MIKE BLOOMBERG: There's a '55% chance' Trump gets reelected
The billionaire businessman and philanthropist who heads Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies made the comment while speaking to Times columnist Frank Bruni to discuss his philanthropy's annual report.
Bloomberg, an independent who served as New York City's mayor for more than a decade, considered launching an independent presidential bid during the 2016 election cycle, but decided against doing so in early March of last year. He later backed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, deeply criticizing Trump.
Bloomberg told Bruni that Democrats did not zero in on an effective message during the 2016 campaign.
"Hillary said, 'Vote for me because I'm a woman and the other guy's bad,'" Bloomberg said, adding that too many Democrats have visions of 2020 while they're still figuring out the right message.
"They'll step on each other and reelect Donald Trump," he said, giving Trump "a 55% chance" of getting reelected.