This is what $500 million will get you.
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on Wednesday that he was ending his campaign after failing to yield the Super Tuesday votes he had been banking on to jumpstart his self-funded campaign.
“Three months ago, I entered the race for President to defeat Donald Trump,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “Today, I am leaving the race for the same reason: to defeat Donald Trump — because it is clear to me that staying in would make achieving that goal more difficult.”
The announcement included an endorsement of Joe Biden, whom Bloomberg said has “the best shot” at winning the White House.
Naturally, President Donald Trump gloated over Bloomberg’s demise.
“I could have told him long ago that he didn’t have what it takes, and he would have saved himself a billion dollars, the real cost,” Trump tweeted. “Now he will pour money into Sleepy Joe’s campaign, hoping to save face. It won’t work!”
The former mayor did initially manage to climb to third place in the polls after pouring millions of dollars into a targeted ad blitz (a total of $505.8 million by February 24), but his rise didn’t last long.
Dogged by his racist stop-and-frisk policy as mayor, the NDAs he had his female employees at Bloomberg LP sign on their allegations of sexual harassment, and a host of other scandals, Bloomberg was soon put in a precarious position.
Then came the debates, during which the billionaire was veritably flayed onstage by his rivals, particularly Sen. Elizabeth Warren. His feeble performances further sunk his campaign, and in the end, he could only claim one lone victory on Super Tuesday: American Samoa.
