NEW YORK (Sputnik) — Michael Bloomberg named two reasons he dropped plans to run for the US presidency — Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz, according to an op-ed article by the former New York mayor posted on the BloombergView website.
"That is a risk I cannot take in good conscience," Bloomberg wrote on Monday of the chances a three-way race could help either Republican candidate win.
Bloomberg is currently the chief executive of Bloomberg L.P., a privately held financial media company that he founded in 1981. He also served as mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013.
Citing Trump’s caustic statements on Muslims and Mexican immigrants, Bloomberg said in the article, "These moves would divide us at home and compromise our moral leadership around the world."
He added that the end result of a Trump presidency "would be to embolden our enemies, threaten the security of our allies and put our own men and women in uniform at greater risk."
Turning his attention to Cruz, Bloomberg said the candidate’s pandering on immigration is no less extreme, even though it lacks Trump’s rhetorical excesses.
The Republican establishment full-throttle attempts to derail Trump’s campaign have made Cruz the leading anti-Trump candidate for the Republicans.
