• Michael Bloomberg hit back at Sen. Bernie Sanders after the lawmaker said he wouldn’t energize voters enough to beat Donald Trump in the presidential election.
  • “The simple truth is that Mayor Bloomberg, with all his money, will not create the kind of excitement and energy we need to defeat Donald Trump,” Sanders tweeted on Sunday.
  • Bloomberg responded on Monday with a video showcasing threats and insults ostensibly made by so-called “Bernie Bros” against Sanders’ rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination.
  • “We need to unite to defeat Trump in November,” Bloomberg tweeted. “This type of ‘energy’ is not going to get us there.”
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Michael Bloomberg fired back at Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday after his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination said he wouldn’t galvanize voters enough to beat President Donald Trump in November.

“The simple truth is that Mayor Bloomberg, with all his money, will not create the kind of excitement and energy we need to defeat Donald Trump,” Sanders tweeted on Sunday, quoting from a speech he gave at a Democratic party gala on Saturday.

Bloomberg – a billionaire, philanthropist, and former New York City mayor – responded on Monday by posting a video on Twitter showcasing dozens of threats and insults directed at Sanders’ Democratic rivals. The video highlighted newspaper headlines accusing so-called “Bernie Bros” – Sanders’ most vocal and fervent supporters – of spewing the social-media vitriol.

“We need to unite to defeat Trump in November,” Bloomberg tweeted alongside the video. “This type of ‘energy’ is not going to get us there.”

After running through a barrage of abusive, "Bernie or Bust" memes and posts, the video switches to a clip of Sanders saying it's "vitally important for those of us who hold different views to be able to engage in a civil discourse."

The video then fades to black and the word "Really?" appears - an attempt to paint Sanders as a hypocrite given his ostensibly single-minded, uncivil supporters. The text changes to "Really." before inviting viewers to text a phone number to learn more about Bloomberg's campaign.

Bloomberg's retaliation came after Sanders, a vocal critic of billionaires and wealth inequality, accused him of purchasing the presidency at a campaign rally in Nevada on Sunday, according to ABC News.

"Well, you buy the presidency - at least he's going to try to buy the presidency - by spending hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars on TV ads," Sanders told the crowd.

Bloomberg's campaign has splurged $418 million on ads since he entered the race in November, almost 10 times Sanders' $42 million outlay, CNN's "New Day" tweeted on Monday.

You can watch the Bloomberg video below: