My dream is that Michael Bloomberg stays in the primary race just long enough to seriously damage Bernie Sanders, and then they’ll both be so tainted that Elizabeth Warren runs away with the nomination. That’s the ideal situation, in my view. But it might not play out like that because Elizabeth Warren – bless her heart – wants to rip Bloomberg apart and make him an utter non-factor by Super Tuesday. As we discussed yesterday, Senator Warren’s performance in this week’s Dem Debate was striking and amazing, and she absolutely destroyed Bloomberg on so many issues. One of the most interesting moments was when she had Bloomberg on the ropes about his serial sexual harassment and the non-disclosure agreements he’s gotten his victims to sign to hush everything up.
From VF:
Later, when Bloomberg tried to claim that despite a long history of misogynistic comments and sexual harassment complaints from employees, he’s hired and championed tons of women, Warren shot back, “I hope you’ve heard what his defense was. ‘I’ve been nice to some women.’” And when he attempted to claim that the nondisclosure agreements that many of these individuals signed were “consensually” agreed upon by two parties who simply wanted to keep the details “quiet“—which anyone paying attention to the #MeToo movement knows is typically not the case—she truly went in for the kill. “That just doesn’t cut it,” Warren said. “The mayor has to stand on his record, and what we need to know is exactly what’s lurking out there…. The question is, are the women bound by being muzzled by you?… This is not just a question of the mayor’s character, this is also a question about electability. We are not gonna beat Donald Trump with a man who has who knows how many nondisclosure agreements, and the drip, drip, drip of stories of women saying they have been harassed and discriminated against.”
Well, Sen. Warren didn’t just leave it all on the debate stage. She continued to tweet about this issue – forcing his victims to sign NDAs – throughout the day on Thursday. She tweeted this easy-peasy form which Bloomberg could use to release his victims from their NDAs:
Mike Bloomberg can easily release the women who have accused him of sexual harassment—and who voluntarily want to speak about their experiences—from their non-disclosure agreements. Take a look at how simple and straightforward it would be: pic.twitter.com/XLncEnSXDF
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 21, 2020
It really would be that simple. This is not a situation where there’s any kind of criminal investigation or current civil lawsuit (that we know of), so the NDAs are still legally binding. It really would need to be Bloomberg signing this kind of release. I’ve also heard that several women – women silenced by Bloomberg’s NDAs – have already spoken to various political reporters out there and they’ve said they would love to give interviews about Bloomberg and the culture of harassment he created, but they still feel bound by the NDAs and they feel like if they go on the record, Bloomberg will sue them.
Senator Warren spoke about it on her CNN Town Hall last night too:
Mike Bloomberg can easily release the women who have accused him of sexual harassment and discrimination. I used to teach contract law—so I made it simple for him. #CNNTownHall pic.twitter.com/gXMGZBBT6K
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 21, 2020
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
She’s my hero and inspiration for how to live each day. 💜
I find her truly inspiring, such a boss. She reeks of intelligence and power.
Yes. What I like is that she is free of baggage. No one owns her, controls her, or tells her which way to vote. She is ethical and logical and so forthright. I speak and debate as part of my job, and I would be terrified of her were she my opponent.
AND she apparently wants to decrease the power of Facebook … all the large, ethically questionable companies. She is amazing.
Donated to the Warren campaign yesterday. I’m in!
GO LIZ GO! I would be so proud to have her as the nominee. She has the guts to take on Trump and his crooked cronies today and every day. I can’t wait to see and hear more awesomeness coming from her in the weeks and months ahead. She makes Bernie, Biden, and Bloomberg look like the jokes they are.
I was leaning towards Liz for some time now but the debate sealed the deal. She is my candidate!! 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
She is the adult in the room! Klobochar has a presence, I’ll give her that, but is not as prepared as Liz nor as experienced. Liz is on fire.
Bernie, Biden, and Bloomberg are overgrown toddlers. Buttigieg is just too inexperienced.
I tried, but not allowed to as a Canadian. I just wanted to honour her somehow for her stance.
You could probably still buy merchandise from her site. I’ve looked at buying things a few times but have always ended up donating instead since I can. Maybe this week I’ll do both. 🙂
Me too! I’m really hoping this debate performance gives her some serious momentum into Super Tuesday. I think EW is the most ethical and least self-interested candidate. She would serve our country so well.
The debate helped her fundraising. As of this morning she raised $5 million since the debate
She makes me feel like I could once again be proud of this country.
