Warren Misses the Real Bloomberg Danger

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg took the stage for his first Democratic Party presidential primary debate in Las Vegas on Feb. 19, and a desperate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) immediately welcomed him with a Megyn Kelly moment. In the same spirit as the infuriatingly ridiculous "you say bad things about women" screed the ex-Fox News host infamously unleashed on Donald Trump in the summer of 2015, Warren attacked Bloomberg for alleged negative remarks about "fat broads" and "horse-faced lesbians."

The billionaire's lucrative relationship with an oppressive Chinese government and his devotion to global trade schematics that hurt American workers while further enriching himself were thus pushed to the background by a posturing Warren as the debate quickly devolved into a food fight about feelings.

Defender of the Global Economic Order

It's a shame his Democrat rivals chose not to address Bloomberg’s very real vulnerabilities and instead resorted to petty character assaults. Sens. Warren and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) were two figures on stage in Las Vegas who have strongly denounced the global trade deals that have dismantled so much of U.S. manufacturing. Bloomberg has stoutly defended such pacts, frequently criticizing President Trump and his America First agenda in the process.

"From the start, Trump's failure to understand that trade is a matter of mutual advantage, combined with his contempt for international rules and norms, has threatened the global economic order that the U.S. designed and built," Bloomberg wrote in a May 31, 2019 editorial for his Bloomberg News.

"America has always been strongest when we drive global change, rather than shrink from it, and seize opportunities to extend our economic reach," Bloomberg averred in a September 2016 editorial in support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership that Trump rejected. "TPP presents an important test of whether that era of American leadership will continue," Bloomberg wrote.

But is Bloomberg really talking about America benefitting from these global deals, or people like himself? Establishment journalist Josh Rogin, who interestingly once served as a columnist for Bloomberg News, detailed just how deep the former mayor’s business ties with China go in a November piece.

"Through its massive Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Bond Index, Bloomberg LP is helping finance Chinese companies by sending billions of U.S. investor dollars into the Chinese bond market," Rogin wrote.

“This year, the index began a 20-month plan to support 364 Chinese firms by directing an estimated $150 billion into their bond offerings, including 159 controlled directly by the Chinese government," Rogin continued. "Bloomberg, along with other Wall Street firms, is effectively supporting the Chinese government's efforts to resist the U.S. government's economic pressure, while exposing American investors to increased risk."

Blood-Soaked Money Tree

Did he say billions? In fact, the Bloomberg Professional Services website touts China as "the multi-trillion dollar opportunity" for investors, all ready to be tapped via the company's extensive data network. "From index inclusions to market liberalization, China’s multi-trillion dollar financial markets are changing radically, totally redefining the way the world’s investors engage with Chinese securities. Bloomberg is ideally placed to connect you to this opportunity," the company boasts.

"Through the Bloomberg Terminal® [computer software systems] we will not only connect you with the players in Mainland China looking outward for overseas investment, but we will help you gain unrivalled price transparency into China's fixed income and equity markets."

Global businessman Michael Bloomberg is salivating over a trillion-dollar money pot in a tyrannical communist nation at the same time that major party presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg just happens to be championing a China-friendly foreign policy for America. Isn't that worth talking about on a debate stage?

“The Communist Party wants to stay in power in China, and they listen to the public…. Xi Jinping is not a dictator. He has to satisfy his constituents, or he's not going to survive," Bloomberg said in a September interview with PBS.

This is the real threat to our nation that lurks behind lurid words like "oligarch." But instead of calling it out, we get an over-caffeinated Elizabeth Warren babbling about "horse-faced lesbians." The lack of substance repeatedly demonstrated by Democrat presidential primary debaters is more than just a grand waste of nationally televised prime time. It is a precious opportunity to shed much-needed light on crucial issues – squandered for what candidates believe are witty quips. Perhaps none is more important than the flagrant disregard for the general welfare of the American people expressed by some of our leading corporate and political elites today. This would seem even more vital a topic when one of them is openly attempting to purchase the Democratic nomination with his vast wealth.

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Read more from Joe Schaeffer.