Editor’s Note: Kevin Kruse and Julian Zelizer are history professors at Princeton University and the authors of the new book “Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974.” The opinions expressed in this commentary are their own. View more opinion at CNN.
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is thinking about running for president on an independent ticket. Even though he has been a lifelong Democrat, Schultz now insists that the party has become too radical. During an interview with “60 Minutes,” he said he is considering running a campaign as a “centrist independent, outside of the two-party system.”
Although the announcement conjures instant jokes about a campaign promising a “vanilla latte in every cup,” this potential run could have serious consequences for the future of the nation. By entering the race, Schultz could emerge as a savior that the struggling President Donald Trump and the GOP have been desperately waiting for. Drawing on his own personal fortune, he will have the resources to mount a serious campaign and to blast his message over the airwaves and on your cell phone.
And he could easily pose a serious problem to a Democratic candidate seeking to secure every vote possible in the crucial purple states.
The odds of Schultz winning the presidency are incredibly long. In our strong two-party system, third-party candidates don’t really have a chance, especially now that our politics are more polarized than ever.
