Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has been stirring the pot since last weekend when he announced that he is seriously considering mounting a third-party bid for the presidency.
A lifelong Democrat, Schultz outraged Democrats and buoyed President Donald Trump with the proposition. Democrats accuse Schultz of engaging in a vanity project that would result in the siphoning off of votes from their ultimate nominee, tossing the election to Trump.
A heckler gave voice to those frustrations Monday, interrupting Schultz’s book tour event to yell: “Don’t help elect Trump, you egotistical, billionaire asshole!”
Schultz has continued to anger those on the left with a signature insult for progressive proposals he does not back or other beliefs he does not agree with: “un-American.” As first spotted by Time reporter Ryan Teague Beckwith, in the past week alone, Schultz labeled things “un-American” three times, a serious charge from a possible presidential candidate.
Here’s a running list of the things the coffee tzar finds insufficiently patriotic:
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) statement that a society in which a handful of people are billionaires is “immoral”
“It’s so un-American to think that way,” he said at the Monday book event. “I am self-made. I came from the projects and took advantage of the promise of the country. I am living proof of the American Dream.” He also called Ocasio-Cortez “misinformed.”
Schultz says AOC’s thoughts on billionaires are “un-American” pic.twitter.com/tWlo8lgaml
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) January 29, 2019
Sen. Kamala Harris’s (D-CA) proposal to eliminate private health insurance
- “That’s not correct. That’s not American,” Schultz said on CBS “This Morning.” “What’s next? What industry are we going to abolish next? The coffee industry?”
- He walked this back soon after on CNN, saying that Medicare for all is merely “unaffordable” not “un-American”
The notion that a third-party candidate can’t win in an American election
- “To become better, we must repair our broken two-party system,” he wrote in a USA Today opinion piece. “To those who say a third choice can’t succeed, I say that’s as un-American as you can get.”
That there is no pathway to citizenship for Dreamers
- “I think it’s un-American for the Dreamers not to have a pathway to citizenship and they should be given that,” he said on CNN. “With regard to the 11 million people who are unauthorized, let them get in line, pay taxes, pay a fee, and over time give them the opportunity to become Americans.”
Schultz says not giving Dreamers pathway to citizenship “un-American” pic.twitter.com/OPdWoATmCq
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) January 30, 2019
