Michael Bloomberg just gave Hillary Clinton her new campaign slogan

Visionary.
Visionary.
Image: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson
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At the Democratic Convention tonight, Michael Bloomberg gave a resounding endorsement of Hillary Clinton, but also a public thumping of fellow billionaire Donald Trump.

He had jabbed at Trump before, as my colleague Tim Fernholz reported:

Bloomberg has already made clear his disdain for Republican nominee Donald Trump, most notably by declining to run for president himself. In an op-ed on his Bloomberg View website, explaining his decision, he wrote that Trump “has run the most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign I can remember, preying on people’s prejudices and fears.”

At the podium tonight, Bloomberg didn’t hold back. He sounded disgusted with the prospect of a Trump presidency, disgusted that Trump has even made it this far. “I’m a New Yorker, and I know a con when I see one,” was his bottom line on Trump’s campaign promises.

But Bloomberg saved his best line for the end of speech (and he reportedly went off his prepared remarks to deliver it): “Together, let’s elect a sane, competent person” as America’s next president.

The former mayor of New York was clearly not referring to Donald Trump. Might he have given Hillary Clinton her new campaign slogan? The phrase was instantly reverberating around Twitter and Facebook.

It seems that the decision to give the Republican-turned-independent mayor of New York a prime-time speaking slot to forcefully advocate for Hillary Clinton is already reaping dividends.