“Tom Steyer, the California billionaire who has crusaded for President Trump’s impeachment, said on Wednesday that he would not join the pack of Democrats running for president in 2020 and would instead redouble his efforts to topple Mr. Trump before the election,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Steyer intends to spend at least $40 million on impeachment efforts in the coming year — money that might otherwise have been directed toward a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.”

Billionaire Tom Steyer will make an announcement tomorrow in Iowa “concerning his political plans for 2019 and beyond” amid speculation that he could run for president in 2020.

“Tom Steyer, the Democratic billionaire who has paid for television ads calling for the impeachment of President Trump, is also considering a run for president himself. And he is taking a novel approach to staffing up a potential campaign for 2020: An anonymous LinkedIn page advertising ‘state director’ jobs in three of the first four states that will kick off the nominating contest,” the New York Times reports.

“Nowhere is Mr. Steyer’s name mentioned in the posting. But the language and structure matches verbatim those of job opportunities listed with one of Mr. Steyer’s other political efforts, NextGen America.”

“Former billionaire investor, climate activist and impeachment agitator Tom Steyer will take several steps toward a 2020 presidential bid Tuesday,” Politico reports.

“That will include a six-figure web ad buy on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, along with a full-page ad in USA Today and other Gannett newspapers outlining a political platform, a revamped TomSteyer.com and the announcement of five town halls across the country, the first of which will be in the crucial early primary state of South Carolina.”

President Trump lashed out at billionaire Democratic activist Tom Steyer, ridiculing him as a “stumbling lunatic” days after Steyer was targeted by one of more than a dozen pipe bombs sent to prominent critics of the president, the Washington Post reports.

Said Trump: “Just watched Wacky Tom Steyer, who I have not seen in action before, be interviewed by Jake Tapper. He comes off as a crazed and stumbling lunatic who should be running out of money pretty soon. As bad as their field is, if he is running for President, the Dems will eat him alive!”

“Tom Steyer’s NextGen America organization is working to register 100,000 students in one month at college campuses across 11 states as part of its ‘Welcome Week’ program launching this week,” Axios reports.

“This is the group’s biggest voter registration effort yet, focused specifically on the most crucial bloc of non-voters, and it’s happening just three months before the 2018 midterm election.”

Billionaire Tom Steyer “plans to spend an additional $10 million on helping Democrats take control of the House by attempting to drive up turnout among infrequent voters motivated by the idea of impeaching President Trump,” Bloomberg reports.

“That will be on top of $110 million Steyer has already pledged for the November elections through his two political organizations.”

Steyer now has an email list of 5.5 million voters, with an average of 10,000 names per congressional district.

Daily Beast: “Ask a professional Democrat for his or her opinion on billionaire political donor Tom Steyer, and the answer you often get is a variation of the following: Why would someone with so much money spend it all on a fruitless attempt to impeach Donald Trump?”

“Press them for their thoughts in private, however, and many concede that the man funding a $40 million campaign to get rid of the current president is not just a gifted self-promoter, but is, in fact, building one of the true powerhouse entities within the Democratic ecosystem. Steyer is poised to play a massive role in the midterms and pull the party in the direction of his choosing. He’s also set himself up incredibly well—perhaps better than any other potential aspirant—for a serious presidential bid in 2020.”

Said one Democratic strategist: “If I were a rich person and I wanted to run for president. I would be doing exactly what he’s doing.”

“Democratic donor Tom Steyer, who has spent more than $100 million since 2016 on political campaigns, will forgo any run for office this year and focus instead on ending Republican control of the House of Representatives,” the Washington Post reports.

Said Steyer: “I’ve said all along, the question I always ask is: Where can I make the most differential impact? And when I look at the jobs I can run for in California, they all have reputable Democrats running for them already.”

“Steyer’s decision removes some of the drama from California’s races for governor and U.S. Senate, which had attracted ambitious Democrats who had been wanting to move up for years.”

Politico: “California billionaire activist Tom Steyer made his name as an environmental activist, worked with Democratic groups to register a million new voters and redefined green politics with high-profile campaigns on climate change and clean energy.”

“Now as he weighs a run for public office, he’s adding health care — specifically drug prices — to his brand.”