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Dear John,
After the January 6 insurrection, multiple major U.S. corporations stood up to the Sedition Caucus, the 147 GOP members of Congress who supported Trump’s Big Lie. AT&T, Home Depot, Walgreens, and others pledged to suspend donations to the pro-insurrectionists who voted against certification of the 2020 election.
But now, many of these same corporations have abandoned their pledges. Over the last two years, the Sedition Caucus has received over $40 million from corporations, including companies that had previously pledged to suspend donations.
The threat to democracy posed by Trump’s Big Lie hasn’t gone away. With the 2024 race already begun -- and Trump already running -- the threat to democracy isn’t going away anytime soon either.
AT&T, Home Depot, Valero Energy Corp, and Walgreens are some of the biggest donors to the Sedition Caucus, even after they pledged to stop.
Corporations made their pledges because the public demanded it. Now they’re back at it because they think the public is no longer paying attention. They need to hear from us. Tell corporations to keep their pledge and stop donations to pro-insurrectionist members of Congress immediately.
From what we’ve already seen of Trump’s 2024 campaign strategy, it is going to be even more inflammatory and divisive.
Just this week, on his Truth Social platform, Trump called on his supporters to “PROTEST” his impending arrest, claiming that “PATRIOTS” are being “HELD IN CAPTIVITY LIKE ANIMALS” and “IT’S TIME!!!” to “PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!”
As noted by his former attorney, Michael Cohen -- himself sentenced to three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion and campaign finance violations -- Trump could have used the adjective “peaceful” when urging his supporters to protest.
Why didn’t Trump do that? Because, Cohen explains, “he doesn’t want a peaceful protest.”
We have already seen that Trump will do anything and everything he can to whip his supporters into a violent mob, then stand back and stand by as they became foot soldiers in his attempted coup that left five people dead and nearly destroyed our democracy.
Trump has made it clear that he intends to retake the Presidency by intimidation, and by force if necessary.
His campaign strategy is propelled by vicious, conspiratorial paranoia. A campaign that sees everyone, including judges, as out to get him and all those who support him. A campaign that divides America according to adoration or detestation of Trump.
Meanwhile, corporations that claim to support democracy are now privately supporting Trump’s pro-insurrectionist members of Congress who want it destroyed. They continue to pander to consumers while donating to anti-democracy campaigns in the shadows.
We must let them know that we see them, and demand they stop funding insurrectionists immediately. Please send your message now.
Pandering to their extreme base, Speaker Kevin McCarthy called Trump’s potential indictment “an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance,” and ordered the House to “immediately investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions.”
Republican leaders know the party’s base is fueled by distrust, so they continue to pour oil on the fire. But even to them, there is one thing more powerful than Trump: campaign donations.
If corporations stop funding insurrectionist members of Congress, it will have an immediate impact. That’s why what we’re doing is so important.
Thank you for doing your part today to hold corporations accountable to the democratic ideals they claim to represent, the democratic ideals on which our nation was founded.
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
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