By David Futrelle
Now that we’re all talking about Michael Bloomberg’s long history of racism, might I take a moment to remind you that the billionaire presidential hopeful also has an equally long and egregious history of misogynistic remarks — which run the gamut from cringeworthy boasts about his sex life to dopey sexist jokes to crude sexual remarks to female staffers. He also (allegedly) gets really mad when women working for him get pregnant.
Let’s run down some of his greatest hits, as alleged by people who were there to hear them. (For what it’s worth, Bloomberg denies he said most of them.)
“If you looked like that, I’d do you in a second.”
One of many sexist remarks Trump allegedly said to former Bloomberg sales rep Sekiko Sakai Garrison, in this case while pointing to a woman he thought looked attractive. In a lawsuit she filed against Bloomberg in 1997, Garrison accused Bloomberg of a long list of similarly crude remarks — allegedly telling her to “kill it” when she informed him she was pregnant, asking her if her fiance was “dumb and blind” after noticing her engagement ring, and asking if she gave her boyfriend good blow jobs.
“If women wanted to be appreciated for their brains, they’d go to the library instead of to Bloomingdale’s.”
One of many Bloomberg quips that were collected together by his staff in a book they called The Portable Bloomberg: The Wit and Wisdom of Michael Bloomberg,.
“I know for a fact that any self-respecting woman who walks past a construction site and doesn’t get a whistle will turn around and walk past again and again until she does get one.”
Another quip from The Portable Bloomberg.
“Let me put it this way: I am a single, straight billionaire in Manhattan. What do you think? It’s a wet dream.”
Bloomberg, who regularly boasted about his sex life, allegedly said this to a reporter back in the 2000s.
“Look at the ass on her!”
Bloomberg to a reporter after pointing out a woman at a party..
“Nice tits!”
Something Bloomberg allegedly said quite routinely about women in his general vicinity, according to one former top aide.
It’s probably no coincidence that Bloomberg and his organizations have been sued 40 times for sexual discrimination and sexual harassment, huh?
For more on Bloomberg’s misogyny, see these articles in Gawker, The Atlantic, and GQ, from which I drew these various quotes.
Send tips to dfutrelle at gmail dot com.
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@Katamount
The problem is that somehow “electable” always seems to translate to “old white centrist man” in their minds.
Re: Bernie and Warren
I’m a woman and I live in the state Warren represents in the Senate. I really like Warren (I’ve also met her a few times at events) and would like her to be president. However, since it looks unlikely that she will win the nomination (I will vote for her in the primary, but I’m not sure if she’ll get it) I will vote for whoever gets the nomination. I’m not a huge fan of Sanders, but he’s definitely better than Buttigieg, Biden, or Bloomberg.
For me, the main turnoff about Sanders is the ‘bros. I don’t like the abject misogyny that many seem to harbor, which is a turnoff. This is partially his fault, as he is not nearly as established on social justice issues compared to Warren, and this is another reason I prefer Warren. Nevertheless, as a Warren supporter I will support Sanders in the general if he gets the nomination.
I think centrists have a different reason than me for disliking Bernie. I don’t like him because he’s not as focused on social justice. They don’t like him because he’s too far left for them. I should hope that these centrists don’t result in nominating Biden or Bloomberg, I really do not want either of those candidates and they are undoubtedly worse in all areas.
I’m getting really friggin’ tired of Democrats’ willingness to throw women under the bus.
And yes, the Republicans are worse, but that doesn’t make it okay to keep putting up candidates who molest us and harass us.
PLEASE STOP.
@Jarnsaxa
That’s what I’m trying to tell Bloomberg supporters I know. Biden is bad in this regard as well. It seems that a lot of the people I talk to just don’t care very much, which is frustrating and scary.
Tangentially to the political discussion, here is a link about how advertisment apparently don’t work :
https://thecorrespondent.com/100/the-new-dot-com-bubble-is-here-its-called-online-advertising/13228924500-22d5fd24
(as in, we are unable to find that net advertisment reach their goals, and it probably do nothing)
That’s something to remember about Fox News and all : while we do think that they are efficient propaganda machines that make people vote for horrible dictators, it’s just as probable that the cause and effect are reversed, and people who are lead to find Trump acceptable who then turn at Fox News to get informations.
(I know, it’s only superfically relevant to who is the best democrat candidate. It just put into perspective the idea that, say, Bloomberg got 15% in survey by using propaganda : the 15% figure is suspect, and the link between his advertisment and result is dodgy too)
@Epitome of Incomprehensibility:
I can only speak from my own experience, but I really feel construction workers get a bum rap on this – to date, none of the guys who’ve ever cat-called me were construction workers; the only times the latter have said anything to me it was reasonable stuff like (noticing my coffee cup): “is there a Tim’s near here?”
Katamount,
Sanders is my 2nd choice out of the current candidates, but I can understand why people are weary of him. Women, and particularly WOC have been subjected to years of pile ons by the toxic portion of his fan base. Just the other day, I saw a ton of them accusing Warren supporters of being really eager to support Bloomberg. All the Warren people I follow are as appalled by him as the Sanders people are, but they’ve really talked themselves into believing that anyone who isn’t all in on the Bernie train hates poor people.
