Previous effort to boycott Starbucks over anti-labor practices
Howard Schultz, former CEO of Starbucks Coffee and still its largest individual shareholder, has been getting lots of free airtime this week as he mulls a presidential campaign. Schultz claims to be a “centrist Independent,” but in his free media appearances, he spends his time bashing the Democratic Party. For example, he criticizes “people [obviously Democrats] espousing free government-paid college, free government-paid health care and a free government job for everyone.” Likewise, in another free media appearance, Schultz criticized freshman Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez‘s proposal for a 70 percent marginal tax rate on income over $10 million. Additionally, Schultz, as CEO of Starbucks, thwarted labor efforts to unionize the company, again while trying to portray his goals as some centrist “third way” alternative. In reality, Schultz with his Drip-Down Economics sounds just like another billionaire Republican to us.
Schultz’s only real claim to be a non-Republican is that he wants to see “Donald Trump removed from office.” However, this merely places Schultz in the “Never Trump” group, made up of Republicans or self-proclaimed conservatives, like William Kristol, David Frum and Anna Navarro. These conservatives realize that Trump is just one person who won’t be in office forever. Thus, it is quite possible to oppose Trump and still embrace Republican values. That’s where Schultz appears to be placed.
Ironically, many Democrats are worried that Howard Schultz, as a third party candidate, would drain more votes from Democrats than Republicans. Some of these Democrats are even exhorting others to boycott Starbucks, the notion being that doing so would hurt Schultz financially. However, given Schultz’s positioning thus far as an opponent of the Democrats far more than the Republicans, his biggest appeal could well be among would-be Republican voters who may want a little less hate and bigotry (i.e., less Trump) with their Republican politics. Schultz could thus split the Republican Party in the 2020 elections, which would help the Democrats. Moreover, in an age where personal charisma seems to matter more than anything else to become president or a party’s presidential nominee, Schultz has all the charisma of lukewarm latté.
Most likely, if Schultz runs for president, he will end up like his coffee: burned, and leaving a bad taste in everyone’s mouths.
Photo by Brave New Films, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/1YhkkH
