Mr. Jolly, I frequently agree with your opinions but not this time. Normally I’d welcome the entrance of a moderate independent presidential contender. But now, nothing less than our US Democracy is at stake. Mr. Schultz, a businessman whom I admire, presents a risk, we can’t afford.NOW’S THE TIME WHERE ALL HANDS ON DECK ARE REQUIRED TO SAVE THIS US DEMOCRACY FROM BEING ATTACKED FROM WITHIN AND WITHOUT. I’D BE 1ST TO WELCOME MODERATE INDEPENDENT BUT NOT NOW WHEN THE STAKES ARE SO HIGH. ALL NEVER TRUMPERS=DEM PARTY. APPLY CPR, THEN INTRO ALTERNATIVES.
As per a 1/28/19 Washington Post report by Eli Rosenberg, “Michael R. Bloomberg knows a lot about third parties.”
“The former New York mayor has been the country’s most prominent political independent since leaving the Republican Party in 2007, and he has long entertained speculation that he would run for president.”
“But Bloomberg, who is considering another presidential run, is now a Democrat. It’s not that his politics have changed. The business tycoon, a noted proponent of decisions driven by data and analytics, said that he realized that an independent could never succeed in the United States’ electoral system.”
“Bloomberg’s decision to avoid a third-party candidacy in 2020 has drawn into sharp focus that made by another prominent billionaire. Howard Schultz, the former CEO of Starbucks, announced this week that he was exploring a potential presidential bid as an independent.”
In a statement released Monday (1/28/19), Bloomberg spoke harshly of third-party candidacies, pointing to the research he’d done on independent candidacies in the past.
His conclusion was clear: “In 2020, the great likelihood is that an independent would just split the anti-Trump vote and end up reelecting the President.”
“The data was very clear and consistent,” he said. “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’s statements punctuated the sustained criticism that had been directed at Shultz since his announcement.
“That’s a risk I refused to run in 2016 and we can’t afford to run it now,” he said. “We must remain united, and we must not allow any candidate to divide or fracture us.”
Howard Schultz’s presidential dream crushed by Paul Krugman in devastating ‘nobody wants him’ tweetstorm
Raw Story listed all of the tweets below:
Paul Krugman
✔@paulkrugman
Howard Schultz may go away once he realizes that nobody wants him. Or maybe not: with great wealth comes great ego, plus people who will feed it. But let’s treat this as a teachable moment about what centrism means in America today 1/ https://politics.theonion.com/howard-schultz-considering-independent-presidential-run-1832126653 …
Howard Schultz Considering Independent Presidential Run After Finding No Initial Support Among Any…
SEATTLE—Expressing concerns that Democratic and Republican parties no longer represented people like him, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz revealed Monday that he was considering an independent…
politics.theonion.com
Paul Krugman
✔@paulkrugman
On economics, Schultz is way to the right of the public 2/ https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1090103231693406208 …
Josh Marshall
✔@joshtpm
Haven’t been hanging in every word but in the last 48 hrs of his pre-campaign I’ve heard @HowardSchultz attack Medicare 4 All, higher marginal rates, attack social security, embrace fiscal austerity. I’ve heard him say he doesn’t support a wall. He’s running as an anti-Democrat.
Paul Krugman
✔@paulkrugman
As I pointed out in my column today, the public wants higher taxes on the rich and more spending on social programs 3/ https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/28/opinion/elizabeth-warren-tax-plan.html?
Opinion | Elizabeth Warren Does Teddy Roosevelt
Taxing the superrich is an idea whose time has come — again.
nytimes.com
Paul Krugman
✔@paulkrugman
What fraction of voters wants Social Security cuts, a staple of centrist positioning? 6 percent. No, there isn’t a digit missing. 4/
Paul Krugman
✔@paulkrugman
More generally, the socially-liberal/economically conservative position — the lower right quadrant in this figure — is basically the Empty Quadrant of American politics — except in green rooms
Paul Krugman
✔@paulkrugman
But boy, is it heavily represented in those green rooms. For Schultz is basically the very model of a major modern centrist. Remember, the Simpson-Bowles report, which induced rapture in the Beltway establishment, called for CUTS in marginal tax rates https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/opinion/12krugman.html …
Opinion | The Hijacked Commission
A process meant to deal with the nation’s long-run fiscal problems has been hijacked on behalf of an ideological agenda.