Her campaign also reminds me how ingrained sexism and misogyny is, in both men and women. My godmother, in her 70s, talked about Warren’s “annoying” voice and how that was the reason she probably wouldn’t support her.
I wanted to scream.
I need to do more. I need to start volunteering for her campaign. Registering people to vote.
I would actually be excited to see what she was doing each day, rather than a feeling of dread checking the news to see what was destroyed today.
I’ve been doing some thing called Postcards to Voters. It encourages people to vote by mail when they can, which leads to higher turnouts rather than going to the polling place in person. There was a strong effort of this in my district in 2018, and the Democrat eeked out a win.
Re: postcards This proved to be effective in my state in 2018 and it was easy and even fun to do sometimes by meeting up somewhere as a group. We met at Panera and local cafes, bars. I do phone calls also, it’s not had and can be fun at call centers. You can even get snacks or lunch at times. Free food, good cause, sign me up!
Awesome. Thanks for sharing something that helps!
Yes, my local NJ group is doing a meet up to do postcards next month, I’m hoping to go! In 2018 I did it on my own (sent out about 250 info forms and VBM applications!) but it would be much more fun to do it as a group and meet new people.
Postcards to Voters is super easy, you follow their steps to sign up, and then whenever you’re ready for more addresses, you can text a bot that sends them to you. I did 100 last weekend, to 3 different Florida counties, and 10 more last night. They have a facebook page too.
I did postcards in 2018 and loved it! I need to get on the wagon again for this year.
Yes. It is truly disheartening to see and hear evidence of the deep seeded misogyny held BY women.
It is almost the worst part, honestly. We could have overthrown the patriarchy and white supremacy (well, we could have begun the work; that’s going to take some time to undo) had all women been on board, but sooooo many women are okay with their place at the second table.
I know, it’s so, so, so, so frustrating!! I just want to shake them and say, “What is wrong with you? LOVE YOURSELF MORE!!!”
Sigh.
GO LIZ. This woman is so inspiring, I love her. I wish we had anyone even close here in the UK.
I know, right?
Jess Philips?
I think Gina Miller is pretty amazing.
In PA you have to be a registered democrat or republican to vote in the primaries. I was a registered independent, but I changed my party affiliation to democrat so that I could vote for Warren in the primaries. I was already 100% for her, but all of this just makes me more confident in my decision.
NJ is the same way, and I was a registered independent forever. I would switch to dem to vote in the primary, and then switch back. But in recent years, the GOP has swung so disgustingly far right, I’ve left my registration as a dem. I can’t see me ever voting for a Republican again in my lifetime, not even in small local elections. Straight blue every ticket now.
The republicans have shown us what they will do when they have absolute power. They should never be trusted again.
I feel the same as you, I’m leaving myself as a registered democrat because the republican party is so far right that I can’t ever see myself agreeing with any of their policies. And I registered as an independent when I was 18, so I’ve been one 20 years.
Same, GreenBunny, about 20 years as an Independent, and have voted mixed ticket in the past (but always Dem at the federal level). Never again though.
Excellent. Everyone needs to remember to check your voter registration online, more than once, since that was a big problem some places in 2018. All of a sudden people’s names were deleted from the rolls.
In CA, those of us who are registered as Independents, (NPP, No Party Preference), can choose a primary ballot, (Dems, Green, or Indie). Ha! Not Republican. I’m voting straight Dem.
She is a boss. Running on pure intelligence and grit. Love her!!! Who should be her vp pick do you think? Will it be Castro? Or someone more basic like a Beto? Curious what people think!
I personally Like Andrew Yang. So smart and funny but in reality would like someone with more gov experience. Not Bernie as his record is piss poor. Idk yet having been so focused on Elizabeth.
Agree! We should probably focus on getting her the nomination first!!! Yang is so smart and unconventional and I can see the next democratic president having him in a cabinet position (praying we will get there!). Ugh if Trump is re-elected democracy is dead. People need to vote!!
I want Julian Castro. I tweeted that in response to something the other day and the response was fantastic.
My dream ticket was Warren/Harris Harris/Warren, I didn’t care which.
Whoever it is, I want them to be an LBJ-style headknocker with ovaries (or balls! I don’t want to discriminate) of brass willing and able to keep our newly Democratic Senate and House in line. Biden was sold to us as such but I kind of don’t think he was.
