Howard Schultz claimed Thursday that a "socialist" candidate from the Democrats in the 2020 presidential race would "spoil" their objectives and that he continued to be a unifier of a deeply fractured political system.
Schultz, more notably known as the former CEO of Starbucks who's exploring a run in 2020 as an independent, said Democratic nominees were pushing themselves too far to the left.
"If you want to talk about a spoiler, if the Democrats decide in their wisdom to nominate a far-left person who is professing policies ... of a socialist—that will be a spoiler," Schultz said Thursday during an interview with Fox News.
Schultz has already spoken out against the proposed Green New Deal proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other hard left–leaning Democrats.
He's been called out—by Democratic leaders within his home state of Washington, and by lawmakers in Washington, D.C.—as a candidate who would possibly split the vote among Democrats, which could almost assuredly lead President Donald Trump to another term in office.
Washington Democratic Party Chairwoman Tina Podlodowski urged Schultz to reconsider in January, saying the coffee mogul should put national interest and the unseating of Trump ahead of his own personal political gain.
"Too much is at stake to make this about the ambitions of any one person," said Podlodowski. "The 2020 race for president has to be about relegating Donald Trump to the dustbin of history and reclaiming the Oval Office for our people and our future."
Schultz said his centrist views were near the middle of the political spectrum instead of expanding farther to the right and left.
"The risk is that the eventual nominee goes too far during this primary process and becomes hard to support for a lot of people who might be interested in getting rid of Trump," he said. "The American people need to hear a lot of voices. The two-party system is not working for the American people."
Schultz, a lifelong Democrat who's donated money to Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Washington lawmakers, has experience looking at the bottom line of balance sheets, like when he oversaw the growth of the Seattle coffee company. He poked holes in the Green New Deal from the onset.
"When I read the Green New Deal and I try to understand what they're suggesting, I don't understand how you're going to give a job to everybody, how you're going to give free college to everybody, how you're going to create clean energy throughout the country in every building of the land, and then tally this thing up with $32 trillion on Medicare for All," Schultz said. "That's about $40 trillion plus; we are sitting…with $22 trillion of debt on the balance sheet of America."
During a recent interview with 60 Minutes, Schultz once again shrugged off the notion that he's disrupting a two-party system in the country, saying he would rather let Americans decide for themselves.
"I wanna see the American people win. I wanna see America win. I don't care if you're a Democrat, independent, Libertarian, Republican. Bring me your ideas. And I will be an independent person who will embrace those ideas. Because I am not in any way in bed with a party," Schultz said.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Scott McDonald is a Newsweek deputy night editor based in Cape Coral, Florida. His focus is assigning and writing stories ... Read more