nytimes.com
Paul Krugman
✔@paulkrugman
And concern about fiscal responsibility was always selective. Awards for Paul Ryan; effective silence when the Trump tax cut blew up the deficit; but constant stern lectures to Democrats about how they must pay for their promises 7/ https://twitter.com/DylanByers/status/1089914854079643648 …
Dylan Byers
✔@DylanByers
Howard Schultz almost certainly isn’t going to win … but fiscal responsibility is a crucial issue and deserves to be front & center in the 2020 race. Because as w Sanders 2016, Democratic hopefuls are making big promises w/o providing specific details https://link.nbcnews.com/view/5bce14339c625f44575795199fb56.5as/95ad593e …
Paul Krugman
✔@paulkrugman
The point is that while Schultz is especially awful in his timing and egotism, his messed-up priorities are unfortunately all too typical in the green-room set, which doesn’t seem to have learned anything from the debacles of recent years 8/
Paul Krugman
✔@paulkrugman
As I was saying: centrist on the right, only attacks Democrats 9/ https://twitter.com/AnnieLinskey/status/1090225460712214528 …
Annie Linskey
✔@AnnieLinskey
On @NPR billionaire potential prez candidate Howard Schultz rips in @SenWarren tax plan on the rich, saying it was created just for headlines and predicting it would never pass.
Paul Krugman
✔@paulkrugman
Who says there are any Schultz voters? Aside from immediate family, and given secret ballots not sure about them.
Dave Weigel
✔@daveweigel
We don’t *really* know who Schultz’s voters are, but he’s taking a lot of bait right now for Democrats who want to portray him as just another Trumpy rich guy. https://twitter.com/IsaacDovere/status/1090254613893337088 …
Gronda Morin 
I fear we have another Nader situation. Not looking for another quote “businesssn” in the White House. I think it will be a dream come true for the republicans if this man should run.
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Dear Holly,
You are so right. President Trump would think he won the lottery if Mr. Schultz decides to vie for the US presidency.
I’m convinced that he’s that alternative for rich folks who would rather vote for the devil before having an increase in their taxes. That’s why he’s running, and not because he wants to bring this country together.
Ralph Nader is just one example where he was definitely a spoiler for Mr. Gore in 2000. But for Jill Stein, Hillary Clinton would be our US president in 2016. Many are convinced that Ross Perot cost President H.W. Bush his second term which he lost to Bill Clinton.
We are in a fight to save our US democracy. Mr. Schultz has picked the wrong time to run as an independent. There’s no way, I’m going to buy whatever Mr. Schultz is selling.
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I’m so paranoid that this sounds like a trumped up/ Russian backef plot to steal the election …again.
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Dear Holly,
I placed a link to a Politico report above which states, “Top Wall Street executives would love to be rid of President Donald Trump. But they are getting panicked about the prospect of an ultraliberal Democratic nominee bent on raising taxes and slapping regulations on their firms.”
“The result is a kind of nervous paralysis of executives pining for a centrist nominee like Michael Bloomberg while realizing such an outcome is unlikely from a party veering sharply to the left.”
I am thinking that Mr. Schultz is their Trojan Horse as these Wall Street tycoons could count on Mr. Schultz to NOT raise even by the most minimal amount their taxes .
The one regulation that the Trump administration did away with that strongly benefited working folks, was the Obama fiduciary rule which imposed a duty on financial advisers to do what’s best for clients with their 401k savings for retirement.
The Wall Street business types remind me of the US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross as to how clueless they are, as to how financially squeezed average Americans are.
Steve Rattner is one of the few who’s providing some solutions instead of whining
He’s been talking about the benefits of taxing capital gains at the same rate as ordinary income in a NYT opinion piece.
As per a Nicholas Kristof tweet, “He’s also right to oppose step-up basis, which persists only because it’s arcane. It should be renamed the “plutocrat heir loophole.” I’ll be posting a blog on this.
Hugs, Gonda
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Excellent!
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Hello Gronda. I think we all were surprised to see how deeply indebted to Russia Jill Stein was. She was at the very same dinner with Putin that Flynn was. It seems she got her “stake” funds to run and her support from Russia and yes as you say the plan was to take votes away from the democratic candidate. Is there a similar set up here, where a backer interest to keep the democratic candidate from winning and keeping tRump in power is happening? Is there a hidden finical gain on the part of Schultz? Thanks for an informative post. Hugs
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Dear Scottie,
Great Minds think alike. You, Jill and Mary Plumbago asked the same questions and so I’ve addressed an answer to all three of you below.
It’s not the Russians but I’m suspicious that others are behind his candidacy.
