Ex-Starbucks chief’s possible independent bid draws severe criticism from Democrats who say he will split anti-Trump vote

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks chief executive, was heckled as he defended his potential independent run for the presidency against fierce criticism from Democrats who say he may help re-elect Donald Trump.

“Nobody wants to see Donald Trump removed from office more than me. If I decide to run for president as an independent, I will believe and have the courage and the conviction to believe that I can win,” Schultz said on Monday night at a Manhattan book launch, where he was promoting From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America.

But Schultz was twice interrupted by hecklers, with one shouting: “Don’t help elect Trump, you egotistical billionaire asshole!”

Ex-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz admits causing 'hate, anger' with 2020 talk Read more

Since announcing in a CBS 60 Minutes interview on Sunday that he could run for president as a “centrist independent”, Schultz has faced a backlash from leading figures in the Democratic party as well as some famous independents.

Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, himself considering a run for president as a Democrat after years shunning both parties, argued a third-party bid would “just split the anti-Trump vote and end up re-electing the president”.

“Mike Bloomberg has built a great business, was a great mayor. I have tremendous respect for him, but I don’t agree with his conclusion,” Schultz said on Monday night.

Asked if he would drop out if polls showed his candidacy was helping Trump, Schultz said he was not yet prepared to answer that question.

Schultz on Monday ruled out running as a Democrat and said there was nothing the party could do to change his mind. “The Democratic party is shifting far, far left,” he said. “Those two extremes – far left, far right – do not represent the silent majority of Americans.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A heckler shouts from the bookstore on Monday night. Photograph: Kathy Willens/AP

“If I ran as a Democrat, I would have to say things that I know in my heart I do not believe, and I would have to be disingenuous,” he said, listing proposals like Medicare for all, free college tuition, and the 70% marginal tax rate for the super-rich proposed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“I respect the Democratic party. I no longer feel affiliated because I don’t think their views represent the majority of Americans. I don’t think we want a 70% income tax in our country.”

Before he was ejected, the heckler told the billionaire to “go back to Davos”. Another protester shouted: “Healthcare is a human right.”

Kevin Johnson, the current CEO of Starbucks, appeared to distance himself and the company from Schultz in a memo to employees. It read: “As a company we don’t get involved in national political campaigns. And nothing changes for Starbucks.”

Schultz also criticized Ocasio-Cortez for her statement that “every billionaire is a policy failure”.

“It’s so un-American to think that way,” he said, citing his own rise from his childhood in a Brooklyn public housing project.

“I’m self-made,” he said. “I came from the projects and took advantage of the promise of this country. I’m living proof of the American dream.”

I don't think we want a 70% tax rate in this country Howard Schultz

Schultz said he did not like the use of billionaire as an epithet. But he said he does agree wealthy people have too much influence in politics. “I would rephrase that, and I would say that people of means have been able to leverage their wealth and their interest in ways that are unfair,” he said.

To solve the impasse over Trump’s demands for a wall on the US-Mexico border, which led to a month-long government shutdown, Schultz called for gathering top companies and getting their suggestions on the best way to secure the border – which, he said, would not include a wall.

“I think this is the most simple problem to solve. Maybe I’m just stupid,” he said.

As for criticism from the president, who tweeted on Monday that Schultz “doesn’t have the ‘guts’ to run for president”, Schultz dismissed it as “childish” and called the Trump a “very insecure man”.

But he also had some fans in the crowd.

“I think that the fringes that are driving both policy agendas right now are not constructive, and I think the solution lies more in the middle,” said Rehana Farrell, who leads a non-profit. “I think he is a sensible answer in the middle, and somebody who comes from no means who’s now a man of incredible means – the epitome of the American dream.”

Outside the bookstore, Zac Petkanas, 33, of Manhattan, called the potential run a “vanity project of a billionaire whose only goal is to fulfil his narcissistic desire to see his name in print”.

“The result will be re-electing Donald Trump president of the United States,” he said.