What would stop Bloomberg from, say, offering every uncommitted superdelegate and every Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, and Joe Biden delegate $1 million each to flip to him on the second ballot? And making a cool $500 million donation to the Democratic National Committee to ensure that the process of anointing him as the nominee goes smoothly in Milwaukee? This scenario would probably cost Bloomberg between $1 billion and $1.5 billion. Add that to the probable cost of $1 billion for the primary battle, and he’d be left with about $2.5 billion to spend against Trump in the 3-4 months of the general election. Without, once again, having to tap into his capital reserves at all. (For perspective, the entire cost of the 2016 election, the Trump-Clinton presidential race, and all 535 congressional races combined was about $6.5 billion.)

Farfetched? Why? Just because it’s never happened before? Sort of like a demagogic reality-show star and real-estate developer with no political experience winning the Republican nomination and then the presidency?

I’d like to submit that the only thing that will keep Bloomberg from taking this path or something like it — from using his fortune to effectively purchase the institutional Democratic Party, absorb it into Bloomberg LP, and use this hybrid corporate-political enterprise to fulfill the fervent wish of Democratic voters to defeat Trump — will be his own sense of personal restraint. There is no law or institution that can or will stand in the way of it happening.