One more reason that billionaires should not run for president without a serious self-examination about their weaknesses as a candidate: Money can buy you a presidential campaign staff, but it can’t necessarily buy you a good, motivated, disciplined one. The Nation gets the inside scoop on Mike Bloomberg’s apathetic, mercenary, and in some cases, grifting

Gretchen Whitmer during her 2018 Michigan gubernatorial campaign in Lansing, MI, August 20, 2018 (Jeff Kowalsky/Reuters) Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, on Thursday endorsed Joe Biden ahead the of the state’s March 10 primary. “I’ve been watching this campaign play out, and there’s been sources of inspiration in a variety of candidates,” Whitmer said

Michael Bloomberg speaks at his Super Tuesday night rally in West Palm Beach, Fla., March 3, 2020. (Maria Alejandra Cardona/Reuters) Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is forming a group to support the Democratic nominee against President Trump in the 2020 election, the Washington Post reported Thursday. The group’s name is still being trademarked, and

Sen. Elizabeth Warren addresses supporters at her Super Tuesday-night rally in Detroit, Mich., March 3, 2020. (Brian Snyder/Reuters) Elizabeth Warren departs the race without finishing above third place in a single state. Beto O’Rourke, Julian Castro, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and Kirsten Gillibrand quit well before the voting. Is possible that maybe, just maybe, the

Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at a press conference at his campaign office in Burlington, Vt., March 4, 2020. (Caitlin Ochs/Reuters) Senator Bernie Sanders (D., Vt.) addressed reporters Wednesday after a poor performance on Super Tuesday, arguing that Joe Biden, who surged on Tuesday, will “have to explain” his record on “disastrous” trade deals and his

Former vice president Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event in Dallas, Texas, March 2, 2020. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters) Democrats find that political life without a charismatic superstar is a lot tougher. The Democratic candidate won the popular vote in six of the past seven elections. But those seven elections generated just four Democratic victories by

Michael Bloomberg speaks at his Super Tuesday night rally in West Palm Beach, Fla., March 3, 2020. (Marco Bello/Reuters) Former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg is suspending his campaign after a dismal Super Tuesday showing, saying Wednesday that he would endorse former vice president Joe Biden. “Three months ago, I entered the race for

Former vice president Joe Biden speaks at his Super Tuesday night rally in Los Angeles, Calif., March 3, 2020. (Mike Blake/Reuters) Elizabeth Warren and Michael Bloomberg are issuing insane statements about fighting on like a Japanese soldier lost in the Philippine jungle in the 1950s. Bernie Sanders has to salvage his campaign in the Lone

In a recent interview with 60 Minutes, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to describe the political scene: A few years ago, there was a revolution against the intelligentsia. People said, “You know, those people, particularly on the coasts, are trying to tell us what to do.” They wanted a change. … Read More

Sen. Amy Klobuchar speaks to supporters at her New Hampshire primary-night rally in Concord, N.H. February 11, 2020. (Gretchen Ertl/Reuters) Senator Amy Klobuchar, who dropped out of the presidential race on Monday, is pushing back on the criticism elicited by her and fellow former 2020 candidates’ endorsement of Joe Biden, saying they are “fresh faces”

If it isn’t coronavirus, it is going to be something else. Are we going to be ready for it? When Governor George W. Bush of Texas decided to run for president, he had some big ideas about education and entitlement reform, about encouraging Americans to invest and build an “ownership society” in which not …

Pete Buttigieg attends a church service at First Baptist Church of James Island in Charleston, S.C., February 23, 2020. (Eric Thayer/Reuters) At the start of the Pete Buttigieg moment — which recently came to a merciful end — The Atlantic‘s Peter Wehner wrote that the former mayor’s Episcopalian bona fides “should help make some members

Former Vice President Joe Biden addresses supporters at his South primary-night rally in Columbia, S.C., February 29, 2020. (Jim Urquhart/Reuters) What a weekend, and what a week ahead! Biden comes back from the dead, doing the math on the Super Tuesday delegates, and why Mike Bloomberg might be setting himself up to be remembered as

Former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg attends a campaign event in Raleigh, N.C., February 29, 2020. (Eric Thayer/Reuters) Former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg has decided to drop out of the presidential race, according to campaign aides. The decision comes after a poor showing in the South Carolina primary, in which Buttigieg won just

Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at his South Carolina primary-night rally in Virginia Beach, Va., February 29, 2020. (Tom Brenner/Reuters) Establishment Democrats, worried he’ll drag down the entire party in the fall, will pull out all the stops to sandbag him. Joe Biden captured 61 percent of the African-American vote in South Carolina on Saturday, allowing

Joe Biden’s victory in South Carolina gives the former vice president a needed boost ahead of the Super Tuesday primaries. The latest RealClear Politics polling averages for Super Tuesday states nevertheless appear favorable for Bernie Sanders, though the impact of tonight’s results are not yet reflected in the polling data.  The latest Super Tuesday polling

Joe Biden speaks at his South Carolina primary-night rally in Columbia, S.C., February 29, 2020. (Jim Urquhart/Reuters) He probably can’t sustain the momentum, but he’s forcing Bernie to fight tooth and nail. Joe Biden thumped all the competition in South Carolina. The scale of his victory there scrambles the Democratic race. And Biden’s victory takes

Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders onstage before the start the Democratic primary debate in Charleston, S.C., February 25, 2020. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) A new poll conducted by MassINC Polling Group shows Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) trailing Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) by eight points in her home state, and falling 15

Former Vice President Joe Biden at the Democratic primary debate in Charleston, S.C., February 25, 2020. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Friday admitted his claims of being arrested during a visit to Nelson Mandela in prison were false, saying he was only “stopped,” not arrested. Pressed on his repeated claim that he

Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks during a Get Out the Early Vote campaign rally in Santa Ana, Calif., February 21, 2020. (Mike Blake/Reuters) The Democratic presidential front-runner’s attacks on America’s pro-Israel lobby are an even bigger problem than they might seem. In the last week, the focus on Senator Bernie Sanders’s past views on Communist Cuba

Sen. Bernie Sanders at the Democratic primary debate in Charleston, S.C., February 25, 2020. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) David Brooks’s account of Senator Bernie Sanders and his campaign cuts deep, because it is true, and obviously true. Populists like Sanders speak as if the whole system is irredeemably corrupt. Sanders was a useless House member and has

Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks at her New Hampshire primary-night rally in Manchester, N.H., February 11, 2020. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) Senator Elizabeth Warren now has the biggest Super PAC advertising presence in the Super Tuesday states, after publicly condemning PAC support for months on the campaign trail. Persist PAC, which formed ahead of the Nevada caucuses, announced

Sen. Bernie Sanders at the Democratic primary debate in Charleston, S.C., February 25, 2020. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) Only nine of 93 Democratic superdelegates interviewed by The New York Times said that Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) should be the nominee if he does not arrive at the Democratic national convention with a majority. Superdelegates have historically

Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks during a Get Out the Early Vote campaign rally in Santa Ana, Calif., February 21, 2020. (Mike Blake/Reuters) The stock market has taken a dramatic tumble over the last few days, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average experiencing the second-biggest point drop in its history. While fears about the coronavirus disrupting

Sen. Bernie Sanders at the Democratic primary debate in Charleston, S.C., February 25, 2020. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) Nevada Democratic Party Chair William McCurdy called police after supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) protested outside his home from 11 p.m. the night before the state’s caucuses, Politico reported on Thursday. One protester, Maria Estrada, shouted into a

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds her weekly news conference in Washington, D.C., February 13, 2020. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that she would be comfortable with Senator Bernie Sanders as the Democratic nominee for president despite hesitation among some lawmakers in her party. “Yes,” Pelosi responded as she left a closed-door meeting

Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg at the Democratic primary debate in Charleston, S.C., February 25, 2020. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) Surveying the life and career of the billionaire presidential contender 1. Bloomberg got his start on the path to corporate titanhood when he was paid $10 million and let go by Salomon Brothers as part

Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden during the Democratic primary debate in Charleston, S.C., February 25, 2020. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) Former vice president Joe Biden said after the South Carolina debate Tuesday that it is “not likely” that the nomination of Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) will lead to record levels of Democratic

Sen. Bernie Sanders addresses a town hall at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, February 1, 2020. (Mike Segar/Reuters) Bernie Sanders is, to put it gently, either terminally obtuse, mentally unbalanced, or dangerously dishonest. That Sanders could’ve visited the Soviet Union during the Cold War and, with all of the evidence before him, come back extolling

Sen. Bernie Sanders at the Democratic primary debate in Las Vegas, Nev., February 19, 2020. (Mike Blake/Reuters) Democratic National Committee Spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa on Tuesday called on Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) to visit Florida to speak with residents about what they “went through” while living in under Fidel Castro’s regime in Cuba. “I’ll let