Mike Bloomberg's new campaign ad features dogs claiming they love him

Presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg really wants you to know that his relationship with dogs is normal and fine. The billionaire and former NYC mayor on Wednesday released a video of dogs with dubbed-over voices "endorsing" him for president.

Strange? Sure. But such is politics in 2020.

To understand how we got here, you've got to understand a different video that had viral moment on Tuesday. Bloomberg was taped meeting a pup on the campaign trail in Vermont this week and well — there's no other way to say this — he greeted the dog by shaking its snout. Frankly, the video was baffling and folks online, predictably, were beside themselves.

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So, after a troubling-dog-thing Tuesday, Bloomberg's campaign followed it up with a weird-dog-thing Wednesday. Thus the endorsement video featuring pups talking — via voiceover — about the billionaire's ability to create jobs, refrain from tweeting, and fight the NRA, among other things.

At one point, a dog apparently named Fez utters the unsettling phrase: "I like Mike. I lick Mike."

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Notably absent from the ad: the actual candidate. And, not for nothing, it sure seems like the endorsements were bribed via dog treats. The 30-second affair ends with Bloomberg's alleged dog, Cody, saying he approved the message then the candidate doing the same.

Despite his protestations, Bloomberg has a history of dog-hesitancy. A 2011 piece in the New York Times revealed he didn't consider his longtime girlfriend's dogs his own, despite sharing a home with the pets. Video and photo evidence also shows this week's snout-shake is hardly an isolated incident. There have been a few documented awkward interactions between Bloomberg and a canine. A 2013 photo, in fact, shows the then-NYC mayor cupping a different dog's snout, seemingly pulling off the same mouth-shake he did this week.

Also, consider this picture from 2012:

Georgina Bloomberg, Bandit the dog and Michael Bloomberg are pictured at a gala in New York on Dec . 18, 2012 Credit: Henry Lamb / Photowire / BEI/ Shutterstock

Normal stuff. Regular petting. Zero bewilderment in the dog's eyes.

Despite the campaign's best efforts, people online weren't exactly about to accept that dogs love Mike (and vice versa).

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