Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg took shots at presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump for offering voters hateful or unrealistic solutions to complicated issues on Saturday.
Instead of offering strong solutions, he said “candidates in both parties are blaming our problems on easy targets who breed resentment.”
Though he never mentioned either candidate by name, the billionaire former mayor of New York used his commencement speech at the University of Michigan to attack “demagogues” who insult minorities and make “pie-in-the-sky promises” like taking down Wall Street and offering free stuff.
The suggestion of equivalence between Trump’s racial insensitivity and Sander’s policy proposals is likely to likely to anger Sanders supporters.
“For Republicans, it’s Mexicans here illegally and Muslims, said Bloomberg, a formal Republican turned independent who as a campaign contributor has mostly supported Democrats in recent years. “And for the Democrats, it’s the wealthy and Wall Street.”
“The truth is: We cannot solve the problems we face by blaming anyone,” Bloomberg told students. “When a populist Democratic candidate promises free college, free healthcare and a pony. Or another candidate promises to make other countries pay for our needs, remember, those who promise you a free lunch will invariably eat you for breakfast.”
“America’s power comes not from the walls we build, but from the doors we open, and it comes not from tearing down success, but building up opportunity,” he said.
Bloomberg, who considered a third-party run of his own this year, urged the students to support politicians willing to make difficult decisions.
“If we want to stop demagogues, we have to start governing again, and that requires us to be more civil, to support politicians who have the courage to take risks, and to reward those who reach across the aisle in search of compromise,” he said.
