Just the money

Especially after his epic de-pantsing on national television, there is exactly one thing Michael Bloomberg can contribute to a successful campaign to beat Donald Trump. And that’s spending tons of money to help a better politician win after he or she wins the Democratic nomination:

All that said, Bloomberg is by all indications sincerely outraged by Trump and his presidency.

He’s long been a generous donor to climate change and gun control causes, and since Trump’s election he’s been a singularly partisan benefactor of Trump’s opponents. The fact that Bloomberg’s actual political beliefs are not that progressive overall makes this more rather than less admirable. There are lots of rich businessmen in America who have some qualms about Trump but are happy to support him because they think low taxes and business-friendly regulation are more important than the rule of law. Bloomberg is the opposite — a person who’s been willing to put cash on the line to help stop a president he sees as dangerous even though he’s not in love with his opponents’ ideas on many issues.

But if this is the admirable side of Bloomberg, then he ought to go back to doing what he was doing a year ago — spending money in admirable ways and winning admiration for it.

There’s just no reason he should be a presidential nominee. He’s a stiff, incompetent political performer with a record in office that’s so-so at best and who is aware that what seem to be his authentic policy views are too politically toxic to run on. The simplest, best solution to that is the one he hit on last March: don’t run.

No coins, please.

It will also be interesting to see if the Morning Joe crowd doubles down on the Extra Electable Mike Bloomberg delusion, or rediscovers the binder-throwing midwestern charm of Amy Klobuchar or something.