President Donald Trump has been consistently unpopular since his inauguration.
One only has to look at his approval rating, which has fluctuated between the high 30s and low 40s in the past year, according to Gallup polling.
Now that he has failed to come through on his promise to “build the wall” — after shutting down the government for a record-setting 35 days — even some of his most adamant supporters are began to turn on the president, as reported in outlets like Newsweek.
It appears that whoever challenges Trump in the 2020 presidential election has a good shot at taking him down — unless former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz decides to enter the race.
Schultz recently floated a potential third-party run with news appearances where he condemned both Democrats and Republicans. Despite fiscally conservative views, the lifelong Democrat is far enough to the left that he can be classified as a liberal.
His stances on immigration, tax policy, climate change and more all mirror the same views as every other progressive in the race. This means that any independent run for the Oval Office would almost certainly draw away votes from whomever the Democrats decide to put forth as their nominee.
While Democrats shouldn’t be completely terrified yet, this situation has the potential to spiral into a complete mess.
If Schultz does decide to run and gains enough traction from disgruntled moderates who don’t like the party’s eventual nominee, he could gift a second term to Trump.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton lost Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — states that ultimately decided the election, each by less than one percentage point, according to Business Insider.
This race was extremely close and, despite losing the popular vote, Trump was able to win where he needed to in order to pull out the victory. Even if Schultz only secures a small percentage of the vote in 2020, he could end up completely ruining this race for Democrats if he pulls votes away in those key states.
Democrats are welcoming any and every candidate who thinks they have what it takes to take down the incumbent. That being said, running as an independent is selfish and purely narcissistic.
Schultz says he wants to run free from either party because he feels that they are both “out of touch,” according to CNBC. It’s quite ironic that the straight, white billionaire is calling anyone other than himself out of touch. Everyone besides Schultz seems to realize that.
Michael Bloomberg is another moderate billionaire who’s considering a presidential run but has said on the record that he would not run as an independent out of fear of helping out Trump, as stated in The Washington Post.
Bernie Sanders, another prospective 2020 candidate, is an independent senator who also realizes that running as a third-party candidate is completely out of the realm of possibility for anyone who wants to take down the golfer-in-chief, The Washington Post also states.
Sanders and Bloomberg both certainly have their qualms with the Democratic Party. Still, they both agree that Trump is unfit for office.
There is no path to victory for the former Starbucks CEO if he runs as a third-party candidate, but there is a path to enable Trump’s re-election.
Unless Schultz wants to be known for the rest of his life as the guy who helped Trump get elected for another four years, he should run as a Democrat and try to get on the ballot like a responsible citizen.
