We Need to Make a List of the Corporations Supporting Trump

In the same way, many business leaders backed Hitler before he took power, so too many today back Trump because they want more money.

In 1947, the leaders of Bayer Leverkusen were put on trial for their complicity in the atrocities of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime. Supporters from the earliest days of the 1920s, the maker of the famous Bayer aspirin, experimented on concentration camp inmates, among other things.

Bayer was not the only company that became a household name in the United States after the war. Krupps, Volkswagen, Mercedes, and many other German companies joined Adolf Hitler’s “make Germany great again” movement, otherwise known as the National Socialist Party. Since CEOs, politicians, and other so-called leaders in our society expressed shock and disgust after the Trump-led insurrection of January 6th, the muscle memory of those January 2021 days has failed them. The brief moments when those business leaders put the country’s interests ahead of their own greedy ones were terrifically short-lived. Today, the list is long of CEOs whose very wealthy companies are backing a president calling for the use of the military to jail his opponents.

The Blackstone C.E.O. Stephen Schwarzman and the hedge fund boss Nelson Peltz, two billionaires who condemned Trump after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, have since offered him their support. And one of his most high-profile supporters, Tesla C.E.O. Elon Musk, has questioned the accuracy of elections themselves: “When you have mail-in ballots and no proof of citizenship, it’s almost impossible to prove cheating,” Musk said at a rally in Pennsylvania this week.

Some corporate chiefs may have shifted because they prefer Trump’s deregulatory agenda or they share concerns over immigration policy (Defending Democracy Can Seem Risky).

Just because someone is the CEO of a leading investment fund or Tesla does not mean they know history. In the case of Musk, it does not mean they are graced with any social skills. Musk is a freak, and I don’t care how much money he has. I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes for one minute because I am sure he is tortured by the fact that he is a weirdo. 

Blackstone, a spin-off of Blackrock, has assets of $1.1 trillion. Much of its investments are in Fintech — investing in more efficient ways to make money from other people’s money — cybersecurity and other tech projects. Pension funds tend to be one of the biggest feeders of Blackstone. I wonder how many Trump-hating Americans know that their pensions are invested with a firm that spends money on supporting Trump’s re-election bid. 

If Kamala Harris wins in November, and this is not a guarantee as crucial groups she needs to win, like Black men, many who still refuse to vote for her (I really hope those Trump-supporting Black men go to a Mississippi-based Trump rally soon), then the list must be compiled. The traitors like Musk, Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, and others must be brought to task. While clearly, no law forbids them from supporting whomever they like, we still don’t have to forgive them for their treachery.

In 2020, I wrote an article about “de-Trumpifying” America. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that, and the MAGA movement became more indelible, staining our national quilt with deep-seated stupidity, fascism, and blood. What happens next if Trump loses? I have a feeling it will only get worse before it gets better.

But it will get better, and America will find its eternal balance, swinging us back to the good side. Nonetheless, a lot of people will need to be asked questions, and no longer can we consider the collaboration of the Republican Party and business leaders as just “their 1st Amendment rights to express their opinions.” There has to be an acceptance that when an idea calls for the destruction of America like the Confederates did during the Civil War, then that idea has to be declared illegal, and people must be punished.

Will we arrive at a day soon when MAGA is outlawed? Donald Trump is doing everything he can to push us to that day.