Former Starbucks Chief Exploring Independent 2020 Presidential Bid: What It Means

Howard Schultz

This could be interesting.

Howard Schultz, the former CEO of Starbucks, is exploring running for president as an independent candidate, two people familiar with his thinking told CNN.

A person close to Schultz's advisers said they "are exploring a possible independent bid for the presidency in 2020," but the person emphasized that all options remained on the table.

Shultz in an interview, after he stepped down from his position at Starbucks, criticized President  Trump citing  "vitriolic behavior" from the Trump administration during an interview with CNBC in June. At the time, he also said, "President Trump has given license to the fact that someone who is not a politician could potentially run for the presidency."

In the same interview, Schultz knocked Democrats for proposals he deemed too left-wing, including single-payer health care and guaranteed income.

I suspect that there is a middle belly of the public that is not happy with the Democratic-left and its increasing move in the direction of big and interventionist government and wacko political correctness. At the same time, many of these people are probably turned off by Trump.

Is that middle crowd big enough to put an independent in the White House?

I'm not sure, but you can bet that Schultz has pollsters working on that right now to determine if there is.

My guess is that the best opponent in 2020 against Trump will be someone that is the opposite of Trump in two important ways, Someone who appears to instinctually tell the truth and someone that is not about drama and gives off a kind-of stereotypical calm, statesmanlike presence that we see of presidents cast on television and movies. Check the latter off for Schultz, he even has a strong resemblance to Keith Carradine, who plays the president on the TV series "Madam Secretary."

As for the first, I have watched a few Schultz clips and his presence is right and I was very impressed in the way he appears to instinctively tell the truth when asked tough questions. He didn't come off like a typical bob and weave politician. If he didn't know something, he said so immediately without hesitation and it didn't come off in Trump bluster like fashion. He appeared genuine in his truth telling.

But, of course, an independent run is very tricky.

There has only been one person who was elected president as an independent, George Washington.

But these are unusual times. The chief strength of party candidates is the machines they have behind them to get out the vote. It would take a lot of money to compete with that, Schultz has it. He is worth an estimated $3.3 billion.

That said, I have no idea what most of his policy positions would be, but if he is against single-payer health care and guaranteed income, that's a good start. How much better than that he is, I have my doubts.

But know one thing, if he decides to run as an independent, you can be pretty sure the pollsters tell him there are enough middle-of-the-roaders to possibly put him over the top and in the White House.

-RW