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Schultz: I Want Pro-Choice Judges but Abortion, Cultural Issues 'Not What's Most Important'

January 29, 2019

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said on "The View" Tuesday that his presidential campaign would be about financial security, but he struggled to answer co-host Meghan McCain's questions about culture.

Schultz announced he's mulling a 2020 presidential bid over the weekend, starting a so-called listening tour as he promotes his memoir From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America. After saying his reason for potentially running was to unite the country, Schultz was asked by McCain where he stood on matters of the "culture war" in the country.

"Did you support Brett Kavanaugh?" McCain asked.

"I would have not," Schultz replied. He went on to say he is pro-choice.

"You already lost me. I'm really pro-life," she replied. "Which lane are you going in?"

Schultz rejected the premise of McCain's question, going back to his point that Americans need to unite on what's "important."

"This is the problem," he said. "We should be able to disagree on those kinds of issues and yet come together on what's most important for the country."

"But being conservative and my conservative pro-life values are very important to me," she interjected. "You're trying to win over, I assume, a lot of Republicans, and there are just some issues we won't meet on the middle on."

McCain argued against trying to dislodge the two-party system that's been in place since Reconstruction. She said it would just serve to help President Donald Trump's reelection, which Schultz claims to want to stop.

"If you can live with the hypothetical situation that you get Trump reelected, that's fine, but no one seems terribly convinced that this is a possible—" she said.

"You're putting words in my mouth," he retorted. "I won't live with President Trump being reelected because that's not going to happen."

Schultz concluded by saying abortion and "cultural issues" are not important compared to fiscal issues.

"I think the most important thing facing the country right now is not the issue of abortion or the cultural issues that divide us," he said. "The most important thing facing the country right now is answering the question in the affirmative and that is: Do we believe that our children and our grandchildren are going to have a better life than we do? And most Americans believe that is not the case, and that is unacceptable to me. So I want to do everything I can to restore a sense of financial security and a real belief in the promise of the country."

Schultz has been heckled on his book tour since announcing his desire to run, with a lot of opponents of Trump believing Schultz would hurt the eventual Democratic nominee. He has also pushed back against various progressive goals, such as a wealth tax and "Medicare for all," which has angered some on the left.