I would love Harris back in the mix, but also Castro would be a great pick. I’d like to see Harris as AG also, if she isn’t a VP choice. I’d also REALLY like to see her run for POTUS again in the future.
Some combination of Harris and Warren was dream ticket too!! Harris as Attorney General would also be a great option. We are going to need someone tough in there to start cleaning up the mess we are in.
“I’m nice to some women.” Flippant. The only good thing I can say about Bloomie if true is he has said he’ll put money behind any Democratic candidate nominated. Getting close to March 3rd, CA primary.
If only she would turn her fire against Sanders as well.
It’s like the Democrats are scared of attacking Sanders because of the Bernie Bros.
Democrats are on the way to nominate their own Jeremy Corbyn thus setting up a huge loss for the Democrats in November.
News came out (again) that Russia is interfering on behalf of Donald AGAIN and he is also interfering in the Democratic primary. Dollars to donuts, he’s paying Tulsi to stay in AND hacking people’s brains for the benefit of Bernie. With two Russian-supported candidates in the general, Russia can’t lose.
Bernie’s stupid ego campaign was dead in the water a few months ago and then he mysteriously started getting more popular. People like to think we’re such independent thinkers, but the fact is that we’re not and when ads made for a person based on that person’s psychological profile (thank you for your treachery with Cambridge Analytica, Facebook!) appear repeatedly, it affects one’s opinions.
(Sorry Kaiser if this is threadjacking – I didn’t know if you were doing a thread on this and I figured it was germane here, too’
I personally don’t think Bernie will win the nomination because Putin can control Trump more.
So the aim is to make it look like DNC cheated Bernie again and get those Bernie Bros to stay home in November.
The only way Republicans can win is if Democrats stay home.
I do expect a surge in support for Biden though, just a hunch.
This scares the shit out of me. What can we do to stop this???? The GOP is just going to cheat and steal like always but now we have foreign powers helping them out. Is there anything we can do?????? Besides voting and canvassing of course. How can we take back our country??
@sierra..: I’m not so sure about Biden. The poor man is horrendous at debating! And he is running out of money. I suspect he will pull out if he does not pull off a major win by South Carolina.
Peep the #onlybernie hashtag on twitter and how many bot accounts there are. It’s happening on Instagram too.
@Diana, I do think Bloomberg will get behind Biden if he is not the nominee.
Bloomberg doesn’t want Warren & Sanders so he will do anything to help the others.
Lizzie Warren had an axe,
She gave Mike Bloomberg 40 whacks,
When she saw what she had done,
She gave the others 41
LOL
I LUV IT! I LUV IT! I LUV IT! 🤣 👏 👏 👏
Warren raised 5m from the debate. Just got my ballot in the mail. I wanted to vote Warren in 2016, so ticking the box felt very satisfying. I will be looking into the post cards as calling people is my nightmare.
Don’t be afraid of calling since your lists are declared Democrats and Independents. I find evening and weekends calling most productive. I’ve experienced some really wonderful conversations. I’ve campaigned for Dems in different ways for many years and even GOT PAID working for Howard Dean. (Yes I was in the ballroom for his infamous yell which was blown out of proportion) It was my pleasure to turn it back into the Dean coffers. We’ve attended events over the years and my children have gotten to meet some inspirational people. Of course the fact that they’d made cookies or cupcakes helped. An interesting thing I found was of all the reporting/interviews the BBC and Guardian were the most trusted news sources imo.
Proud of my Senator.
I love this and hope this issue alone sinks his campaign. I do have a question though on the NDAs – if the NDAs involved another party at his company, could he be worried that that party could sue him? I’m just wondering as I’m not as well versed in contract law.
Elizabeth Warren is a force! Unfortunately, the debate stage reflects the predicament of female career professionals over 50 years old. This is an age where men are comfortably settling into power positions (partners at law firms, tenture in academia, promotions in trades). Yet there on stage we see the career lifecycle of a successful woman writ large–both Sen. Warren and Sen. Klobuchar are being squeezed in a vise between post-retirement age men who won’t let go of power and coldly ambitious, as-yet-unqualified younger men angling for the high-up positions that the women are next in line for. This is something more than just a glass ceiling–it is the systematic purge of successful women in all fields that bankrupts our society by cheating us of experienced and talented leadership.
adastraperaspera … WOW, just wow. What a great post. I wish we could like posts on here. Some of you people are geniuses. XO
“… systemic purge of successful women in all fields…” so true, so unreal.
