Michael Moore Blasts DNC For Letting Michael Bloomberg Debate ‘Because He’s Got A Billion F*cking Dollars’
Filmmaker Michael Moore is not happy with the changes the Democratic National Committee (DNC) recently made, potentially allowing billionaire — and major party donor — Michael Bloomberg to participate in the debates. According to Mediaite, Moore ripped into the DNC on Saturday, during a Bernie Sanders rally in Iowa.
Moore began the speech by arguing that “the corporate Democrats, the one percent of the Democratic Party” are opposed to Sanders, determined to thwart him and his movement, especially now when he is leading in early state polls and potentially emerging as the favorite to win the nomination.
The DNC, Moore said, is trying to “undo the people’s movement” by rewriting the rules. Bloomberg “doesn’t have to show he has any support amongst the American people, he can just buy his way onto the debate stage,” Moore said, pointing to the fact that other candidates have been rejected by the DNC after asking the organization to modify the rules, which they are now bending in order to allow a billionaire on the debate stage.
“The DNC will not allow Cory Booker on that stage, will not allow Julian Castro on that stage, but they’re going to allow Mike Bloomberg on the stage because he’s got a billion f*cking dollars!”
Earlier this week, the DNC drastically changed the requirements for upcoming primary election debates, eliminating the individual donor threshold. From now on, the candidates will only have to meet the polling criteria. The move opens the door for Bloomberg to join the debates.
The billionaire is running an unorthodox campaign, skipping the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire, and focusing exclusively on Super Tuesday states. Bloomberg is fully self-funded and has not received a single campaign contribution, but continues to rise in the polls, namely because he is spending record-amounts of money on ad campaigns.
It remains unclear who will benefit from Bloomberg being in the race, however. Former Vice President Joe Biden’s allies have complained that the billionaire will only harm Biden, and members of the Sanders campaign have criticized the DNC for changing the rules “in the middle of the game.”
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren have also criticized the abrupt rule change, with Yang stating that the new debate requirements seem “tailor-made” to get the billionaire on the debate stage.
According to reports, right before jumping into the primary race, Bloomberg donated $325,000 to the DNC. The organization has also been criticized over its appointments to the rules committee of this year’s Democrat Party nominating convention, with progressives accusing chairman Tom Perez of nominating individuals hostile to Sanders.
