One thing conservative Republican and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania had in common with billionaire philanthropist and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is that both men ran unsuccessfully for President of the United States. Santorum ran in the 2012 GOP primary (Mitt Romney won the nomination). Bloomberg ran for the 2020 Democratic nomination (Joe Biden won).
Beyond that distinction, the two men don’t share much politically. Santorum is a social conservative who opposes abortion, same-sex marriage and any attempt to narrow the scope of the Second Amendment. Bloomberg supports gun-control measures, abortion rights, and same-sex marriage.
But when Bloomberg wrote this week in The Wall Street Journal about how the Hamas October 7 attack against Israel “should’ve been a unifying moment for the US” and that “instead it revealed a crisis in higher education and the need for college presidents to adopt the University of Chicago’s principles on speech,” the former Senator made it clear he was on the same page as the billionaire.
Santorum responded to Bloomberg’s assessment: “I couldn’t have said it better myself. Maybe this tragedy is becoming a unifying moment after all.”
.@MikeBloomberg I couldn’t have said it better myself. Maybe this tragedy is becoming a unifying moment after all. https://t.co/sN5M4Y1OWz
— Rick Santorum (@RickSantorum) November 18, 2023
[Excerpt from the Chicago Statement Bloomberg alludes to: “Because the University is committed to free and open inquiry in all matters, it guarantees all members of the University community the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn . . . [I]t is not the proper role of the University to attempt to shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive.”
On the divisive issues of Israel-Hamas and free speech in America, Santorum didn’t receive the same kind of agreement from his followers, hearing comments such as: “Are you agreeing with Mike Bloomberg because you are hopeful for the fulfillment of biblical end times prophesy?” (sic) Another wrote: “When ‘unifying’ is a euphemism for purging dissenters.”
There’s one more thing Santorum and Bloomberg have in common: neither want Donald Trump to be president. Santorum has publicly endorsed Florida governor Ron DeSantis for the 2024 GOP nomination. After dropping out of the 2020 election, Bloomberg poured millions into Biden’s campaign to beat Trump.
