Michael Bloomberg Contrasts George H.W. Bush's Legacy With President Trumps

In an interview with CNN's Cristina Alesci, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg discussed the legacy of George H.W. Bush and contrasted it with President Trump.  He also discussed the 2020 election. 

Below is a select transcript from the interview, courtesy of CNN:

TRANSCRIPT:
ALESCI:  What lessons did you learn from Bush's life and his leadership style?

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, FORMER MAYOR, NEW YORK CITY:  What was unique about George H.W. Bush was his honesty, his morals, his elegance, if you will.  And I think, unfortunately, you contrast it with what we have in the White House now where the current president doesn’t seem to have any feeling of sacrifice for the good of the country, and maybe that's one of the real differences.

ALESCI:  You're here in Iowa, a critical state for any potential candidate to gauge whether or not they are viable.  Why are you here?

BLOOMBERG:  Well, I'm here to preview a movie about climate change.  It's called "Paris to Pittsburgh."  That's why I'm here, to preview the movie.  And it has a segment about people from the great state of Iowa who are very environmentally-friendly.

ALESCI:  When I'm in New York and I see you run into people, I see people who -- at least this probably happens to you about a dozen times a day who tell you, you have to run for president.

BLOOMBERG:  Well, it's very nice when somebody says that, and somebody does occasionally.  And if it didn’t put a smile on your face I don’t know -- you've got to be pretty sick.  But that doesn’t mean number one, you should do it or could do it, and what I've said is I'll look at it at the beginning of the year.

ALESCI:  Do you get a similar sense here in Iowa when you meet people?

BLOOMBERG:  I want to understand what Iowa is all about.  I want to learn.  And one of my chief associates says ask a question, make a friend.  And so I want to know what makes Iowa tick.

ALESCI:  Biden said yesterday that he's the most qualified person for the job.  Do you agree?

BLOOMBERG:  You would think that anybody that's running for the job would think that they are qualified to be it.  Joe Biden's a guy who I've known for a long time.  He's a very competent guy.

And there'll be 25 people or 20 people running on the Democratic side, all of whom I think would answer the question the same way if you asked it.

ALESCI:  Do you think you're the most qualified?

BLOOMBERG:  I can't speak for anybody else.  

I do think that after 12 years in City Hall dealing with international problems, and security problems, and economic problems, and creating jobs, the environment, and guns, and women's rights, and tobacco and all these things, that I have a lot of experience which would be useful if I was President of the United States.

That doesn’t mean I'm going to run.  It's one thing to say something, it's a different thing to have actually done it.