I think Sanders himself isn’t this big toxic asshole, but his lack of willingness to make clear to his supporters that coalitions are necessary to get things done is troubling. And the Joe Rogan debacle didn’t help.
@Mrs Morley
This right here is the mindset that I think is compromising otherwise progressive voters. The driving need to remove Trump has people compromising for what they think will bring victory.
Lampreys are better than Trump. Tapeworms are better than Trump. But if fears of Trump leave Democrats bargaining away their professed values for perceived political expediency, voters of all stripes will see it and respond with distrust.
Like Jarnsaxa said:
Don’t compromise, Dems. It won’t serve you well.
@Katamount
The question was which was worse, 4 years of Trump or 8 years of Bloomberg. Bloomberg is less appalling than Trump. And yes, an actual pile of steaming dog shit is infinitely better than Trump. That’s what I meant.
Please don’t assume that I support Bloomberg.
I don’t support Bloomberg. I won’t vote for him in the NY primary. I will, however, vote for the Democratic nominee in November, no matter who.
“Who do y’all think will be a worse threat- four more years of Trump or eight of Bloomberg?”
The former. Four more years of Trump would destroy what remains of American democracy. At least with Bloomberg, there’s a chance that won’t happen.
But putting billionaires in charge is a bad idea all-round. For one thing, they are accustomed to getting their way and to being able to buy their way out of trouble. Plus they are greedy. No one amasses billions of dollars because they actually need the money. Having someone with such characteristics in power is not good for democracy.
@Katamount, I can certainly understand wanting to beat Trump. Beating Trump is imperative. If, God forbid, Bloomberg wins the nomination, I will support him against Trump. But I sure hope it doesn’t come to that.
I had to explain to my mother a couple days ago, why Obama was reccing for this man, if he was no good. (I’d told her earlier that Bloomberg was no better than trump), and she was curious.
He is basically buying the presidency, and the people following him, obviously are extremely desperate, with absolutely no hope for the future at all, or are deeply ignorant about the kind of man he is. If Black people knew about this, they would understand that none of our futures are to be found in yet another hideously wealthy old white man from New York city.
He and trump are cut from the same vile, smelly piece of cloth.
@Ohlmann, good article. Reminds me of this lengthy twitter thread, which could be summarised as “ad tech is bullshit built on top of bullshit”.
@Cohen
Same here. I will vote for any Democratic nominee, because no matter who the party nominates it won’t be as bad as Trump.
@Mrs Morley
No worries there! I figured you weren’t, I just wanted to highlight the mindset. Cuz I have seen it in the wilds of social media.
@Katamount
Phew ! Thanks! 🙂
Was that supposed to say Trump, or is it Bloomberg? I would believe either way, but I wonder if it was accidentally reflexively attributed to Trump despite Bloomberg being the subject. If not, and it actually was Trump, it seems somewhat off-topic if Bloomberg didn’t directly have anything to say about it.
I’ve never been catcalled by any construction workers either.
When I worked at a place having construction I’d usually wave at them (I’m Minnesotan and it’s the way of my people), and if they happened to see me, they’d wave back politely and get on with their work.
They seemed nice and I usually felt sorry for them because the weather was awful. (Again, the Midwest.)
My guess is the reason construction workers are seen as the primary catcallers is a way for wealthier men, who do the overwhelming majority of harassment, to pretend they’re not a part of the problem. I’m sure there are construction workers who catcall women, but they’re definitely not the only group of men that do it.
The more I think about it, this idea could also have connections to racism, as a lot of construction workers are PoC.
It’s also a common gag in jokes, comics, and the like, at least in France. Which don’t preclude classism / racism, of course.
That being said, I also think that’s because catcalling is associated with physically strong men, and constructions workers are workers (so stereotypically strong), and can be seen while you do your things in the city (because building is often done in cities). You’re not all that likely to get catcalled by metalworkers or miners simply because you would need to be in their factory / mine to see them at all.
(I never actually interacted with a construction worker tho. I barely have seen any to be honest)
Re construction workers:
I’ve been cat-called walking past construction sites for the past 50 years.
Maybe it’s me. Maybe it’s New York.
Not sure about the rest of Latin America, but catcalling from construction workers is so prevalent that local Municipalities had to pass a few laws fining the companies whose workers engage in catcalling.
Worst of all though are combi drivers and “cobradores”, especially the latter. Those pseudo-forms of public transportation are one neat little misogyny package. I’d venture to say that over half the catcalls in the city come from them.
Builders, and especially scaffolders, do have a reputation for catcalling (over here). Whether that’s deserved or not is beyond my purview.
It is the case though that you can sign up to the Considerate Constructors Scheme. There are advantages in that in that it assists with obtaining planning consent. The code of conduct includes a prohibition on catcalling.
There have been a few cases here where constructors have been fined for catcalling; and also lost out on valuable contracts. So it’s often a sackable offence.
https://scaffmag.com/2018/05/wolf-whistling-can-now-attract-spot-fines/
“Klomentum”? Seriously?
That sounds like a name some pharma company’s marketing department would use to sell laxatives.
I’ve definitely been catcalled by construction workers. I think it happens frequently because they’re outside and have more opportunities to harass, not because they’re uniquely prone to it.