According to a report from Axios, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is taking his cues from Donald Trump's 2016 presidential race playbook and his seemingly endless supply of money to knock the president down more than few notches as well as elevate his own run for the Oval Office.
According to Margaret Talev and Mike Allen of Axios, they visited Bloomberg's Times Square headquarters on Wednesday and found a well-oiled -- and financed -- machine that seems more focused on damaging the president as it is pushing the Bloomberg candidacy.
Writing, "Bloomberg is no Trump, but is trying to beat the president at his own game," the two report, "we were struck by how much his 1,000+-person team is learning from — while trying to surpass — the Trump campaigns of 2016 and 2020."
Getting to the point, the Bloomberg campaign is focusing on social media, particularly Facebook which was a major factor in the 2016 election and getting Bloomberg's face on TV in much the same way Trump built his brand as a reality TV show host.
"Trump's re-election campaign has deployed Facebook in a bigger way than any campaign in history, outspending all the Democrats combined. Bloomberg's team openly admires the digital prowess of Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and has built a 'content factory of constantly updating and iterating videos and messages that are narrowly targeted at — and constantly fed to — promising prospects," the report states. "Trump forced himself into our lives with Twitter taunts and endless TV appearances. Bloomberg is buying his way into the minute-by-minute of our lives with TV ads. Bloomberg's team believes one of the key lessons of [the] Trump campaign is that if voters see you on TV all the time, they'll take you seriously."
Building on the notion that Trump sold himself as a successful businessman despite a history of bankruptcies and failed attempts to extend his brand, Bloomberg's people are pushing his success as a businessman which also appeals to moderates
Noting, "Bloomberg's massive data operation found that Bloomberg's record as mayor was one of his big selling points," and "Bloomberg, like Trump, has set up his campaign so his personal brand shines, win or lose," the authors suggest that Bloomberg is following the Trump model.
"Like Trump, Bloomberg promises ad nauseam to replicate his professional success in governance. Many of Bloomberg's ads follow the rough arc of: 1) Hit Trump ... 2) Why the problem matters ... 3) What Mike did as New York mayor ... 4) What Mike would do as president. It's a key part of Bloomberg's effort to signal, both overtly and subliminally, that he's running against Trump — not the other Dems," they argue.
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