Dems fear Trump re-election if ex-Starbucks CEO Schultz runs
The critics included the Democratic chairman of Schultz's home state, another billionaire businessman who long flirted with an independent run of his own, former President
"If Schultz entered the race as an independent, we would consider him a target... We would do everything we can to ensure that his candidacy is unsuccessful," said
Specifically, he seized on Schultz's apparent willingness to cut entitlement programs such as Medicare and
"The bottom line," McHugh said, "is that I don't think Americans are looking for another selfish billionaire to enter the race."
The pushback in the early days of the 2020 campaign reflects the intensity
While no independent has won the presidency since
Schultz indirectly addressed the uproar in a video posted on social media Monday.
"At this time in America when there's so much evidence that our political system is broken — that both parties at the extreme are not representing the silent majority of the American people — isn't there a better way?" Schultz said, noting that he'd be traveling the country in the coming weeks and months meeting with voters.
"And what better expression of our democracy than to give the American people a choice that they deserve."
Yet history — and the reality of a political system designed to favor major party candidates — suggests that Schultz may do little more than play spoiler should he decide to run. Bloomberg, who studied the possibility of an independent run of his own in the past, offered Schultz a direct message based on his own experience.
"The data was very clear and very consistent. 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, who is considering a Democratic 2020 bid, said in a statement.
He continued: "In 2020, the great likelihood is that an independent would just split the anti-Trump vote and end up re-electing the president. That's a risk I refused to run in 2016 and we can't afford to run it now."
The angry voices were far and wide, and they included Obama's former chief strategist,
"If Schultz decides to run as an independent," Axelrod tweeted, Trump "should give
Tina Podlodowski, the Democratic chairwoman in
"A billionaire buying his way out of the entire primary process does not strengthen democracy," she said. "It only makes it more likely that our democracy will be further strained under another four years of President
Perhaps trying to elevate Schultz, who is not well known among Democratic primary voters, Trump himself weighed in on Monday, tweeting that Schultz "doesn't have the 'guts' to run for President!"
The 65-year-old
He's been mentioned as a potential candidate many times before, and he's done little to quell speculation about his presidential ambitions since saying when he retired from
On paper, Schultz offers a number of qualities that might appeal to voters. He grew up in public housing in
He took over
He's waded into contentious social issues. In 2013,
He's been a longtime Democratic donor, contributing to the campaigns of Obama,
But some of his views might clash with a Democratic Party gearing up to unseat Trump. While some potential nominees, including
"It concerns me that so many voices within the Democratic Party are going so far to the left," Schultz told CNBC last June. "I ask myself, 'How are we going to pay for all these things?' in terms of things like single-payer or people espousing the fact that the government is going to give everyone a job. I don't think that's realistic."
The
Peoples reported from
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