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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHoward Schultz, Area Billionaire Thinks 2020 Voters Like Nixon
In a throwback to the rhetoric of Richard Nixon, would-be independent presidential candidate Howard Schultz insisted on Twitter Monday that hes going outside the two party system to represent a silent majority.
Link to tweet
The phrase has a dark history. Nixon appealed to a silent majority in an infamous 1969 speech as his way of rebuffing anti-war protesters and doubling down on the United States presence in Vietnam. (Nixon had previously intimated he had a secret plan to end the conflict.) The disastrous war continued until 1973.
At 65, Schultz lived through this history. But hes previously written that Vietnam didnt bother him much: Those were mostly fun years, a time with little responsibility, Schultz wrote in a 1999 memoir. With a draft number of 332, I didnt have to worry about going to Vietnam.
The unfortunate shout-out to a disgraced president aside, theres a factual problem with Schultzs suggestion that a deficit-focused independent has the support of a hidden majority of Americans. In a Sunday interview with Scott Pelley 60 Minutes, Schultz said hes broken with Democrats because theyre not focused on the $21 billion national debt.
In an interview last summer, Schultz was more specific: It concerns me that so many voices within the Democratic Party are going so far to the left. I say to myself, How are we going to pay for these things, in terms of things like single payer [and] people espousing the fact that the government is going to give everyone a job. I dont think thats realistic. Instead, Schultz said he wanted America to pursue 4 percent GDP growth before adding: We have to go after entitlements a reference to the costs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
So where are the American people the majority Schultz claims to represent?
It turns out single-payer health care is a big hit with a vocal majority. In recent polling, upwards of 70 percent of Americans endorse Medicare-for-All, including, in at least one poll, a majority of Republicans.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/howard-schultz-silent-majority-785679/
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Howard Schultz, Area Billionaire Thinks 2020 Voters Like Nixon (Original Post)
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
Jan 2019
OP
If they're silent, how does he know what they want, think, need, feel, etc?
Sanity Claws
Jan 2019
#2
he sounds really really stupid. he reminds me of Ben Carson in that they were very good at what
JI7
Jan 2019
#5
And this guy is supposed to be a life long Dem? This is where he is really pissing me off by
UniteFightBack
Jan 2019
#8
spooky3
(34,483 posts)1. He's going to peel off more votes from Repubs than from Dems. Nt
Sanity Claws
(21,854 posts)2. If they're silent, how does he know what they want, think, need, feel, etc?
He is not exactly living the same lifestyle that the vast majority of Americans is living.
comradebillyboy
(10,176 posts)3. I'd prefer Nixon to Howard Schultz.
dalton99a
(81,599 posts)4. "Both parties"? What a willfully ignorant, malicious, dishonest asshole.
JI7
(89,276 posts)5. he sounds really really stupid. he reminds me of Ben Carson in that they were very good at what
they did before.
but they just sound stupid when talking politics.
dalton99a
(81,599 posts)6. Well, we know the pyramids were used to store coffee
rusty fender
(3,428 posts)7. Entitled billionaire is against "entitlements"
Such a hypocrite
UniteFightBack
(8,231 posts)8. And this guy is supposed to be a life long Dem? This is where he is really pissing me off by
knocking the Democratic Party. Um....fuck you pal.
Initech
(100,104 posts)9. Someone just saw the Watchmen!