Ex-Starbucks chief offers S.F. sip of politics

The barista in chief of the United States came to San Francisco on Tuesday to say that President Trump “needs to be fired,” and that he just might be the fellow to replace him.

Howard Schultz, the former head of the 28,000-store Starbucks coffee empire, also said if the Democrats pick some “far left-leaning challenger” — someone besides him, for instance — then the “chances of Trump getting re-elected are high.”

Throughout his hour-long speech to the Commonwealth Club of California, Schultz didn’t say he was running for president as an “independent centrist,” and he didn’t say he wasn’t. But he said the country ought to be run the way he ran his coffeehouses — where all baristas got stock options, health care and the possibility of a college scholarship.

The billionaire son of a diaper delivery truck driver from Brooklyn, Schultz lamented that it was “tragic” that the U.S. government is making a profit from student college loans that charge 8 percent interest and called for a “basic level of fairness’’ from national leaders.

The corporate income tax reduction signed into law in 2017 was a “terrible mistake” too, Schultz said, because it “rewards shareholders” instead of average workers.

Instead, Schultz said, Congress ought to do what he used to do at Starbucks board meetings — put an empty chair at the table, to represent the customer. In Schultz’s version of Washington, he said, the same empty chair would be installed in all government meetings to represent the average citizen.

There weren’t any empty chairs in the Herbst Theater, however, where more than 500 folks paid $40 to hear the coffee man. Each ticket came with a free copy of Schultz’s new 352-page book — there was no way to attend the speech and not get one. The book had 50 pictures of Schultz in it, along with a sticker on the title page signed by Schultz, a highly caffeinated way of autographing a book for a new age.

Besides not signing actual books, it appears that Schultz was also too busy to vote in actual elections. According to the Seattle Times, Schultz cast ballots in only 11 of 38 elections dating to 2005. He voted in all the presidential races but was a no-show for high-profile midterms in 2006 and 2014.

Robert Anderson, like just about everyone else in the hall, had the book in his lap but didn’t read it. He also said he prefers Philz and Peet’s coffee to Starbucks.

Mitch Forster of Piedmont was holding in his lap two copies of the book — one that had been given to him and one to his wife, Carolyn. He said that was either one or two copies more than the couple needed.

“I haven’t decided yet,” Forster said.

Ellen Sears of San Francisco said it takes more than the ability to sell 30 cents worth of coffee and milk for $4.50 to be president, although it’s a start.

“Being president takes experience and understanding,” she said.

Margaret Duggan of Alameda, who was knitting a sweater in the theater lobby, said there were “so many candidates, it’s all pretty confusing and people just don’t have the bandwidth to sort through it all.”

“But we do need a (new) president,” she added, “because the one we’ve gotten is broken and it’s time to send him back, and I don’t care if we get a refund or not.”

“We do need a (new) president, one we’ve gotten because is the broken and it’s time to send him back, and I don’t care if we get a refund or not.” Margaret Duggan of Alameda