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Tribune News Service

If there was any doubt that billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s colossal ad campaign was getting to US President Donald Trump, it vanished on Sunday.
Poking fun at the stature of the former New York City mayor, who is 172cm tall (5 feet, 8 inches), Trump stated falsely that the Democratic White House hopeful wants party leaders to let him stand on a box should he qualify for a presidential debate.

“It’s OK, there’s nothing wrong – you can be short,” Trump told Fox News anchor Sean Hannity in a pre-Super Bowl interview. “Why should he get a box to stand on? … Does that mean everyone else gets a box?”
Bloomberg responded at a campaign stop in East Los Angeles, saying the president “lies about everything”.
US$1 billion question: Bloomberg’s big spend to ensure Trump’s defeat
“I stand twice as tall as he does on the stage – the stage that matters,” Bloomberg said.
“I think Donald Trump knows that I can beat him, and that’s why he comes back with those kinds of comments.”
In just two months, Bloomberg has run more than double the number of television ads that Trump aired in his entire 2016 campaign, according to the non-partisan Wesleyan Media Project, which tracks political advertising. Many of the spots attack Trump.

Bloomberg, whose estimated US$60 billion fortune makes him one of the richest people in the world, is far outspending all of his Democratic rivals, surpassing US$300 million, according to Advertising Analytics. He is skipping the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, ploughing his money instead into California, Texas and more than a dozen other states with contests still more than a month away.

I promised to restore hope in America. That includes the least among us. Together, let’s KEEP AMERICA GREAT!
Text TRUMP to 88022 if you liked our Super Bowl ad! pic.twitter.com/Lgjt53B7QX
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2020

Both Bloomberg and Trump featured black women in their Super Bowl ads at a time when both are facing major challenges in building support among African Americans. It cost their campaigns more than US$10 million apiece to reach the giant audience for the NFL championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Bloomberg’s 60-second spot features Calandrian Kemp, a Texas mother whose son George was shot to death. She mourns her loss and says the gun lobby has good reason to fear Bloomberg, whose long fight for gun control is a central plank of his campaign.

This is a story that needs to be told.
This is a crisis that needs to end.
This is why I'm running for president. https://t.co/hlz2jPRFcd pic.twitter.com/Q1umOiNOSR
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) January 30, 2020

Trump ran two 30-second ads. One featured Alice Johnson, who was released from a prison in Alabama under a law Trump signed that eased mandatory sentencing for non-violent crimes. Her case was championed by reality TV star Kim Kardashian West. Trump’s other Super Bowl ad said America was “stronger, safer and more prosperous than ever before”.
On Saturday, Trump tweeted that “Mini Mike Bloomberg” was wasting his money on advertising, then went on to make his false allegation about the box.

Mini Mike is now negotiating both to get on the Democrat Primary debate stage, and to have the right to stand on boxes, or a lift, during the debates. This is sometimes done, but really not fair!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2020

After Trump repeated the falsehood in the Hannity interview that aired Sunday, Bloomberg spokeswoman Julie Wood said the president was “a pathological liar who lies about everything: his fake hair, his obesity and his spray-on tan.”
Bloomberg’s efforts to rattle Trump – one of his recent TV ads shows the president looking out of shape while playing golf – risk backfiring.
Does America want billionaire Bloomberg as president? New poll says he is unpopular
Trump’s nicknames and insults often diminished his rivals in 2016, and their responses largely failed, most notably when Florida Senator Marco Rubio attacked Trump for his “small hands” and “spray tan”.
In the interview on Sunday, Trump ran through his negative branding for potential Democratic rivals – former vice-president Joe Biden, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
“I have little nicknames for all of them,” Trump said.
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Bloomberg supporter who had breakfast with the candidate on Sunday at Teresitas Restaurant in East Los Angeles, said he did not expect an enduring “tit-for-tat”.
“I think Mike is getting into Trump’s head, not the other way around,” Villaraigosa said. “I think he’s gotten into his head because he knows he’s got a lot more resources to make the investments that Democrats are going to need to win this election.”


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‘Mini Mike’ Bloomberg and ‘obese pathological liar’ Trump trade insults, buy expensive Super Bowl ads

Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and US President Donald Trump have run competing Super Bowl ads. File photo: TNS

U.S. President Donald Trump points as he departs a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020. Trump and Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg on Thursday unveiled dueling multimillion-dollar campaign ads that are scheduled to air during the Super Bowl on Sunday. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg arrives to speak to campaign workers and supporters in Minneapolis, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020, as he opens the first field office in Minnesota and meets with local community leaders and voters to share his vision for the country. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

US$1 billion question: Bloomberg’s big spend to ensure Trump’s defeat

US President Donald Trump. Photo: AFP

(200111) -- BEIJING, Jan. 11, 2020 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump walks to board Marine One to depart from the White House for a rally in Ohio, in Washington D.C. Jan. 9, 2020. U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved a resolution aimed at restraining Donald Trump's power to take military actions against Iran without congressional approval. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

Protestors call for the removal of President Donald Trump and lay out a banner at Lafayette Park, near the White House, in Washington, U.S., January 11, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Theiler

Would Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg spend US$1 billion to defeat Donald Trump? Photo: AFP

Does America want billionaire Bloomberg as president? New poll says he is unpopular

US presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg speaks at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid. Photo: Reuters

Democratic Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg speaks with Virginia delegate-elect Nancy Guy during his campaign stop in Norfolk, Va., Monday, Nov. 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Bill Tiernan)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 11, 2016 US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg during a memorial service at the National 9/11 Memorial in New York. - A hyper-industrious billionaire, a three-term mayor of New York and a climate change activist, Michael Bloomberg is now eyeing one last prize: the US presidency. The 77-year-old giant of the financial world officially announced that he was joining the race for the 2020 Democratic nomination on November 24, 2019, but he has some catching up to do. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

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US president pokes fun at height of billionaire Democrat candidate who returns fire about Trump’s ‘fake hair, obesity and spray-on tan’
Trump and Bloomberg campaigns shelled out an estimated US$10 million on 60-second Super Bowl ads


US president pokes fun at height of billionaire Democrat challenger who returns fire about Trump’s ‘fake hair, obesity and spray-on tan’.
