Michael Bloomberg’s $700m campaign to unseat Trump

Michael Bloomberg plans to spend at least $US500m ($703.9m) of his fortune to defeat Donald Trump next year.

Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Michael Bloomberg plans to spend at least $US500 million ($703.9m) of his fortune to defeat Donald Trump next year.

The business news magnate is considering his own run for the Democratic nomination but proposes to invest the money in research for whoever comes through as candidate, advisers to the multi-billionaire told Politico.

Mr Bloomberg, 76, the three-term mayor of New York, is worth $US51.8 billion and his planned spending far exceeds the $US333m that propelled the Trump campaign to victory.

Mr Bloomberg was elected twice in New York as a Republican and once as an independent before re-registering as a Democrat.

He spent $US110m on 24 Democratic candidates in the mid-term elections in November and 21 of them won, Politico reported. He has said he would decide by the end of the month about entering the Democratic field.

Mr Bloomberg, a centrist, has spoken out against progressive policies that are becoming mainstream in the Democratic party, such as extending Medicare from retired people to everyone.

Several declared candidates have backed the idea to replace private insurance with government-funded healthcare.

“You can have Medicare-for-all for people who are uncovered,” Mr Bloomberg said. “But to replace the entire private system where companies provide healthcare for their employees would bankrupt us for a very long time.”

The Times