Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is defending himself from attacks by Democrats who say his potential independent presidential candidacy could siphon off votes from the party's nominee and help President Trump win re-election in 2020.

“Well, I must be doing something right to create so much interest and backlash from the Democratic Party," Schultz told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday. "Some of it is a surprise. But I said we expected to see some of the level of vitriol. But not to the extent that it’s been.”



"I must be doing something right to create so much interest and backlash from the Democratic Party. Some of it is a surprise, but we expected to see some of the level of vitriol but not the extent it's been." -- @HowardSchultz pic.twitter.com/PJ5nrWAJFc — Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) January 30, 2019

In an Interview with “60 Minutes” over the weekend, Schultz said that he was “seriously considering” running as a centrist independent candidate in 2020.

Schultz said Wednesday the Democrats, his lifelong party, have become radicalized.

“No, I am not a Democrat,” Schultz said. “I do not affiliate myself with the Democratic Party who is so far Left, who basically wants the government to take over healthcare, which we cannot afford. Government to give free college to everybody, and the government to give everyone a job.”

Schultz pushed back on a prominent proposal by one of the 2020 Democratic White House aspirants, Sen. Kamala Harris of California. Harris told CNN during a town hall Monday night the U.S. should abolish private health insurance and move to a government-financed system. Schultz on Monday that that idea is “ not America.”