Howard Schultz Derangement Syndrome

But even if Schultz’s chances as an independent are slim, what’s certain is that they are becoming much slimmer as a Democrat. This is what makes the insistence of some liberals that he run as a Democrat so disingenuous: Compete on our turf where the field will be tilted against you, or don’t compete at all. It’s hard to blame Schultz for walking away from that Hobson’s choice.

It’s hard to blame him, too, for walking away from Democrats altogether. Liberalism used to be about making the capitalist system fairer, gentler and more inclusive. It has become an ideology for maligning it as a “rigged system” (Elizabeth Warren), or eliminating an entire industry within it (Kamala Harris), or demonizing and punishing those who do exceptionally well at it (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez), or waging class warfare (all of the above).

That means that if Schultz doesn’t run and a candidate like Warren wins the Democratic nomination, the same reluctant G.O.P. voters who handed the presidency to Trump in 2016 because they found Hillary Clinton even more unpalatable will vote for him again. How to avoid that wretched outcome?