Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on Wednesday endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, suggesting that Donald Trump’s “divisiveness” is wrong for the country.
“Hopefully Hillary Clinton will be elected president,” Mr. Schultz told CNN’s Poppy Harlow at the CNNMoney American Opportunity conference in New York.
Mr. Schultz is a longtime Democrat who has been outspoken about his political and social views, but this is the first time he’s publicly supported Mrs. Clinton in the 2016 presidential race.
“I think it’s obvious that Hillary Clinton needs to be the next president,” Mr. Schultz said, Business Insider reported. “On the other side, we’ve seen such vitriolic display of bigotry and hate and divisiveness, and that is not the leadership we need for the future of the country.”
In February, Mr. Schultz complained about the “lack of dignity” in the 2016 presidential election, but he didn’t name any names.
“I think it’s turned into something none of us has ever seen before, which I would label as almost a circus of yelling bombastic attacks, of a lack of respect, of a lack of dignity,” Mr. Schultz told Starbucks employees at an open forum in Nevada.
Rumors surfaced last year that Mr. Schultz was considering a bid for the presidency, but he announced in an August op-ed for The New York Times that he would not be running.
“My own life experience has given me a unique perspective on the plight of working-class American people,” Mr. Schultz said Wednesday, Business Insider reported. “I’m a young man, who has a lot of time in the future. … I would never say never — but this is not the right time.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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