Howard Schultz suffers humiliating campaign moment
Howard Schultz, former CEO of Starbucks, gave a “major policy address” livestream yesterday, at one point having a Jeb Bush “clap for me” moment. As Think Progress noted about the address, “Tens of people watched a ‘major policy address.’” At one point on Twitter, someone noted 39 people were watching live. When Schultz was CEO, one can only imagine that during a prime time of day, he went to a Starbucks location and only “tens of people” were in the store, he would act. By all accounts, the address was big on lofty words with no caffeine contained behind it, like drinking decaffeinated coffee.
The address was given at Purdue University, and included praise for Purdue being less expensive in 2020 in nominal dollars than it was in 2012. When the crowd did not react, he did Jeb 2.0, saying “You’ve gotta clap for that.”
If you were not one of the tens of people who watched live, you can watch a replay of his talk, where the program starts about sixteen minutes into the stream. Schultz started around the twenty-minute mark. If you are going to listen to it for any reason (would not recommend it), make sure you caffeinate substantially so you can hear him say not much.
Nobody can decipher what Schultz is seeking to achieve by considering an independent run for president. The polling is brutal, and the results are flat. Why he is in the race is a good question, and his views do not seem to have a natural constituency. It would appear his sole focus is not personally having to pay more taxes. We hope that he moves on to something else, so we can avoid having a distraction and a potential spoiler candidate who might very well do the thing he says must not happen: getting Trump another four-year term.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.