Hugs, Gonda
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We’ve been down the ‘businessman as president’ path, and you see how well that worked out. We need a president who understands how government works (or sometimes doesn’t work) and who understands foreign policy, international relations. Schultz is not that man.
Our system is set up in such a way that no independent can ever win. Period. All they can do is dilute the votes of one party or another. In this instance, Schultz would certainly dilute the votes of the Democratic Party, not the Republican Party, for no die-hard Trump supporter will vote for any but Trump, while it is likely there will be a portion of democrats who will not be happy with their party’s chosen candidate.
One of my readers brought up an interesting point yesterday, that Jill Stein, who ran as an independent in 2016, may have been financed by the Russians. Is it possible Putin is funding Schultz? I’m not buying into that theory yet, for I am not an Alex Jones, but I’m also not completely discrediting the possibility.
Hugs!
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Dear Jill, Mary and Scottie,
While Russians did help Jill Stein, I’m certain they’re not helping Howard Schultz but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t those backing him with nefarious motives.
It is being reported in business news articles that Wall St. investors do not want to back the likes of a Donald Trump but they don’t want to vote for a Democratic Party candidate as they perceive the party as leaning too much to the left. They are the ones who closed their eyes, held their noses as they voted for President Trump because he was championing their tax cuts and deregulation measures.
Of course, this is only speculation on my part. These rich dudes want an alternative to President Trump and I suspect that Howard Schultz is it. I believe that I’m right because he has been a life long democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. But he’s figured out that he can’t win as a democrat because he’s too moderate and so, he’s planning to run as an Independent .
What these rich Wall Streeters don’t get is that while most voters register as Independents, the majority of them lean towards Republican Party candidates or Democratic Party candidates. In short the majority of folks who register to vote as Independents are not true independents.
Make no mistake, his entry into the arena, will do one thing. It will unite the Democratic Party members against him but it will NOT bring this country together which is his stated goal. He wouldn’t be doing what he is doing if his stated goal was for real.
You have to read Mary Plumbago’s Forbes ref. in the comments section to be truly spooked.
Hugs, Gronda
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You do wonder why Schultz would simply decide to run when he has no chance to win. Unless he has delusions that he could. Could he be backed by either Russian influence or players in the long game of politics thwarting the Dems from winning?
Maybe…
And it will do just that and we will have trump for 4 more years and if that happens, we will not survive as a country and that along with climate change denial and with the usual money making greed, we can kiss it all good goodbye.
Below was a comment I just copied from another blog I follow which says it so truly.
“At this point global destruction and collapse of civilization is inevitable. I’m just hoping I can enjoy my retirement and finish my life before everything turns to shit. that’s the NEW “american dream.”
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Dear Mary, Jill and Scottie,
Great Minds think alike. You, Jill and Scottie asked the same questions and so I’ve addressed an answer to all three of you below.
It’s not the Russians but I’m suspicious that others are behind his candidacy.
Hugs, Gonda
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2019/01/29/starbucks-built-by-trump-challenger-howard-schultz-rents-space-from-president-in-3-buildings/#3e50e8bb73f0
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Dear Mary Plumbago,
Thanks a million for this reference. It does make one (me) even more suspicious about Mr. Schulz’s true motives.
Hugs, Gronda
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Gronda, as an Independent voter, we need for the next President to be a centrist not someone who will perpetuate division. Schultz needs to run as a Democrat or run in a Primary against Trump, but not as an Independent. Schultz, Bloomberg, Biden would all be excellent Presidents. Schultz deserves a lot of respect for what he has done as a CEO to help employees and communities. I would love to see John Kasich run in a primary against Trump, as I think he could beat him, especially after more you-know-what hits the fan this year and Trump’s stock continues to fade.
With that said, if Schultz did run as an Independent, he would be wise to pick a centrist Republican If he did that, he may in fact garner enough votes from both parties and Independents to win. Jeff Flake comes to mind. Susan Collins is another.
One of my main concerns about the Democrat candidate being too far left is I remember both George McGovern and Walter Mondale getting shellacked. I love Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, but one thing we need to be mindful of is the $22 trillion debt. We have to be very judicious on where we spend our money.
