Washington, DC — You know, when you’re already a practiced sell-out in the business world, you might as well get involved in politics.
That’s what Ed Stack, the CEO Dick’s Sporting Goods seems to be thinking as he tests the waters on a 2020 Presidential run.
Reports surfaced on Politico this week that Stack had organized a focus group in Wisconsin, testing potential voters on their thoughts about Stack.
The focus group reportedly asked members to compare candidates Joe Biden, Donald Trump and Elizabeth Warren to Dick’s CEO Ed Stack.
Many of the questions asked about Stack’s recent instances of “showing leadership” in the area of gun violence.
Of course, Stack has made national news lately for the revelations that his company destroyed more than five-million dollars in AR-15s after Stack’s decision to stop selling the rifles.
Stack seemed to think it was no big deal that his company had gone on to lose more than $250 Million dollars as a result of the decision.
Now Ed Stack himself hasn’t come out and said that he has any intention to run, but even calling a focus group would indicate that he’s not opposed to such an idea.
A source close to Stack denied the rumors by saying, “Mr. Stack enjoys running Dick’s Sporting Goods and has no plans to run for any elected office.”
But a member of the focus group — who provided paperwork to verify they were a participant but asked not to be named — said that the questions they were asked clearly indicated the opposite.
The participant said that they were shown videos of candidates Warren, Biden, Trump, as well as of former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.
Schultz is of interest because he is another billionaire who considered an independent presidential bid.
Schultz announced in September that he would not be running.
The focus group ended with a fake ballot that asked participants to vote between Ed Stack, President Trump, Joe Biden, and Elizabeth Warren.
Stack seems to want to capitalize on his recent publicity and is testing whether he can turn that into political momentum.
In an overt political move, Stack recently called out Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for not bringing any gun control items up for a vote.
Of McConnell, Stack said, “I wish he’d have the guts to bring it to a vote.”
We’ll wait to see what Stack does.
On the one hand, there isn’t a single gun owner in the country who would vote for him, so he won’t take any votes from Trump.
On the other hand, running as an independent—especially in relative contrast to some of the lunatics in the field—might divide the Democrat voter base and help Trump a little.
We almost hope he runs because the political jokes would write themselves!