Bloomberg Says He Agrees With Trump on China, North Korea Policy

(Bloomberg) -- Michael Bloomberg said Monday that he agrees with President Donald Trump pressuring China on trade and talking to North Korea and that “a lot of criticisms of Donald Trump are not his policies, it’s the way he’s doing it.”

Bloomberg said he agreed with Trump cracking down on China’s theft of intellectual property and other unfair trade practices, but he doesn’t like Trump’s approach. He said agrees it’s better to talk to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un than not, even if it’s not likely to produce results.

“They will be next super power to rival America and we have to stand up to that,” Bloomberg said of China.

(Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)

Speaking at a town hall on Fox News on the eve of Super Tuesday -- the first time he’ll appear on a ballot -- Bloomberg also predicted that the Democrats would face a contested convention because none of the presidential candidates will win a majority of pledged delegates in the remaining primaries.

“Then it goes to a convention, where there’s horse-trading and everybody decides to compromise on – doesn’t even have to be one of the two leading candidates, it could be somebody that had a smaller number of delegates,” Bloomberg said.

Polls show Bloomberg is running third or tied for second in most Super Tuesday states.

Asked whether that would spark complaints that the nomination would be stolen from the candidate with the most delegates, Bloomberg said “if the rules say that you can swap votes or make deals, then you can swap votes and make deals, and if you don’t like those rules, don’t play.”

The forum comes as Joe Biden is consolidating support among centrists in opposition to self-described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders.

Later, in an interview with CNN, Bloomberg dismissed the notion that being vice president qualified Biden for the Oval Office.

He said being president required managerial experience like his and that “legislators” like Biden, a senator for 36 years, were not prepared to make sure the changes they promise actually occur.

Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg dropped out of the race Monday and endorsed Biden. Biden has also picked up a number of endorsements since his commanding win Feb. 29 in the South Carolina primary, including former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

At the town hall, Bloomberg repeated his criticism that if Sanders wins the nomination, he’d lose to Trump because his ideas are “crazy” and many voters don’t want the political revolution he calls for. Bloomberg called Sanders “a very revolutionary kind of guy.”

Pressed whether he’d vote for Sanders or Trump for president, Bloomberg said it would be Sanders but that he “would not be happy doing it.”

Bloomberg bet his campaign on Super Tuesday, skipping the first four nominating contests in February. But his path to the nomination depended on Biden faltering with no clear front-runner, and he’s faced increasing calls from Biden supporters and others to consider dropping out to avoid splitting the moderate vote and handing the nomination to Sanders.

A defiant Bloomberg, who has spent almost $219 million in advertising in Super Tuesday states and to build a massive ground operation of more than 100 offices, said he’s not quitting and remains the best candidate to defeat Trump in November.

The town hall was interrupted by protesters who pulled out signs and yelled about Bloomberg’s positions on gun control, stop-and-frisk policing and non-disclosure agreements with women at his company. They were escorted out of the studio in a chaotic scene that continued with arguments from audience members during the commercial break.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Niquette in Columbus at mniquette@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max Berley

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