Cutting ties to Trump better late than never

 

Bill Knight column for 1-21, 22 or 23, 2021

In a “billionaire bailout” far different than 2008’s $498 billion taxpayer giveaway to banks and the rich, a growing number of wealthy and influential corporations are severing relationships with President Trump and his Republican enablers after the deadly riot at the Capitol.

They’re bailing on Trump and the GOP supporters of his lie about voter fraud: 139 Members of Congress and 8 Senators who refused to certify states’ Electoral College votes.

Besides the National Association of Manufacturers, business interests pulling plugs on campaign contributions include Amazon, Airbnb, American Express, AT&T, BlackRock, Business Roundtable, Charles Schwab, Citigroup, Comcast, Dow Chemical, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Nike. Hallmark went so far as to ask Sen. Josh Hawley to return the $7,000 the company gave his campaign. Also, the PGA ousted its 2022 championship tournament from Trump’s New Jersey golf course, and Home Depot CEO Kan Langone told CNBC, “I think the biggest mistake anybody is going to make is try and rationalize what happened. There should be no mitigation at all. It was wrong.”

Even the controversy-shy Caterpillar in a communication with employees denounced “the resulting chaos, destruction and loss of life” Jan. 6.

In addition to Caterpillar, several “bail-ers” have high profiles in Illinois, from BlueCross BlueShield and Commerce Bank to Marriott International, whose spokeswoman Connie Kim said, “We have taken the destructive events at the Capitol to undermine a legitimate and fair election into consideration and will be pausing political giving from our Political Action Committee to those who voted against certification of the election.”

But appreciation of such comments and action shouldn’t be excessive.

“I’d caution reading too much into it right now, but it will continue to snowball as the companies doing this continue to be applauded for it,” Rory Cooper, managing director at Purple Strategies, a corporate reputation consulting firm said in the Seattle times.

True. It’s not unselfish to stop backing people when your customers are outraged with them. An ABC News/Washington Post poll showed that 54% of Americans (including 1 in 8 Republicans) think the president “should be charged with the crime of inciting a riot”; Pew Research’s poll showed Trump’s job-approval rating dropped to 29%, his lowest ever.

Besides curtailing financial support for these campaigns, more and more companies doing business with the Trump Organization are also cutting ties: Stripe (the financial transaction outfit that processed Trump campaign donations), Shopify (which sold Trump merchandise online); Deutsche Bank (Trump’s primary lender); and JLL (the real-estate firm Trump hired to sell his Washington hotel, which is withdrawing from the deal).

In Illinois, the Chicago City Council has proposed an ordinance prohibiting anyone convicted of treason, sedition or subversive actions from doing business with the city, which could affect downtown’s 98-story Trump Tower.

“The Trump brand has become even more polarizing than ever,” said Northwestern University marketing professor Tim Calkins in the Chicago Tribune. “We’re going to see companies move very quickly to distance themselves from the Trump brand, and we’re going to see companies do it in a more overt fashion than they have before.”

Again, these corporations deserve acknowledgement, even compliments, but they shouldn’t expect too much praise, much less the adulation equivalent of the Medal of Freedom (already tarnished by such recognition for Matt Gaetz, Rush Limbaugh, and Devin Nunes). Most backed Trump for financial reasons.

Most Americans favor Medicare for All, a $15 minimum wage, a Green New Deal, higher taxes on the wealthy, and other progressive ideas that corporate big shots generally oppose, so Corporate America made a  deal with the devil: tolerate Trump’s behavior in return for business-friendly tax cuts and de-regulation, and for appointments of officials expected to rule in business’ favor.

“Their attitude was: ‘Let’s take the big tax cuts and hold our noses for the obvious xenophobia and authoritarianism’,” U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) told the Washington Post. “It was a classic Faustian bargain. They should have known from the beginning.”

Now, after four years of Trump’s administration, companies are finally bailing on him.

Maybe Americans should start holding business accountable, too.

Schwab contributed millions to Republicans’ Senate Leadership Fund and Congressional Leadership Fund, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Such giving presumably won’t be affected by cramps of conscience. Also, at least 63 U.S. billionaires contributed a combined $33 million to the Trump Victory Fund in the last two years, reported the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS)

“That’s about 1 in 10 of all U.S. billionaires,” said IPS executive director John Cavanaugh

Nevertheless, the Trump-created backlash extends beyond corporations. Last week, more than 250 authors, editors, agents and others in the U.S. literary community signed an open letter titled “No Book Deals for Traitors” opposing any publisher that signs Trump or members of his administration to a book deal.