We spent time here at the PDog talking about this….
Seems Bloomberg’s gambit got a bite….
And Bloomberg HAS the money to keep at Trump in a way other Democrats cannot….
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.
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.
The ads have been everywhere, appearing when Mr. Trump catches up on television viewing in Washington and following him to Florida when he visits his new home state. But on Thursday morning, when the spending migrated to Mr. Trump’s favorite morning show on Fox News, Mr. Bloomberg’s aides all but spoke to the president through the television screen.
The show, “Fox and Friends,” aired without commentary a new ad from Mr. Bloomberg’s team that is based on reporting from a new book, “A Very Stable Genius,” describing the language Mr. Trump used to excoriate military generals during a Pentagon meeting in 2017. The ad described him as “erratic” and pointed to the “chaos” in his administration.
Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign manager, Kevin Sheekey, appeared on the show to unveil the ad, saying the military is an “institution that everyone respects. I think people want our commander in chief to respect the institution, and I think he weakens the country by attacking it.”
The ad struck Mr. Trump, with its focus on a topic he has often been concerned about — maintaining support among members of the military. So the president, who is notorious for reacting to what he sees on Fox News, did just that….
…
Mr. Bloomberg’s advisers see a void that the candidate is filling, in a primary race during which the candidates have sometimes struggled with whether to depict Mr. Trump as an existential threat or to ignore him altogether. The president, meanwhile, continues to try to set the terms of engagement in the election, threatening to attack them in demeaning, and deeply personal, ways.
Howard Wolfson, an adviser to Mr. Bloomberg, said that Mr. Trump had been “essentially running unopposed until Mike entered the race.”
“While the other Democrats are fighting and sniping with one another in Iowa, we are running a nationwide campaign that is taking the fight directly to President Trump on issues where he is extremely vulnerable,” he said.
image…washingtontimes.com
Jeff Greenfield
@greenfield64
There are plenty of reasons not to want Bloomberg as the Democratic nominee, but the way he gives Trump the heebie-jeebies is already emerging as a significant asset.
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Michael David Smith
@MichaelDavSmith
Replying to
@greenfield64
If Bloomberg’s goal is to get under Trump’s skin, he should absolutely talk about how much wealthier he is than Trump. If his goal is to win the Democratic primary, he should absolutely not talk about how much wealthier he is than Trump.
I think that Bloomberg’s ads are very effective.