In my February 13 article, “The Democratic Primary Derby, Installment 2,” I said, “(Howard) Schultz is the wildcard in the Democratic presidential race.  He’s threatening to run as a ‘centrist independent,’ which has the Dirty Dems up in arms.  Like many billionaires, Schultz has long been a guilt-ridden liberal who has instituted some of the most hairbrained schemes imaginable for his Starbucks stores, two of the most embarrassing being his ‘Race Together’ and open-bathrooms projects that made him look like a naïve fool.

“Now, the capitalist compartment of Schultz’s brain has started to emerge, and he says he is dismayed by the Democrats’ radical ideas, especially their push for socialism.  He says he is also concerned about the national debt and the idea of free, universal healthcare.  This, of course, has infuriated most of the Democratic Party, even though Schultz is still quite liberal on social issues.”

Fast forward to my April 1 article, “Are Democrats Forfeiting the 2020 Election?” where I went out on a limb and said, “Howard Schultz, who already is despised by deranged Dems because he’s talking more like a liberal Republican than a crazed Democrat, could actually be a worthy challenger for Trump.”

Obviously, then, I was very interested to see how Schultz would perform at Fox News’ Kansas City townhall event last Thursday.  I cannot tell a lie:  I was quite impressed.  Schultz was very calm, very in control, and his words were measured and reasonable.

As I said in my April 1 article, Schultz sounds more like a liberal Republican than a crazed Democrat.  Hearing him speak, it struck me how far the Democrats have devolved into the moral abyss in a relatively short period of time.  I’ve always considered Howard Schultz to be a hard-core liberal, but compared to today’s Jacobin-like Democrats, he’s actually quite moderate, even conservative in some areas.

Unlike any of the Dirty Dems who are competing in the primaries, Schultz said he is against so-called reparations, concerned about the need to cut spending and reduce the national debt, and sees the Green New Deal as nonsense.  Like yours truly, he also believes that if the Democrats nominate Bernie Sanders, they will be handing the election to Donald Trump.

Where Schultz started to sound scary is when he was asked about the kind of person he would pick for the Supreme Court, and his response was — brace yourself — John Roberts!  The fact that he views the one Supreme Court Justice whom many of us would like to see impeached is a sobering reminder that all liberals, no matter how reasonable they may sound, must be prevented from being in positions of power.

Maybe I’m giving him too much credit, but my guess is that Schultz will not fully succumb to the upcoming hate mongering he is sure to receive from the Radical Left.  I say fully, because it would be naïve to think he will not try appease the Dirty Dems on at least some issues.  When the hate heat is turned up on him, he will.

Even so, I don’t see him totally destroying his credibility by giving the green light to grotesque and absurd ideas like infanticide (He’s already stated that he’s against third-trimester abortions.), abolishing ICE (He’s already said that ICE should be fully funded.), or Medicare for all (He’s already said he’s against it because it’s unaffordable.), to mention just a few of the items on the Radical Left’s socialist menu.

With all this in mind, if Schultz is for real, what does it mean for the rest of the Democratic field — and for Trump, if they end up being the last two candidates standing?  To answer this, the first question is whether or not he follows through with his threat to form a third party, because in the event he does, there are many unanswered questions.

First is whether he will be allowed to enter the Democratic debates.  If so, he will be the only reasonable, sane person on the debate stage.  From Kooky Kamala to Cooky Cory … from Batty Beto to Lyin’ Lizahontas … from Barmy Bernie to Potty Pete, the blowback against this unwelcome intruder would be ferocious.

Remember, none of these clowns realizes that they have absolutely no chance of being the Democratic nominee, so they are crazed with the aroma of power they believe to be within their reach.  (Bernie is the one exception.  He, too, is crazed, but he could conceivably get the nomination.)

On the surface, it would appear that Schultz would be competing with Joe Biden, who is supposedly the leader in the Democratic field.  But I’m not sure either of them can overcome the Radical Left tilt of today’s Democratic Party.

Which brings me back to a point I made in my earlier articles, the possibility that if Schultz is ahead of all the other Democratic candidates in the polls, the Dirty Dems might have no choice but to try to strike a deal with him:  “Agree to include most of our agenda in your platform, and, in return, we’ll anoint you our nominee.”

Even though we know that all politicians are willing to at least talk to the Devil, I doubt Schultz would agree to adopt the Democrats’ sure-loser agenda in full in exchange for being given the party’s nomination.  And if that be the case, and he moves forward with a third-party run, the two big questions will be:

1. Can he actually win as a third-party candidate? Highly doubtful, but I guess anything is possible in these crazy times.
2. If Schultz does not win as a third-party candidate, which party would most benefit from his third-party run?

The conventional wisdom is that Schultz would steal Democratic votes and hand the election to Trump.  Perhaps.  But given the likelihood that moderate Democrats would overwhelmingly support Schultz, as well as Republican snakes cut in the Bush-Romney-McCain mold, it could also go the other way.  In fact, all Trump-hating Republicans — and there are many — would see Schultz as the savior who could finally rid them of the obnoxious disruptor from Queens who stands in the way of their money-and-power aspirations.

Thus, my concern is that Schultz could end up handing the election not to Trump, but to the Dirty Dems instead!  Hopefully that won’t happen, but it’s certainly something that has the potential to interfere with a good night’s sleep.