Ari Melber Just Shattered Howard Schultz’s 2020 Hopes With One Devastating Question

Ari Melber dashed former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s presidential hopes on Thursday by asking one key question about his potential candidacy.

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“If he had such a grand, well-funded vision for the social impact of a for-profit company with these values and the education and the health care that they tout, why is his vision for American government so much less ambitious?” the MSNBC host asked.

In other words, Schultz is making his Starbucks record the centerpiece of his potential candidacy, but he is running from all the things that he embraced at his former company.

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Melber said:

Would Schultz hire someone to run Starbucks if they’ve never worked in business? Running the country is even harder. And can Starbucks actually be — this is really big. Can Starbucks be the basis for this potential Schultz candidacy when he is now running against policies backing the things that Starbucks provided its own employees, from those claimed living wages to the health care to the occasional tuition? Many right now you’ve heard are slamming Schultz for a superficial, solipsistic spoilerism that could re-elect Trump. But there is another question also facing his candidacy and it is substantive. If he had such a grand, well-funded vision for the social impact of a for-profit company with these values and the education and the health care they tout, why is his vision for American government so much less ambitious?

Schultz’s potential campaign looks nothing like the business he ran

Under Howard Schultz’s leadership, Starbucks has prided itself on being a company that pays good wages, offers college to its employees and takes a progressive stand on key social issues.

It’s hard not to be impressed by that record.

But it’s been quite puzzling and disappointing that the entire basis of his new potential campaign – at least so far – is to attack the same vision he enacted at Starbucks.

If Howard Schultz wanted to run a fruitful campaign for president, he would do two things: 1. Run in the Democratic primary so his candidacy doesn’t ultimately help Trump’s re-election bid; and 2. Embrace the policies and ideas that he championed at Starbucks.

Since there are no indications he plans to do either one, he should drop out of the 2020 campaign before he even thinks of getting in.

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Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.