Are leftist, Democrat politicians handing the United States over to addicts, criminals and the mentally ill?
The CEO of Starbucks is saying that, openly.
Howard Schultz said politicians at the local, state and federal levels have “abdicated their responsibility” to fight crime and mental illness and drug use and keep people safe, and that it’s the reason his company is closing stores.
Schultz said employee safety is the issue, and that Starbucks stores are increasingly looking at drive-through and app-based services as a way to avoid the problems of violent, insane people frequenting stores and scaring or endangering staff.
Schultz’s comments can be heard in leaked video posted to Twitter in July by Ari Hoffman of KVI-AM in Seattle.
Starbucks announced last week that it was closing 16 restaurants in U.S. cities across the country and that the Seattle-based coffee giant will have to close “many more” stores.
It’s not that the stores are unprofitable, either, said Schultz, but rather that America is rapidly becoming “unsafe” and that “one of the primary concerns that our retail partners [baristas] have is their own personal safety.”
“And then we heard about the stories that go along with it about what happens in our bathrooms,” Schultz said.
In 2018, Starbucks was pilloried after a store manager had two black men arrested for not ordering coffee while they loitered in a Philadelphia location, reported The New York Post. Video of the arrest went viral, and Starbucks apologized and implemented an “open bathrooms” policy.
Starbucks bathrooms have since become a magnet for drug users and the homeless.
“In my view, at the local, state, and federal level, these governments across the country and leaders — mayors, governors, and city councils — have abdicated their responsibility in fighting crime and addressing mental illness,” Schultz says in the video.
