Tuesday December 10 was an eventful day for Donald Trump, even by the US president’s own hectic standards. It began with the unveiling of impeachment charges accusing him of grave misdeeds and ended with a campaign rally in Pennsylvania where he called FBI agents “scum”; described one prominent Democrat as a “crooked bastard” and claimed another top Democrat’s marriage was a “phoney, disgusting” sham.
On the other side of the Atlantic the same day, one of the Democrats hoping to unseat Mr Trump in next year’s presidential election gave a calmer speech at the UN climate talks in Madrid. “I am here because no one from the White House is here,” said Michael Bloomberg, the New York billionaire and climate campaigner.
Away from the stage in Spain, Mr Bloomberg met a small group of journalists who received a heavy dose of another campaign message. It had nothing to do with impeachment, outlandish behaviour or any other Trumpish trademark. It was simply this: Mr Bloomberg would be a better manager than Mr Trump.