Former Starbucks CEO and executive chairman Howard Schultz insists he doesn’t want to see President Trump re-elected either.
Schultz has been fielding heavy criticism from Democrats since he announced Sunday night that he was “seriously considering” running for the White House in 2020 as a centrist independent.
“If there is a choice between President Trump and a progressive, liberal-minded person on the Democratic side, it would kill me to see President Trump be re-elected. And I believe that’s what would take place,” Schultz told NPR Monday during an interview set to air in full on Tuesday.
“That’s what I believe, and I would believe it would be disingenuous of me if I would have run as a Democrat and espoused those kinds of views in order to get the nomination, which some might do,” the billionaire businessman said when pressed on whether he was mulling a third party bid because he thought Democrats were pulling too far to the left to beat Trump in next year’s election.
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz told @nprinskeep he believes the Democrats will be too far left to win against President Trump in 2020.
Full interview tomorrow on Morning Edition. pic.twitter.com/CBhPviE7uj
— Morning Edition (@MorningEdition) January 28, 2019
In another interview since his announcement, Schultz told Axios he was “unfazed” by the negative response, adding he was aware he had put himself in a position that is bound “to create hate, anger, disenfranchisement from friends, from Democrats.”
“I’m not considering this to win the Twitter primary,” Schultz said. “I believe that lifelong Democrats and lifelong Republicans are looking for a home, and they’re not spending hours and hours on Twitter.”
[Opinion: Three theories on how ex-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz could affect the 2020 presidential election]
The backlash to Schultz’s announcement was swift due to concerns the entrepreneur may siphon votes away from the Democratic nominee, boosting Trump’s chances of winning a second term. He’s been discouraged to contest the presidency by lawmakers such as Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., and key party figures such as Center for American Progress president Neera Tanden. Even fellow 2020 contender, Obama administration housing secretary Julian Castro, called Schultz’s proposal on Sunday Trump’s “best hope” of remaining in the White House.
Michael Bloomberg, another 2020 potential billionaire hopeful who previously contemplated his own independent presidential campaign, also skewered Schultz Monday.
“Now I have never been a partisan guy — and it’s no secret that I looked at an independent bid in the past,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “In fact, I faced exactly the same decision now facing others who are considering it. The data was very clear and very consistent. Given the strong pull of partisanship and the realities of the Electoral College system, there is no way an independent can win. That is truer today than ever before.”
Bloomberg added, “In 2020, the great likelihood is that an independent would just split the anti-Trump vote and end up re-electing the president. That’s a risk I refused to run in 2016 and we can’t afford to run it now.”
Schultz will continue to weigh his options as he embarks on a national book tour promoting his latest memoir From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America.
