Well, the who is and who isn’t a genuine Democrat gets a bit untidy
Bloomberg was a “lifelong member of the Democratic Party” until 2001 - when he registered as a Republican to run for Mayor of New York City
He endorsed Obama in 2012 and Clinton in 2016 …
He gave speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention & called Hillary Clinton “the right choice”
He officially re-registered as a Democrat - October 10, 2018.
While Bloomberg’s time away from the party is fair game for criticism, when somebody steps up and signs their name to formally become a member of the Democratic Party, it is kind of crass to categorically dismiss their decision / action and just proclaim their pledge as “invalid” and illegitimate. Personally, I found it contemptible when ass-hole nutter Republicans unilaterally proclaimed that Obama was not a Christian - because they deemed themselves to be anointed to judge the validity of his personal faith commitment.
By any objective formalized measure, Bloomberg is officially a registered Democrat - he may be decidedly different in many ways - he may be philosophically different from some of the other candidates - but he has put his name on the line - has gone on record - and deserves an accurate recognition of the facts -
Now, Senator Sanders … humm … he makes it clear - he is adamant that he is NOT a registered Democrat - and will not become one. In an awful lot of ways he walks like one, talks like one, and votes like one … but as of now he remains steadfast in his position that he will not sign his name to become one.
Does it truly matter? certainly it is not mandatory - but some will have reservations … and factually - objectively - it is true Sanders is not a “registered Democrat”
This argument is one that should be handled with a bit of respect - it could easily become a strident ideological purity pissing contest - and alienate more people than it persuades
…