Seven months ago, when Howard Schultz announced his resignation as CEO of Starbucks and hinted about his political aspirations by saying things like “public service is one of the things I might consider,” a Reddit user named “u/flippingi_birds” asked what people thought about putting a barista-in-chief hopeful for the White House.
Someone wrote: “He’s a random billionaire who thinks that his Starbucks PR team qualifies him to run for president. He has no real governmental qualifications, He has no political base to stand on, an utter lack of name recognition, and the dude is literally a special interest. How many more times do Americans need to be punished for voting for random rich guys before they realize that elites don’t care about them. Schultz is a bad choice, full stop.”
And it went downhill from there.
When Schultz took to “60 Minutes” on Sunday to tell correspondent Scott Pelley that he was “seriously thinking of running for president” and that he would “run as a centrist independent, outside of the two-party system,” the floodgates of public option once again opened wide.
While his supporters are thrilled with the idea of a Schultz run for the highest office in the land, apparently there are many other people, including many Democrats, who consider his candidacy a very bad idea and Schultz personally as a party-spoiler of the highest magnitude. Meanwhile, the tweeter-in-chief offered his own assessment: “Howard Schultz doesn’t have the ‘guts’ to run for President!” President Donald Trump said Monday on Twitter.
Here’s a taste:
Good morning to everyone except Howard Schultz.
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) January 28, 2019
BREAKING: Howard Schultz releases 2020 campaign logo pic.twitter.com/Qc1SFpxzMG
— Doug Gordon (@dgordon52) January 28, 2019
For the sake of our nation and future generations, @HowardSchultz, please set aside your ego and DO NOT RUN.
— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) January 28, 2019
Analysis: Howard Schultz is looking at an independent presidential bid.
Trump is practically begging him to run, under the guise of attacking him. https://t.co/H9WtdYulZB
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 28, 2019
Trump won in large part due to crossover Dems, Independents, and NPAs. Hillary took a good portion of crossover Rs, Indies, and NPAs as well.
I believe Howard Schultz will peel more of these voters from the Dems than he will Trump in 2020. He could very well be the Dems' Perot.
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) January 28, 2019
Nader gave US Bush in 2000. Gore won by over 500K. Would’ve had 15-20 yr. jump on global warming & no 1mil. killed in Iraq. Stein helped give US Trump. Hillary had 3 mil. more votes. Now Schultz wants to give the incompetent criminal moron a 2nd term. Curb your ego! Don’t run!
— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) January 28, 2019
Howard Schultz's potential 2020 bid gives Democrats a double shot of unease https://t.co/xHPx2mGoxP pic.twitter.com/imaTvRP6XG
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 28, 2019
Trump was a fluke. Annals of history full of ppl w/big egos and/or deep pockets, who fell for consultants’ siren song that they could make a difference running as 3rd Party candidate. Perot, Nader, Jill “Russia Today” Stein…all asterisks for “spoilers”. Et tu, @HowardSchultz?
— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) January 28, 2019
https://twitter.com/AnandWrites/status/1089916748541906944
https://twitter.com/jonlovett/status/1089990423534157824
New cartoon: @HowardSchultz 2020? pic.twitter.com/fT9zpp4oK3
— Andy Marlette (@AndyMarlette) January 28, 2019
Newsflash! The ultra wealthy have no clue what it's like to live as the average American. @HowardSchultz sees how #TraitorTrump uses his power to get richer and is greedy for the same #Emoluments #WakeUpAmerica #StarveTheRich #GrabYourWallet #VoteBlue2020 https://t.co/ybErqfLgmb
— Cheri is writing (@LoveIsCool) January 28, 2019
Just stopped by Howard Schultz campaign headquarters. pic.twitter.com/mAi9Vi2dEc
— Bob Davidson (@oybay) January 28, 2019
https://twitter.com/sw2003_/status/1089927602033303554
Bloomberg Statement on Independent Run: “The great likelihood is that an independent would just split the anti-Trump vote & end up re-electing the President. That's a risk I refused to run in 2016 & we can't afford to run it now”
cc @HowardSchultz https://t.co/rjLEsTSa03— Rebecca Buck (@RebeccaBuck) January 28, 2019
.@howardschultz: Please listen to your fellow billionaire! https://t.co/uXclbOELZt
— Krystal Ball (@krystalball) January 28, 2019
Howard Schultz's constituency pic.twitter.com/gsWSUZ4JDD
— Don Frances (@MrDonFrances) January 28, 2019
