Trump goads ex-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz over 2020 presidential bid: ‘He doesn't have the guts‘

President mocks former Starbucks CEO in tweet: ‘I only hope that Starbucks is still paying me their rent in Trump Tower!’

Donald Trump has sought to goad Howard Schultz over his proposed 2020 presidential bid, suggesting the former Starbucks CEO “doesn’t have the guts”.

The 65-year-old announced overnight he was “seriously considering” running for the White House as a “centrist independent” in a move widely considered to risk splitting the vote for a Democratic candidate.

The president responded to the announcement, posting on Twitter: “Howard Schultz doesn’t have the ‘guts’ to run for president! Watched him on @60Minutes last night and I agree with him that he is not the ‘smartest person’. Besides, America already has that! I only hope that Starbucks is still paying me their rent in Trump Tower!”

In an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes, the billionaire entrepreneur said he was mulling a bid for the presidency because he was tired of both parties engaging in daily “revenge politics”.

“I want to see the American people win. I want to see America win,” Mr Schultz said. “I don’t care if you’re a Democrat, independent, Libertarian, Republican. Bring me your ideas. And I will be an independent person who will embrace those ideas because I am not, in any way, in bed with a party.”

Mr Schultz’s potential bid has already received criticism from both sides of the political aisle, with Democrats such as 2020 candidate and former secretary of housing and urban development Julian Castro saying the move could “provide Donald Trump with his best hope of getting re-elected”.

“I would suggest to Mr Schultz to truly think about the negative impact that that might make,” he said in an interview on the CNN programme State of the Union.

In a statement, Washington State Democratic Party chair Tina Podlodowski said: “I have two words for Howard Schultz on a potential run for president as an independent: Just. Don’t.”

Mr Schultz stepped down from his post at Starbucks last year, saying in a statement he was seeking new opportunities to be of service to the country.

His potential bid arrives amid a growing diverse pool of candidates vying to take on Mr Trump in the 2020 presidential election, from Kamala Harris, the junior senator and second ever African-American female to serve in the Senate, to Pete Buttigieg, a mayor who, if elected, would become America’s first openly-gay president.

Mr Schultz said in his interview on Sunday night that he wasn’t worried about the president’s Twitter backlash he would likely face on Monday (and sure enough did).

“I think, like most people, I’ve become bored with President Trump and his tweets,” he said.