Donald Trump was licking his chops Sunday at the prospect of a billionaire-vs.-billionaire battle for the White House, declaring that he welcomes an independent presidential run by former Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
“I would love it,” the GOP front-runner said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “He’s very opposite on me with guns, and he’s opposite on pro-life, and he’s opposite on a lot of things, so I would love to have Michael get in the race.”
Taking uncharacteristically chummy tone, Trump resisted the chance to take a swipe at his fellow mogul, who reportedly considers him too extreme to win a general election.
“Michael’s been a friend of mine over the years. Perhaps we’re not friends anymore,” Trump said on the show. “You know, he’s wanted to do this for a long time, and he never pulled the trigger. We’ll see if he does right now. But I would personally love to compete with Michael Bloomberg.”
Bloomberg is mulling launching a 2016 independent run if Trump becomes the Republican nominee and Bernie Sanders the Democratic nominee, sources have said.
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, said Bloomberg shouldn’t worry, because she plans to win the nomination herself.
“The way I read what he said is, if I didn’t get the nomination, he might consider it,” she told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Well, I’m going to relieve him of that and get the nomination so he doesn’t have to.”
Sanders is leading in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
Success by Clinton at the polls won’t necessarily stop Bloomberg from running, a source close to the former mayor said Sunday.
The source said the media mogul has set a March deadline for his decision, giving himself time to get on all the state ballots.
Bloomberg, who has put his money behind gun-control and immigration-reform campaigns, is willing to spend $1 billion of his fortune on the race.
Trump has reasoned that a Bloomberg run would help his own chances.
Bloomberg would “take a lot of votes away from Hillary,” he told ABC’s “This Week” last Sunday following reports that Bloomberg was polling on the race.
Sanders was not as welcoming on Sunday.
“If Donald Trump wins and Mr. Bloomberg gets in, you’re going to have two multibillionaires running for president of the United States against me,” he told NBC. “And I think the American people do not want to see our nation move toward an oligarchy where billionaires control the political process.”