Watch Michael Bloomberg Greet a Dog Like We All Do: By Shaking Its Jaw
Former Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg says he's running for president of the United States as a Democrat because he's the billionaire antidote to Donald Trump. As his website lays out, "Michael Bloomberg built one of the world’s most successful companies from scratch," while "Donald Trump is a failed businessman whose companies went bankrupt multiple times." On Tuesday, Bloomberg may have stumbled into another wedge issue for voters who aren't sure which ultra-rich candidate to support. You see, Bloomberg is willing to shake any human's hand—and any dog's mouth—anytime, anywhere.
Exhibit A is the below clip, in which Mr. Bloomberg naturally transitions from greeting a curious voter to greeting a canine.
Seamless. Compare that to Trump: In his 1997 book The Art of the Comeback, the future president called human hand-shaking "barbaric" and "one of the curses of American society.” He also famously does not like dogs, unless they are viciously attacking suspected terrorists. It bears to reason he would be unwilling to shake a dog's mouth.
Some have pointed out that in a 2011 New York Times piece, Bloomberg expresses disappointment and aloofness at being gifted two dogs. But what, then, are we to make of the below picture procured by the Washington Post reporter Aaron Blake? It serves, if anything, as further evidence that Bloomberg actually has a very normal relationship with dogs, who love when humans immediately open up their jaw, as opposed to petting their head.
We reached out to the Bloomberg campaign requesting comment about his dog-greeting technique, and will update this post when we hear back.
The former New York City mayor aggressively defended the policy for years.
Originally Appeared on GQ
