Corporations have resumed making donations to Republican lawmakers who participated in disgraced former President Donald Trump’s failed coup d’etat by voting against certifying the 2020 presidential election results on the day a mob of terrorists stormed the US Capitol.
Following the failed coup attempt, businesses condemned the rioters and swapped words for concrete action. with some cutting off all political funding, while others severed ties with Trump, but promises from those in pursuit of profit are empty.
A report from the nonpartisan watchdog Accountable.US entitled ‘In Bad Company’ shows how corporations hypocritically reopened the money floodgate to election objectors within months after the deadly coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021.
At least 85 percent of the corporations that were profiled —17 of the 20—are major contributors to the Sedition Caucus and either pledged to or publicly considered pausing or reviewing their political spending after the January 6 insurrection.
Businesses betting that the GOP will retake the House in November’s midterm elections once swore off donations to the ‘Sedition Caucus’ but as polls suggest Democrats are in trouble under President Joe Biden’s awkward leadership, money is flowing to the traitors.
Boeing and Pfizer are among the companies and trade groups to have donated $8 million to Republicans who voted against certifying Biden’s election victory
Corporations resumed their donations to Republican lawmakers who objected to certifying the 2020 presidential election results the day a mob stormed the US Capitol, betting that the GOP will retake the House in November’s midterm elections.
Only a year has passed since the deadly insurrection on the U.S. Capitol that spurred a flurry of corporate promises to defend democracy but for many of the biggest companies and trade groups in the country, those promises were broken when they funneled millions of dollars to election objectors in Congress.
Corporate America never cared about preserving democracy when there was money to be made and the corrosive relationship between money and power is simply toxic to the republic.
Insurrectionists stormed the halls, breaking into the Senate Chamber and the House Speaker’s private office. Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick and several other attendees and officers died in the wake of the attack, and members of Congress feared for their lives while taking cover.
In the aftermath, Corporate America declared enough was enough. By the week’s end, nearly every major company in the U.S.—from consumer retailers to defense contractors to pharmaceutical companies—condemned the deadly attack, and dozens committed to cutting off the lawmakers involved.
“Republicans in Congress that helped incite the insurrection have spent a year trying to whitewash images of confederate flags, zip ties and wounded Capitol Police officers inside the U.S. Capitol from the national conscience. There’s no wonder why,” said Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US.
“What makes no sense is why major corporations chose to reward the politicians that weaponized Donald Trump’s Big Lie with millions of dollars in campaign cash,” said Herrig. “In the aftermath, many big-name companies assured their customers and employees how much they value our democracy, but it’s obvious they value something more – holding political influence over as many lawmakers as possible even if those lawmakers voted to subvert our government.”
“Some things should be bigger than the bottom line, like a healthy democracy,” said Herrig. “These corporations should recognize that normalizing election conspiracy mongers in Congress equates to normalizing their anti-democratic behavior. If they truly stand by their words in support of democracy, companies must prove it by changing their own hypocritical and complicit behavior.”
Democrats are attributing a string of White House missteps in recent months to poor strategy and messaging from President Joe Biden and his advisers.
For the last part of 2021, as multiple crises emerged, the White House has struggled to offer up a consistent message that could unite not only the country, as Biden pledged during the 2020 presidential campaign, but his party.
Democrats have been unable to beat back Republican criticisms about rising inflation and failed to offer a narrative that would persuade a pessimistic American public about the direction of the economy and the coronavirus pandemic.
Headlines dominated by Democratic infighting over Biden’s massive social policy and climate legislative proposals — such as dissent from Sen. Joe Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema giving the President’s agenda a possibly fatal blow.