Aw, shucks!
Agree completely. My faith in intelligence and hope and caring is dying. Misogyny is too strong. We are overwhelmed with the relentless need of men to control.
I was just telling someone about why I left the Catholic Church. When I was about 10, I thought it was odd that men were promoted as the heads of families, like the God of each household. I thought, “Most of the boys around me are so stupid. How can that be true?”
Warren is at her greatest power, as was Hilary. It makes me very depressed. CBs, the comments of many of you keep me sane. The Trumpists in charge have taken us back to 1950. We apparently never left.
Don’t think of the misogyny as overwhelming. It’s a fact and it sucks and there’s way too much of it, but think of this as the dying star of white male supremacy exploding as big as it can.
Women can vote. Women can work outside the home if they want to (as women have always worked outside the home when they needed to), and the traditional roles of women as caregiver is being appreciated. Little boys aren’t taught that they’re the natural center of the world like they were even twenty years ago. I’m raising three little boys to be feminists, just like their dad (who credits my influence as half the reason he’s as big of a feminist as he is).
IF ONLY we women band together – and as a white woman, that means letting minorities be centered – we can CRUSH them. We can crush this dopey patriarchy.
❤️ Betsy!!!!
Excellent post.
OWNED. I have a little RBG action figure in my office and now I wish they made an EW one! And a Nancy Pelosi too. They could be a little asshattery-fighting team on my shelf.
I’d like all of those for myself and would buy for gifts. RBG T-shirt gift were a huge hit.
I have the RBG one too. And a Hillary Funko Pop.
Just googled and there are Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris action figures.
There is an EW one! And in one photo I saw, someone posed it ready to body slam a Dolt 45 one!
She is my candidate along with Klobachar. They are the brains on those stages every single time. But I no longer have faith that a woman can win the presidency after watching what happened to Clinton with Trump. There are too many misogynists. I still think that Sanders or Bloomberg will take the nomination.
I hope that you all are right and that I am proven wrong. Bloomberg’s privately lobbying donors and democratic reps who will vote in the electoral college trying to poach the support of the moderates (Klobachar, Buttigieg, and Biden), and Sanders has popular support like Obama did having raised the most in small donations. I no longer believe that the American people are smart enough to vote in their own economic interests. Well, the wealthy will (Trump), but many of the rest want benefits in a way that keeps their White culture intact.
Someone on twitter said somewhat conspiratorially of Bloomberg that he’s there to make sure Trump wins. Based on the news that he’s trying to get a brokered convention, that he helped keep the Senate for Moscow Mitch, that he’s billionaire scum, the idea doesn’t sound so far fetched to me.
Don’t forget Clinton had almost 3 million more votes than Dump, and Clinton had a lot of baggage. She lost a few swing states by very small amounts, and a portion of that was due to voter suppression. Support Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight cause!
#sheshreds
I love how just about anyone running could have a role in the democratic administration ( except Mike, Bernie, and Joe need to retire). Kamela and Amy could be Secretary of State and AG; Pete could take just about any cabinet position. Get Corey Booker back on board. Beto, Castro – I would be comfortable with any of them running a department. This is the first time I am actually debating whom to vote for because I like more than one!
Living in New Hampshire is a great way to meet the candidates. My daughter and I went to one of Warren’s rallies on climate change. There was a man who got up and spent a lot of time talking about how the opioid crisis has struck him and his family. Liz listened to everything he said. She talked about her plan.
I love how she listens and has a plan for everything.
Go Liz!
I would hate a woman to come forward about an NDA and be used just for political publicity. Warren is attacking the wrong person Bloomberg won’t win the nomination but Bernie will.
I’m guessing it was to derail Bloomberg before he got any more traction. Bernie the Spoiler has had the help of Putin and dirty trick rethugs for years.
Thank you. Elizabeth in going after Mike is hurting herself. She might have just lost today.
Let’s not forget that she is the one who inspired the hashtag nevertheless she persisted. It’s time. We need her now.
Yes she’s attacking the wrong person. Why not Bernie?? I don’t understand why no one goes after him. He won the Nevada caucus. I’m so pissed. Is like the dems want trump to win again.
IKR. Hang in there. One goal of rethugs and Putin is to frustrate and drive good dem voters away. Keep donating however small, keep voicing your choice. Keep in mind despite the dirty tricks 2018 was a win overall.