Photos: AFP/IMAGEBANK

s

o who might challenge Donald Trump in 2020?

How about the barista-in-chief?

Though the 2020 elections are more than two years away, no Democratic politician has emerged to energize the base. Instead, more unconventional names are rising to the fore, first celebrity Oprah Winfrey and now Starbucks executive chairman Howard Schultz.

Schultz, 64, was born in Brooklyn to a low-income Jewish family: he grew up in public housing and his father Fred was a truck driver. Schultz was the first person in his family to attend college, accepting an athletic scholarship at Northern Michigan University.

Schultz purchased Starbucks in the mid-’80s when it was a tiny coffee chain with only ten stores. Today, Starbucks numbers more than 28,000 stores in 77 countries across the globe. Worth over $3 billion, Schultz is one of the 400 wealthiest people in the US.

Last week, Schultz decided to step down after three decades of expanding his coffee empire. In an interview with the New York Times, he said he felt the time had come for public activism, and although he didn’t specifically say he was contemplating a presidential run, you don’t have to be a genius to put two and two together.

A veteran Democrat and noted liberal, Schultz supported Hilary Clinton for president and has been a vocal critic of President Trump. Just two weeks ago, Schultz shuttered 8,000 of his stores to give his employees a day of racial-bias training after a well-publicized police action in a Philadelphia Starbucks saw two black men arrested as they were waiting for a friend.

While it’s still early to say if Schultz will make a White House bid, or to figure out what his chances would be, the fact that he’s even under discussion indicates that Democrats may be looking for a political outsider — a business person, a celebrity — who may lack experience in government but knows how to rally a crowd.

Taking a page from the Donald Trump playbook, the Democrats are looking for a way to drop their own political bombshell. Whether voters will be amenable to yet another political outsider remains to be seen. (Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 715)