No surprise that Starbucks founder Howard Schultz is hitting the road and suspending his presidential campaign, the guy with basically zero support is laying off staff while still saying he's ready to re-enter the race after Super Tuesday if Joe Biden isn't the nominee by then.
Starbucks billionaire Howard Schultz told campaign staff that he is making significant cuts to his team, as he suspends his political plans for the summer.
Schultz came into the office Wednesday for the first time in months and met with the staff, according to a person in the room. He announced that he was letting everyone go except those in senior leadership positions, adding he would not make a decision about running for president until after Labor Day.
Shortly thereafter, Schultz sent an email to supporters, saying that medical reasons had taken him out of commission for months, and he still needed time to recover.
“While I was in Arizona, I unfortunately experienced acute back pain that required me to cut my travels short,” he wrote. “Over the following two months, I underwent three separate back surgeries. Today, I am feeling much better, and my doctors foresee a full recovery so long as I rest and rehabilitate. I have decided to take the summer to do just that.”
Early this year, Schultz announced that he was considering running for president as a centrist independent. He had traveled around the country doing public appearances and promoting his memoir ― while facing significant criticism from some Democrats who say that his run could help President Donald Trump win a second term.
Schultz told his staff Wednesday that he was closely watching former Vice President Joe Biden, the frontrunner on the Democratic side who is more moderate and centrist than many of the other candidates. Schultz said that if Biden does not appear to be the nominee, he would think about jumping into the presidential race after Super Tuesday.
“He is realigning a team for the next phase of his exploration,” a Schultz aide said in response to a request for comment.
And yet even with Schultz gone, there's still a score of Democratic presidential hopefuls. I'm hoping a dozen of them or so will be gone after the first debate in two weeks, but the DNC seems bound and determined to drag this on through at least September, while Trump will have a clear field to attack whomever he wants.
The faster the Democratic field gets reduced to say, five or six, the better the Dems will do in 2020.
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