rile the president, and win over angry Democrats. With Mr Bloomberg promising not to back down, even if he doesn’t get the nomination, US politics is facing months of angry exchanges.

Mr Bloomberg, with a fortune estimated at almost $62billion (£47billion), is reportedly ready to spend half a billion dollars to defeat Mr Trump whether or not he becomes the Democratic candidate.

According to one Bloomberg campaign insider, the strategy is to prey on Trump’s weaknesses for criticism by ridiculing his business record, which was built on an inheritance. Mr Trump used his weapon of choice, Twitter, to respond, calling 5ft 8in-tall Mr Bloomberg “Mini Mike”.

Asked whether the US wanted a race between two New York billionaires, Mr Bloomberg replied: “Who’s the other one?” Julie Wood, the Bloomberg campaign spokesman, said: “The president is lying. He is a pathological liar who lies about everything: his fake hair, his obesity and his spray-on tan.”

Another bizarre Twitter post saw the Bloomberg campaign release a video of clips of the president with a Trumpsounding voice-over repeatedly saying the word “lie”, and a cartoon gingerbread man with his trousers on fire.

“I think he has been very smart,” former Democrat congressman Barney Frank told The Sunday Telegraph.

“He’s been able to stake out a position of being the most effective antiTrump candidate rather than getting involved in the intraparty debate.

“It’s not just a case of him being more willing to fight harder, he is more able to do so. He has the resources to carry on the fight,” Mr Frank added.

Mr Bloomberg’s nationwide poll ratings have almost doubled in the last fortnight. However, the 78-year-old has kept his distance in the campaign, pumping a third of a billion dollars into TV adverts but largely avoiding politically risky interviews or campaign events with hoards of journalists. He is planning to push his campaign hard on Super Tuesday, when more than 12 states vote, on March 3.

Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist, predicted Mr Bloomberg’s surge in the polls means rivals will start attacking his political weaknesses. “He has been able to play dodgeball up to this point,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.

Progressives remain to be convinced. “He’s the epitome of what we’re fighting against,” one prominent progressive said. “It’s not just the TV ads. It’s the buying up of all the staff. He’s buying everything.”