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Bloomberg warns of ‘epidemic of dishonesty’

By STEVE PEOPLES warned in a commence- 2016, did not call out any
Associated Press ment speech on Saturday politicians by name.
NEW YORK (AP) — Ameri- at Texas’ Rice University Although he derided Don-
cans are facing an “epi- that “an endless barrage ald Trump as “a con” and
demic of dishonesty” in of lies” and a trend toward a “dangerous dema-
Washington that’s more “alternate realities” in na- gogue” before his election,
dangerous than terrorism tional politics pose a dire in an interview before the
or communism. threat to U.S. democracy. speech Bloomberg refused
That’s according to for- The 76-year-old billionaire, to comment specifically on
mer New York City Mayor who flirted with an inde- the Republican president’s
Michael Bloomberg, who pendent presidential run in troubled history with the

In this Dec. 12, 2017 file photo, Special envoy to the United
Nations for climate change Michael Bloomberg addresses the
media at the One Planet Summit, in Boulogne-Billancourt, near
Paris, France.
Associated Press
truth. Fact checkers have the 1990s defending Presi-
determined that Trump has dent Bill Clinton against
made hundreds of false charges of lying and per-
and misleading statements sonal immorality just as
since entering the Oval Of- Republicans attacked the
fice. lack of ethics and honesty
“This is bigger than any one in the White House. Just the
person. It’s bigger than any reverse is happening to-
one party,” he said in the day, he said.
interview. In one jab at Trump, he not-
In the speech, Bloomberg ed that the vast majority
evoked the legend of the of scientists agree that cli-
nation’s first president, mate change is real. Trump
George Washington, who and his Republican allies
as a boy said he could not have repeatedly called cli-
tell a lie when asked if he mate change a hoax pro-
cut down a cherry tree. moted by America’s ad-
He blamed “extreme par- versaries.
tisanship” for an unprec- “If 99 percent of scientists
edented tolerance of dis- whose research has been
honesty in U.S. politics. Peo- peer-reviewed reach the
ple are committed more to same general conclusion
their political tribes than the about a theory, then we
truth, he said, suggesting ought to accept it as the
that the nation is more di- best available information
vided than any time since — even if it’s not a 100 per-
the Civil War. cent certainty,” Bloomberg
“There is now more tol- said. He added: “That,
erance for dishonesty in graduates, is not a Chinese
politics than I have seen hoax.”
in my lifetime,” Bloomberg He warned that such deep
said. “The only thing more levels of dishonesty could
dangerous than dishonest enable what he called
politicians who have no re- “criminality.” Asked what
spect for the law is a cho- specifically he was talking
rus of enablers who defend about, Bloomberg noted
their every lie.” “lots of investigations” go-
For example, he noted that ing on, but he declined to
Democrats spent much of be more specific.q