The possible candidacy of the former CEO of Starbucks worries Trump and the Democrats | United States



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"I love our country and I seriously consider running for presidential elections as an independent centrist." With this brief tweet, accompanied by an interview in The New York Times and billionaire Howard Schultz, president of Starbucks until last year, added an element of emotion this Sunday to the already hectic race to occupy the White House in 2020.

The story is not on the side of the employer: success does not usually accompany independent candidates. But the immediate echo of his announcement, which is still far from being a formal candidacy, indicates that they take it seriously on both sides of the political spectrum.

"Howard Schultz does not have the guts to stand as president!" President Donald Trump tweeted Monday morning.

Howard Schultz does not have the "courage" to run for president! Looked at him @ 60 minutes last night and I agree with him that he is not the "most intelligent person". In addition, America already has that! I only hope that Starbucks will still pay me his rent at Trump Tower!

– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2019

Nor was he quick to point to the rejection, on the other side of the council, of the possible entry into the game of an independent who could split Trump's rejection vote – which Schultz says he "is not qualified to be president" -, put a second term on the table. "I have three words for Howard Schultz about his possible candidacy for the independent presidency: do not do it," said Tina Podlodowski, president of the Democratic Party of Washington State, while the intentions from Schultz were only rumors that he had not even verbalized.

Schultz, 65, who converted Starbucks from a chain of seven Seattle cafes into a global giant with 350,000 employees and championed a progressive business style, announced in the Time who has already begun to prepare to be able to apply in all 50 states. But he explains that he will make the decision after completing, over the next three months, a tour of the country to promote his new book, a memoir that tells the story of a boy who has grew up in a modest family in Brooklyn. He became a successful businessman who, in his own words, wanted to "challenge the traditional role of business in society".

It is apparent from the outline of his possible nomination that Schultz seeks to appeal to disenchanted voters in the bipartite political system. "We have a broken political system, both parties are essentially determined to preserve their own ideologies without recognition and responsibility to represent the interests of the American people," he told a newspaper interview. Time.

Schultz is defined as a "democrat for life" but, asking him if he was considering changing strategy and attending the party primaries, instead of submitting an independent candidacy, he responds with a refusal containing a poison dart directly to the center. the ideological battle in which the formation is plunged, since Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 elections. "I think that if I introduced myself as a Democratic candidate, I should be a hypocrite and say things that I do not believe no, because the party has moved a lot. " left, "he says in the Time. Schultz's options could be greater if the successful candidate of the Democratic primary, who is expected to receive dozens of candidates, belongs to the party's leftmost sector.

Schultz, with a fortune estimated at $ 3,300 million, is not the first billionaire to have flirted with the idea of ​​standing in 2020. He should always announce a decision by the tycoon of communication and former Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, who plans for months to submit an application, in his case, the Democratic primary. Bloomberg said that if he did so, he would fund his campaign himself, while Schultz ensured he would seek donations to supplement the nearly $ 1 trillion worth of estimates. the cost of an independent presidential campaign.

The purpose of Schultz, he points out himself in the Timeit would appeal to about 42% of the voters who are defined, according to recent polls, as politically independent. In recent history, the most successful independent candidate was the conservative Texas billionaire Ross Perot, who had come first in the polls and had 19% of the vote in the 1992 election, leaving him in third place . Bill Clinton and George HW Bush.

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