Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on Monday night said he will take “three to four months“ before deciding whether he’ll run for president in 2020 as an independent.
“I promise I would do nothing whatsoever to be a spoiler to re-elect Donald Trump. Nobody wants to see this president leave office more than me,” he said during a stop on his book tour in Chicago. He spoke during a Q&A with Chicago businesswoman and Starbucks Vice Chair Mellody Hobson, who compared the reports of the possibility of an independent run to “dropping a bomb.”
Schultz says he has plans to travel the country to gauge whether voters want to see an independent candidacy in 2020. He says the theme of his unofficial campaign is simple: financial security for all Americans.
“I’m taking the next three to four months, traveling the country,” he said. “I’m doing events like this. I’m going to do everything I possibly can to listen and learn over the next three to four months, to see if I can ignite a national conversation and national movement.”
Schultz said he expected push-back “but not to the degree of an assault,” he told the crowd gathered for the event sponsored by the Chicago Ideas speakers’ forum.
Since he announced his interest in running, the coffee magnate has been castigated by Democrats who worry he’ll split the anti-Trump vote and hand over the election to Trump. The Twitterverse has been merciless, he acknowledged.
“I’m not going to be a spoiler. The numbers do not tally up. If I don’t see the evidence to me, I’ll back out. Right now I’m having the courage of my convictions to believe that the system is broken, that politics are broken and someone needs to try to change it.”
For his part, Schultz has sometimes fueled the fire with remarks that have inspired ridicule. Earlier Monday, for example, he said the terms “people of wealth” and “people of means” are preferred to referring to people as "billionaires."
Schultz’s new book, “From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America,” describes growing up in difficult circumstances and of modest means. He said those experiences have shaped who he is today.
“I am living proof of the promise of the country and the American dream and I want to do everything I can to restore it. I don’t believe it can be restored in a two-party system that is fighting with each other every day, that is dysfunctional, polarized and more engaged in revenge politics than they are in helping the American people,” he said.
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Schultz lumped all politicians into one basket saying, “American people are much better than our political class.”
Hobson disputed his statement, saying, “There are members of the political class that I have great respect for. Great respect. I don’t want to castigate a whole group of people. I can’t do that. This is Chicago, Barack Obama’s home.” The crowd erupted in applause.