Keith
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Hello Keith. On that $22 trillion debt well we know what just soared it right up there. Yes, all of the give all the government money to the wealthy so it will trickle down … in to the politicians pockets. Thankfully the progressive have a plan to regain some of the must have income to the treasury to run the government. Return the tax rates and the marginal tax rate to the point is was when the country did wonderful for all the people, not just the wealthy. In case you are wondering I am not a centralist. I find little use for that term as over the last forty years the right has gone so far right that the middle is now deep in the red. The left has to go far left to even get back tot he center of 1970’s. So I am a progressive looking to make things better for everyone. I notice overseas in the countries doing the best and having the greatest satisfaction ratings from the people the tax rates are higher than ours in the US , but for those taxes people get things like universal health care, higher standards of living, and older age safety nets we do not have. I would make that trade. Hugs
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Dear Keith,
Normally, I would welcome a centrist independent candidate but NOT this time. It is my opinion that there are those conservatives like Rep. Dave Jolly, Steve Schmidt, Bill Kristol and moderate democrats like Bill Burton, an Obama staffer who are chomping at the bit for him to run.
This is an election where the ‘Never Trumpers’ should be uniting from left to right to save this US democracy that’s under attack from within and without. Having a potential spoiler in the form of a 3rd party candidate risks this goal at this crucial time. While I would normally be enthusiastic by Howard Schultz’s plan, I’m totally against it now. Even though, I admire Mr. Schultz, I’m not thrilled about a successful business billionaire with NO PRIOR GOVERNMENT experience becoming our US president.
Michael Bloomberg is making similar type arguments about Mr. Schultz’s chances for a successful run for the presidency being virtually nil but based on past history, he could get President Trump reelected..
As per a 1/28/19 HuffPost report Bill Burton Is singing a different tune than in 2016.:
“Before joining the White House, Burton worked as the national press secretary during Obama’s 2008 campaign for president and as communications director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He later founded the super PAC Priorities USA Action, which made a name for itself during the 2012 presidential campaign with devastating ads depicting then-GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney as a wealthy and out-of-touch plutocrat.”
“Burton wrote an op-ed published by The Sacramento Bee in August 2016 warning about the dangers of running as a third party spoiler against Trump.”
“If [Jill] Stein or Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson eat into Clinton’s support even a little, that could matter in a close election. And in the same way I would bet that Ralph Nader – or at least many of his supporters – wishes that he didn’t help to make George W. Bush our 43rd commander in chief, I suppose Stein supporters would not want to be in the position of explaining to their kids how they helped make Trump president,” Burton wrote”
Hugs, Gronda
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Gronda, Scottie, thanks for your responses. A couple of thoughts. The debt is supposed to increase by $10 Trillion irrespective of the ill-conceived tax change. The tax change will add about $2 Trillion more. We should be just shy of $34 Trillion in debt in 2027. We must have revenue increases (which will sell poorly) and spending cuts (which will also be hard but necessary).
Please look more closely at Schultz as he is very credible. He has been CEO of a very successful global company. Donald Trump was the patriarch of a poorly managed privately held business. Schultz reported to a Board, Trump to no one. There is a huge difference.
I get frustrated when the news calls extreme conservatives just “conservative.” Ted Cruz is extreme. Ann Coulter is even more extreme. All the centrist Republicans have left the party or been run out. Even Jeff Flake is true conservative and not as must a centrist, but looks like one compared to Cruz, Cotton, etc.
I hope Joe Biden runs as he would beat Trump handily. I am also impressed by the Governor of Washington and Mitch Landrieu, the former Mayor of New Orleans. If any of them win the nomination, I would hope they pick a female running mate.
Keith
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Dear Keith,
I admire Mr. Schultz but I am against his entering the race as an independent vs. a democrat. There’s more to this story that needs to be fleshed out.
I’m aware that we need to address the debt, but guess who’s entering the race because he is against the increasing of taxes even though the 2017 tax cut was one this country could ill afford. His counter in the coffee business, Mr. Carmichael gets this and has gone on record to say that he’s willing to have his taxes increased.
Some of these billionaires are so insulated that they can’t get beyond their own rhetoric like the way to take care of US debt is to cut back on entitlements. Entitlement spending needs to be looked at, but NOT WHERE HE can’t even consider the concept of a marginal tax increase, and a closing of some of the tax loopholes. Mr. Schultz is in this category. NO, I will not give this entitled feeling billionaire a second thought.
Frankly, if I was wealthy, I would be grateful for what I have, but I would not fight to avoid paying additional taxes to fix this country’s economic soundness. He is not capable of seeing this.
Hugs, Gronda
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On the bright side he could split the Trump vote as it would seem therein a disillusioned constituency. As those who voted far Nader would have tended to be disaffected liberal.
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