NEW YORK _ Michael Bloomberg is confident he'd beat President Donald Trump in 2020 _ but he's not going to try.
After months of speculation, the former New York City mayor announced Tuesday he's not launching a Democratic bid to challenge Trump in the next general election _ but boasted he would have been a great candidate if he had decided to run.
"I know what it takes to run a winning campaign, and every day when I read the news, I grow more frustrated by the incompetence in the Oval Office," Bloomberg wrote in an op-ed published on his namesake news site. "I know we can do better as a country. And I believe I would defeat Donald Trump in a general election."
However, the 77-year-old billionaire said he's "clear-eyed" about the difficulty of clinching the Democratic nomination, considering 14 people have already launched 2020 campaigns and several more are rumored to still be considering runs.
So, Bloomberg argued he'll do more good by staying out of the race and focus on using his immense wealth to help Democratic causes and subvert Trump's right-wing agenda.
"I've come to realize that I'm less interested in talking than doing," Bloomberg wrote. "And I have concluded that, for now, the best way for me to help our country is by rolling up my sleeves and continuing to get work done."
