Rim Country Gazette: Howard Schultz is reportedly 'freaking out' about the Democratic backlash to his presidential plans

Saturday, February 2, 2019

Howard Schultz is reportedly 'freaking out' about the Democratic backlash to his presidential plans

Starbucks' Executive Chairman, Howard Schultz delivers a speech during the openning ceremony of the "Seeds & Chips, the Global Food Innovation Summit" in Milan on May 7, 2018. (Photo by MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP) / The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by MIGUEL MEDINA has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [May 7, 2018] instead of [April 7, 2018]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require. (Photo credit should read MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images)

Following the announcement that the billionaire former CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, was considering a run as an independent candidate for the presidency in 2020 came a very predictable backlash. Apparently the predictability of that backlash was only understood by people without billions of dollars. With popular support for things like Medicare for all and increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans and their corporations, it wasn’t surprising that a billionaire telling everyone that he didn’t really want to do those things didn’t get a joyous reception. According to outlets including Fox Business and Bloomberg, Schultz has put breaks on his soft rollout.

Fox Business says Schultz is “freaking out” about the Democratic blowback he’s received, while Bloomberg reports that Schultz is saying he will only run “if he sees a plausible way to win the White House.”

Of course, being out of touch is the No. 1 problem with many elected and appointed officials the country already despises. It’s the reason why people like Wilbur Ross tell government workers to take out loans during a shutdown, and Republican congressmen (it’s mostly men) pass a wildly unpopular series of tax cuts that only benefit people like Howard Schultz. Howard Schultz feeling blindsided by the overwhelming response of disgust on the part of Americans is something only an egotistical billionaire could have not foreseen. Here’s a list of other things that Howard Schultz is freaking out about:

A gallon of milk costs more than 25 cents!
Racism still exists!
There are homeless people!
It’s cold outside during the winter!
Some stores still use cash or credit cards, not bitcoins!
Your refrigerator doesn’t just magically fill itself with expensive cheeses and champagne—Star Trek lied to Howie!
Wait, Captain Jean-Luc Picard wasn’t a billionaire disruptor?
People that don’t sit in your company’s boardroom will look you in the face when they talk to you, and not just smile and nod approval at every stupid thing that comes out of your mouth.

One could argue that at the very top of the list of reasons that Democrats and others responded so poorly to billionaire Howard Schultz’s half-baked amorphous-policy mini-media blitz was the fact that the very nature of Schultz’s announcement showed the fundamentally tone-deaf, out-of-touch qualities of the billionaire class in this country. Billionaires are one of the systemic problems with our country. Their inordinate amount of power over the economy and government is antithetical to a truly representative democracy.