Bloomberg blasts ‘epidemic of dishonesty’ in Washington during address to grads

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told students during a commencement address Saturday that they face an “epidemic of dishonesty” coming from Washington, D.C.

In a speech at Rice University in Texas, Bloomberg blamed “extreme partisanship” for the current political climate and warned that “when we tolerate dishonesty, we get criminality,” according to The Associated Press.

“When elected officials speak as though they are above the truth, they will act as though they are above the law,” said Bloomberg, who flirted with a potential independent presidential bid in 2016.

Bloomberg told graduates and their families that “when we tolerate dishonesty, we get criminality. Sometimes, it’s in the form of corruption. Sometimes, it’s abuse of power. And sometimes, it’s both.”

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“The greatest threat to American democracy isn’t communism, jihadism or any other external force or foreign power,” he added, according to the AP. “It’s our own willingness to tolerate dishonesty in service of party and in pursuit of power.”

Bloomberg added that he’s never seen such acceptance of dishonesty in Congress and the federal government.

“There is now more tolerance for dishonesty in politics than I have seen in my lifetime,” Bloomberg said. “The only thing more dangerous than dishonest politicians who have no respect for the law is a chorus of enablers who defend their every lie.”

While not mentioning Trump by name, Bloomberg knocked the president’s past claim that climate change is a “Chinese hoax.”

“If 99 percent of scientists whose research has been peer-reviewed reach the same general conclusion about a theory, then we ought to accept it as the best available information — even if it’s not a 100 percent certainty,” Bloomberg said. “That, graduates, is not a Chinese hoax.”

Bloomberg has remained a vocal critic of the Trump administration since the 2016 election.

Last month, the former mayor pledged to cut a check for $4.5 million to fulfill America’s commitment to the Paris climate accords, which Trump announced last year the U.S. would.