Bloomberg-Trump-- Same-Same

Trump and Bloomberg had a dysfunctional relationship that goes back decades-- friends, rivals, allies, enemies. The used to play golf together, although Bloomberg is still whining that Trump always cheated, something Mini-Mike has in common with everyone else who ever played golf with Trump. Bloomberg wound up with 20 or 30 times more money than Trump, so he won. He became mayor of the city they both lived in. He won. Then Trump became president and Bloomberg flipped out. He has been driven insane by his incompetent, laughable, moron-competitor beating him. So he decided to run himself. This has nothing to do with our country or our people, other than the potential to ruin everything that is America as we know it.

The two are mirror images of each other-- although Trump seems crazier... at least so far.

Tactically, they are too similar for comfort. Yesterday, I tweeted that since Trump's understanding of government doesn't go further than Louis XIV's most famous quote, "L'etat c'est moi," he has decreed that John Bolton's embarrassing new book will not be published before the election... since it could harm national security ("national security" meaning his reelection bid). Trump will stop at nothing to win since he identifies and conflates national interest with self-interest. Bloomberg is that same kind of character. What billionaire isn't? (Note: Bernie is right; there should be no billionaires.)


Yesterday, Shaun Hussain and Jeff Bercovici, writing for the L.A. Times reported that Twitter is suspending 70 pro-Bloomberg accounts, citing "platform manipulation". It's another example of two things:

1- Bloomberg's unawareness that the rules apply to him
2- Bloomberg trying to deceive voters into thinking he has grassroots support through social media manipulation

According to Hussain and Bercovici one of Bloomberg's strategies-- "deploying a large number of Twitter accounts to push out identical messages-- has backfired. On Friday, Twitter began suspending 70 accounts posting pro-Bloomberg content in a pattern that violates company rules. 'We have taken enforcement action on a group of accounts for violating our rules against platform manipulation and spam,' a Twitter spokesman said. Some of the suspensions will be permanent, while in other cases account owners will have to verify they have control of their accounts."

As part of a far-reaching social media strategy, the Bloomberg campaign has hired hundreds of temporary employees to pump out campaign messages through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. These “deputy field organizers” receive $2,500 per month to promote the former New York mayor’s candidacy within their personal social circles, in addition to other, more conventional duties. They receive campaign-approved language that they can opt to post.

In posts reviewed by The Times, organizers often used identical text, images, links and hashtags. Many accounts used were created only in the last two months. Bloomberg officially entered the presidential race on Nov. 24.

After The Times inquired about this pattern, Twitter determined it ran afoul of its “Platform Manipulation and Spam Policy.” Laid out in September 2019 in response to the activities of Russian-sponsored troll networks in the 2016 presidential election, the policy prohibits practices such as artificially boosting engagement on tweets and using deliberately misleading profile information.

By sponsoring hundreds of new accounts that post copy-pasted content, Twitter said the campaign violated its rules against “creating multiple accounts to post duplicative content,” “posting identical or substantially similar Tweets or hashtags from multiple accounts you operate” and “coordinating with or compensating others to engage in artificial engagement or amplification, even if the people involved use only one account.”

The suspensions may sweep up accounts belonging to unpaid Bloomberg supporters or campaign volunteers. While the Bloomberg’s campaign’s practice of paying Twitter users was a factor in the suspensions, a company spokesman said accounts behaving in substantially the same manner will receive the same treatment, regardless of who controls them.

...Facebook’s response to the Bloomberg campaign’s novel social strategy has also been evolving. The social network views the campaign’s activity as falling under its rules for branded content, not the rules against “coordinated inauthentic behavior” devised largely in response to Russian election meddling.

Coincidence? Oh sure

Facebook’s rules for branded content “require disclosure of paid partnerships anytime there has been an exchange of value between a creator or publisher and a business partner.” In 2018, the company began to require more detailed disclosure for political ads to discourage state-sponsored influence operations.

The software tool created for buying political ads on Facebook did not allow for branded content campaigns by influencers. Earlier this month, after the Bloomberg campaign bypassed the tool entirely to mount a large-scale paid influencer campaign, Facebook lifted that ban.

I get between 100 and 200 spam e-mails a day and I've become adept at identifying spam and deleting it unopened. The other day I received an e-mail from the New Republic and opened it. But Bloomberg had paid them for the right to send out his propaganda to their list. Once I opened it, I found this box at the top and at the bottom of the e-mail:

The body of the e-mail purported to be a survey of "top supporters," without identifying what they were top supports of-- until read a little further and realized that Bloomberg hadn't just bought out the New Republic but also a scam-PAC called Stop Republicans, run by Harry Pascal who tries passing his operation off as "progressive." So far this cycle-- before the payoff from Bloomberg-- they had taken in $3,781,486, not a nickel of which has gone to candidates.

The "survey" was just a slick push-poll for Republican oligarch Michael Bloomberg, pretending to be a Democrat in his personal feud with Señor Trumpanzee. I bet Bloomberg could offer Trump a couple of billion dollars to dump Pence and name him his running mate with an agreement that he'd resign after the election. Do you doubt Trump would agree?

Right after the Nevada caucuses, Elizabeth Warren absolutely eviscerated Bloomberg up in Seattle in no uncertain terms. She began talking about a "threat that is coming our way. And it's a big threat-- not a tall one, but a big one." Apparently someone told her that Mini-Mike goes absolutely berserk when anyone comments on his physical stature. But she was just getting started. Watch this classic clip: