Donald Trump: Howard Schultz ‘Doesn’t Have the Guts to Run’ in 2020

Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz talks about the company's goal to hire 10,000 mi
Stephen Brashear/Getty Images
Charlie Spiering

President Donald Trump ridiculed former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on Monday, casting doubt on his possible 2020 run for president.

“Howard Schultz doesn’t have the ‘guts’ to run for President!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

The president said he watched Schultz talk about a possible run in his CBS 60 Minutes interview on Sunday night.

“I agree with him that he is not the ‘smartest person,'” Trump wrote, referring to the interview. “Besides, America already has that!”

Schultz said Sunday that he was “seriously thinking” of running for president as “an independent centrist,” arguing that Trump was not qualified to be President of the United States.

Democrats are increasingly concerned that a Schultz run would split the anti-Trump vote in 2020.

“We see extremes on both sides well, we are sitting, today, with approximately $21.5 trillion of debt, which is a reckless example, not only of Republicans, but of Democrats, as well, as a reckless failure of their constitutional responsibility,” Schultz said, according to CBS News.

Trump also reminded Americans that Starbucks paid him to put a coffee shop in his New York tower.

“I only hope that Starbucks is still paying me their rent in Trump Tower!” he wrote.

Schultz stepped down as CEO of Starbucks in June 2018 and soon put together a political advisory team that included former John McCain adviser Steve Schmidt, who rage-quit the Republican Party the same month Schultz left his company. Schmidt headed McCain’s presidential run in 2008, spending years afterward apologizing for his decision to select Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as McCain’s running mate.

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