Starbucks Billionaire Blames Ocasio-Cortez For Threatened Third-Party Candidacy

Reprinted with permission from AlterNet.

Billionaire former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz‘s possible presidential campaign launch isn’t going very well. When he initially announced over the weekend he was strongly considering running for president, and as a “centrist independent,” the internet exploded with cries of “no!”

That message grew louder Monday night, when a protestor at a Manhattan Barnes & Noble heckled Schultz who was speaking on a book tour.

Schultz seems unfazed. And in fact, he’s doubling down, not only refusing to exit a race he has yet to officially enter, but blasting one of the most popular Democrats to come along in years by slamming one of her signature policies.

The former coffee purveyor who is worth an estimated $3.4 billion is now revealing why he thinks he has to run as a third-party candidate.

“Schultz says he can’t run for president as a Democrat because he doesn’t like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal to slap a 70-percent marginal tax rate on income above $10 million,” The Daily Beast reports.

“I respect the Democratic Party,” Schultz, formerly a life-long Democrat, said Monday. “I no longer feel affiliated because I don’t know their views represent the majority of Americans. I don’t think we want a 70 percent income tax in America,” he explained.

“Schultz says he can’t run for president as a Democrat because he doesn’t like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal to slap a 70-percent marginal tax rate on income above $10 million,” The Daily Beast reports.

“I respect the Democratic Party,” Schultz, formerly a life-long Democrat, said Monday. “I no longer feel affiliated because I don’t know their views represent the majority of Americans. I don’t think we want a 70 percent income tax in America,” he explained.

Schultz may be surprised to learn that in fact, the Democratic Party’s views in large part do represent the majority of Americans.

For example, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal to tax earnings over $10 million at 70 percent is supported by nearly six in ten Americans.

TIME’s politics editor weighed in on the latest news:

Howard Schultz has already called these things un-American:

• Ocasio-Cortez’s tax on the wealthy
• Kamala Harris’ Medicare for All proposal
• Critics of third-party campaigns

— ryan teague beckwith (@ryanbeckwith) January 29, 2019