The bar for 2016 is officially incredibly low. At his Wednesday speech at the Democratic National Convention, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had a simple call for Americans to support Hillary Clinton: “As an independent, I am asking you to join with me — not out of party loyalty but out of love of country. And together, let’s elect a sane, competent person with international experience.”
Michael Bloomberg’s case for Hillary Clinton: “let’s elect a sane, competent person”
That is now the minimum Bloomberg is asking for: “a sane, competent person.”
Setting aside the ableist language, the sentiment is on point after what Americans witnessed today. On Wednesday, Donald Trump called on Russia to literally hack his political opponent: “Russia, if you are listening, I hope you are able to find the 33,000 emails that are missing — I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
At one point, he also suggested — with absolutely no evidence to back him up — that Russian President Vladimir Putin had called President Barack Obama the n-word, and then, seconds later, said, “I hope [Putin] likes me.”
This is just not normal for a presidential candidate. In fact, the email hack proposal is essentially a modern version of the Watergate scandal that forced former President Richard Nixon to resign. It’s the kind of behavior that lets Bloomberg and Democrats set the bar for the 2016 election incredibly low.
By Dylan Matthews
