Trump's staff has been begging him to ignore Bloomberg's ads — but he can't help himself: report

On Thursday, The New York Timesreported that President Donald Trump's advisers have been begging him not to respond to former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's attack ads against him — and while Trump initially heeded their advice, he eventually snapped.

"For weeks, President Trump’s advisers have urged him to ignore Michael R. Bloomberg’s nationally televised needling, warning him that it would only help the low-polling late entrant to the Democratic presidential primary by elevating his standing," wrote Maggie Haberman and Nick Corasaniti. "Mr. Trump heeded the counsel for a while, according to several of his allies, even as he repeatedly expressed anxiety about Mr. Bloomberg’s spending. But as he has tuned into coverage of his Senate impeachment trial, Mr. Trump has been pricked by a deluge of television ads funded by the former New York City mayor — a far wealthier billionaire who has made clear in his public remarks that he doesn’t fear the president."

In recent days, he has launched multiple attacks against "Mini Mike Bloomberg" on Twitter, at one point saying he was "playing poker with his foolhardy and unsuspecting Democrat rivals."

Bloomberg has been running a relentless stream of ads across multiple platforms and several states, slamming the president on everything from the Ukraine scandal to health care. He has also made clear that he plans to keep up this onslaught for the eventual Democratic nominee, in the event he doesn't win.