Starbucks chairman implies he’s more qualified to be president than Trump 

The outgoing executive chairman of Starbucks, who has maintained he is not interested in running for office, on Tuesday implied that his time leading the giant coffee business could make him more qualified to lead the country than President Trump.

Howard Schultz told CNBC that his experience with the public company differs greatly from Trump’s previous career as a real estate mogul with the privately owned Trump Organization. 

“There is a very big difference between someone who has run a global enterprise like myself, who has traveled to China probably more than any other CEO in the last 10 years, and who understands those issues, versus someone who has run a private company with very little fiduciary responsibilities to other shareholders,” Schultz said.

{mosads} While he has not announced plans to launch a campaign, Schultz said that Trump has given a “license” for CEOs and business leaders to run for office.

“I think the issues that we are facing in terms of the dysfunction and polarization that exists within the government is really based on a systematic problem of ideology and I think we need a very different view of how the government and how the country should be run,” Schultz said. 

It has been a long time since someone anyone within the government “has really walked in the shoes of the American people,” he added. 

Schultz told Starbucks employees on Monday that he will step down as chairman later this month.

Schulz said in the CNBC interview that he wants to use his platform to stay engaged in public service even though he will be a private citizen.

“I think we can do much better. I think the political class as a whole, not just this administration, has been reckless,” he said.

The head of the coffee shop chain has been critical of Trump in the past, saying last week that the way Trump talks about race was partly to blame for the country’s “racial divide.”