Michael Bloomberg: Any Democratic Candidate In 2020 Is Better Than Trump

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged the NAACP to hold 2020 presidential candidates accountable and blasted President Donald Trump for his remarks about four first-term Democratic congresswomen during a Detroit visit Wednesday.

"He seems to think some of us are not really true Americans," Bloomberg, 77, said of Trump while addressing members of the nation's oldest civil rights organization.

"And I say 'us,' because when the president tells even one American to go back to where he or she came from, the president is challenging the very meaning of citizenship. Mr. President, we are not going back — not one of us."

Bloomberg spent more than $100 million on electing Democrats to the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm election, he said, and did so in order to build a Congress that could "provide a check" on Trump.

He spoke ahead of a lineup of Democratic presidential candidates at the NAACP convention Wednesday.

"I don't agree with all of their ideas, but all of the candidates will be better than President Trump," Bloomberg said.

'Civil Rights Issue Of Our Time'

The former mayor emphasized the importance of education and said, like former President Barack Obama, he believes it's "the civil rights issue of our time."

Poverty, crime, homelessness, income inequality and other societal problems are effectively reduced with better education, Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg's company has about 20,000 employees, and one of his biggest challenges is finding employee candidates with the skills needed to fill positions, he said, adding that there are more open jobs in the U.S. than there are people on unemployment.

"If Justice Thurgood Marshall and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. could see how far we still have to go 65 years after Brown vs. Board of Education, they would be shocked and shake their heads in disbelief," Bloomberg said.

"I don't think they would give up. I think they would work harder than ever, and that's what we must do."

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Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg addresses the NAACP 110th National Convention on Wednesday, July 24 in Detroit. Photo by Dustin Blitchok.