While I will always implore you to make up your mind about certain topics and areas of discussion, it’s safe to say that we can all agree that when Donald Trump was elected president, he laid waste to all previously conceived notions about American politics. If anything, Trump’s campaign increased voter turnout because of the sheer excitement surrounding the fact that an entrepreneur turned reality television star had decided to run for president. Consider for a moment the rhetoric used by President Trump when speaking about immigration reform and “aliens” coming from our southern-most border. One could argue that his classification of Mexican migrants as “murderers, drug dealers, and rapists” is over the line, and this type of language is completely inappropriate for a politician, especially a sitting president to use. Never the less, Americans have bought into what President Trump has said during his time as president.
When Trump was elected president, a belief was catalyzed, suggesting that individuals interested in running for office no longer needed previous political experience, they need only speak their mind and remain unafraid to tweet some hot takes here and there. With the 2020 election season growing closer each day, we’ve already started to see potential presidential candidates come out of the woodwork.
After double-checking to make sure he placed his latte and spinach feta wrap down safely, former Starbucks (SBUX) CEO Howard Schultz told several media outlets on Sunday that he is heavily considering running for president as a “centrist independent” in the upcoming election.
“We’re living at a most fragile time. Not only the fact that this President is not qualified to be the president, but the fact that both parties are consistently not doing what’s necessary on behalf of the American people and are engaged every single day in revenge politics. I want to see the American people win. I want to see America win. I don’t care if you’re a Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, Republican. Bring me your ideas. And I will be an independent person who will embrace those ideas because I am not, in any way, in bed with a party.”
–Howard Schultz
If Trump’s campaign and subsequent success in the 2016 presidential election changed anything, it shifted America’s perspective of what a president “look like.” It would seem that the days are gone when presidents were polished politicians from long-standing political dynasties. So long as you’ve served as chief executive for a fortune 500 company, you may have a pretty decent shot at landing a spot on the ticket.
Naturally, President Trump had to make sure he tweeted a response to the Schultz headline, lest we get some sort of idea that he doesn’t watch the news. Trump said that Schultz “doesn’t have the guts to run for president. He made sure to be as politically poignant as possible in a tweet where he said, “I only hope that Starbucks is still paying me their rent in Trump Tower.”
Meanwhile, in the liberal bunkers of the west coast, Sen. Kamala Harris is already hot on the campaign trail for the Democratic primary slot. Over the weekend, Harris held her first official rally in her hometown of Oakland, California, where she informed attendees of her methodology behind the upcoming campaign season.
“We are at an inflection point in the history of your world. We are at an inflection point in the history of our nation. We are here because the American dream and our American democracy are under attack and on the line like never before. And we are here at this moment in time because we must answer a fundamental question: Who are we? Who are we as Americans?
–Sen. Kamala Harris
Regardless of one’s political alignments, Harris’ words ring true to the current political climate in the U.S. We’re trying to understand what it means to be president, and who we think is fit to hold the job, while simultaneously trying to understand who we are as individuals, as well as what our purpose is in the geopolitical arena. I can already tell that the 2020 presidential election is going to be one for the books.
