(Figuring out precisely to what extent this willingness is organic is left as an exercise for the reader.)Īt first, that's where I thought the story ended: the whole thing was a joke, simple as that.Įxcept it's not. Whether truly grassroots or funded by larger organisations, when it seems authentic it works: you can comfortably point to the success of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump alike as being built (at least in part) on their supporters' willingness to use meme culture to their advantage. That said, there's an argument to be made that seemingly grassroots political movements (known as 'astroturfing') have a pretty long history the Washington Post warned about this in 2016, noting that 'third parties have become increasingly interested in pushing the sorts of amateurish online content that you or I might whip up in Paint'. On the surface, this looks pretty ridiculous: the idea that Bloomberg is trying to get on the youth bandwagon - by both reaching out to the 'cool' side of the internet with wads of cash and being comically bad at understanding the culture he's trying to buy - is a joke that pretty much writes itself.
This has led to somewhat serious concerns that Bloomberg is attempting to buy the nomination (as writer Naomi Klein put it, 'This is what plutocracy looks like'), and memes about the extent to which he's throwing money around - Bloomberg being so old and out of touch (he's 77) that he's resorting to throwing money at Instagrammers and YouTubers to get a foothold in the youth vote.
Bloomberg is worth some $62 billion, so the amount of money he could throw at the campaign if he chose to outstrips pretty much anyone else who might enter the race.) (That's would still make it the most expensive run for a single candidate of all time, but it's also doubly important to note that it's largely his money, whereas other candidates are generally funded by donations.
He's said he's open to spending a literal billion dollars. Between October 1st and December 31st of 2019, he outspent literally everyone else in the Democratic field - not individually, mind you, but combined (including Tom Steyer, who's also a self-funding billionaire). Mike Bloomberg is spending a truly astonishing amount on his run for the Presidency. It looks as though it actually is real, contrary to initial expectations. “How Citizens United altered America’s political landscape.” The Hill, January 21, 2020. “The Costs of Inflation Revisited.” George Washington University, 2003. “Majority of lawmakers in 116th Congress are millionaires.” OpenSecrets, Center for Responsive Politics, April 23, 2020. “Top Net Worth - 2018: Personal Finances.” OpenSecrets, Center for Responsive Politics.“Income inequality in America is the highest it's been since census started tracking it, data shows.” The Washington Post, September 26, 2019. “Plutonomy: Buying Luxury, Explaining Global Imbalances.” Citigroup, October 16, 2005. “Capital in the Twenty-First Century.” Harvard University Press, 2013, ISBN 9781491534649. “Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%.” Vanity Fair, May 2011.
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