Corporations cannot in good faith claim to support democracy at the same time they reward the very lawmakers who tried to finish what the insurrectionists started on January 6, 2021. That hasn’t stopped Fortune 500 companies from donating more than $32 million to insurrectionist Republicans in Congress.

Our Message to Toyota, FedEx, Visa, Home Depot, General Motors, ExxonMobil, and other Fortune 500 companies and corporate trade associations:

Stop Funding Insurrectionists Now!

Dear John,

In the wake of the January 6 insurrection, many corporations pledged to stop donations to the 147 Republican Members of Congress who voted not to certify the 2020 election even after the attack on the Capitol.

However, pledging to defend democracy and actually defending democracy are different things.

As of this writing, Fortune 500 companies and corporate trade groups have donated more than $32 million to the campaigns of insurrectionist members of Congress since January 6th. In just the month of April alone, AT&T led the pack, with a whopping $95,000.^[1]

Only public pressure will make these companies stop.

Sign our message to Toyota, FedEx, Visa, Home Depot, General Motors, ExxonMobil, and other Fortune 500 companies and corporate trade associations: Stop funding insurrectionists now!

As if the $32 million isn’t bad enough, when you dig deeper into the contributions, it gets worse.

Sedition-supporting companies have given at least $1 million to Republican Members of Congress directly under investigation by the Jan. 6 Select committee, including U.S. Reps. Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, Andy Biggs, Barry Loudermilk, Ronny Jackson, and Scott Perry.^[2]

So while the Jan. 6 select committee is skillfully presenting evidence of how Trump and MAGA Republicans planned, promoted, and paid for a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election, these same big corporations continue to line the pockets of these same Republicans with campaign cash.

Republicans haven’t stopped working to destroy democracy either. If anything, their commitment to sabotaging future elections -- and their ability to do so -- has only grown.

Conservative Judge J Michael Luttig didn’t mince words in his closing statement during last week’s hearings: Donald Trump, his allies, and supporters were and are still “a clear and present danger to American democracy.”

Hold corporations supporting insurrectionist Republicans accountable and demand they stop funding those who would overturn and destroy our democracy now!

Fortunately, not all of the corporations that pledged to stop donations to insurrectionists went back on their word. Thanks to public pressure, some corporations chose our democracy over amassing political power. They should be recognized for doing the right thing.

According to reporting as of March 2022, 85 corporations, including Nike, Zillow, Marriott, Target, and others, have kept their vow to withhold funding from insurrectionists.^[3]

If they can do it, so can everyone else. The future of our democracy depends on it.

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action

^{[1] Who Is Financing Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ Caucus? Corporations You Know
[2] REPORT: Corporate Interests Have Now Donated Over $16M To Election Objectors Since The Jan. 6 Coup Attempt
[3] Promises kept: The companies not funding sedition}