Many of America’s most influential companies spent the past week swiftly issuing statements of condemnation and pausing campaign contributions after the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Now they’re trying to quietly fade into the background with an impeachment trial looming and warnings proliferating of further turmoil across the nation.
In interviews, top executives at leading companies indicated their desire to keep their firms out of the next leg of Washington’s political fight over impeachment and simply move on to the President Joe Biden era. Many executives also acknowledged they expect to start reengaging in campaign contributions to Republicans once the latest political crisis passes, perhaps by the spring.
“It’s not our job to decide if the president should be impeached and convicted. As CEOs and leaders, this is how you get in trouble,” the chief executive of one large Wall Street bank said on condition that they not be identified. “The thing that really bothers me is the erosion in civility in everything we are doing. We have so much serious stuff to do and we absolutely have to get on with it right now.”
“We need to get vaccines distributed,” the CEO added. “We need to turn the services economy back on. This is an enormous distraction.”
Those sentiments were echoed by others who cited the need for much faster vaccine distribution and passage of further stimulus efforts as paramount and suggested that indulging in a Senate trial after Biden is sworn in next week could undermine efforts to fight the virus and boost the economy.
A top executive at another global bank said most at his firm and across the business community “just want the screaming to stop.”
“Everyone wants to get back to normal business,” he said. “We are just a few days away. Let’s just get there. I don’t think anyone is that interested in a Senate trial after Biden takes office. They want vaccines and stimulus.”
One prominent business group, the National Association of Manufacturers, last week suggested using of the 25th Amendment to remove Trump — something Vice President Mike Pence has since said he opposes. Even in private, most executives echoed the words of the Business Roundtable, a leading voice in Washington for the nation’s biggest companies, which issued a restrained statement on Wednesday regarding impeachment while stressing the larger point about the Capitol insurrection.
“We leave it to our elected leaders to judge the feasibility or wisdom of attempting to remove the president from office in the final days of his term,” the statement read, “but we believe the President’s behavior — including encouraging an assault on the Capitol and attempting to overturn the results of a legitimate, democratic election — deserves the strongest possible condemnation.” The group did not call for any punishment.
The desire to simply turn the page and move on to the Biden administration and a focus on vaccines and stimulus — two hopes that have driven the stock market to records in recent weeks — is widespread.
Many executives, including Republican-leaning ones, have grown to disdain Trump’s behavior and wish he would resign. But they do not want to take further action that might alienate clients or prevent further engagement with Republicans, whose policies they generally support.
“There’s no question people want Trump gone. But the politics of it are just an eight-sided chess game in terms of impeachment and removal that we have no business being involved in,” said a top banking lobbyist in Washington. “I’m not sure how or why business would get in the middle of this right now."
This person said some executives and business groups were less worried about a post-inaugural trial distracting from stimulus, but still worried it could hamper an already troubled vaccine distribution effort. “We haven’t had a functional government for basically two years and certainly the last six months,” this person said. “We need to have one right now. We are just counting the days.”
The desire among many businesses to back away quietly from the political fray after issuing statements over the last week condemning the attacks and halting campaign contributions — in some cases just to certain Republicans and in others to both parties — is likely to enrage some Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans demanding that corporate America step up and play a bigger role and openly advocate for stronger action, whether or not that includes the president’s removal through a trial.
“I find it incredibly disappointing that leaders in finance only want to shut their eyes, turn their backs and walk away from what has happened,” said economist Andrew Busch. “This is not what leaders do. They engage, they listen and they seek the truth to help those in need.”
“Writing letters is nice and I do like that many have shut down their donations to politicians,” Busch added. “It’s a positive step, to be sure, but they need to stay active.”
Another Wall Street banker said in an email that he was disappointed that his firm and others would not do more than pause contributions and make generic statements of disapproval of Trump and his supporters’ actions.
“The primary beneficiaries of the rule of law — those who arguably earn more and live better lifestyles — don’t want to be bothered to stand up publicly for the rule of law?” this person said in an email. “What would their reaction be if a mob, whipped into a frenzy over months and years by a demagogue, attacked a corporate headquarters … rather than a government building next time? Am guessing it wouldn’t be along the lines of ‘move on.’”
Still, both right-leaning and left-leaning executives said in interviews that there was little utility in going any further and that they would have to re-engage with Republicans fairly soon as the party could retake one or both houses of Congress in the 2024 midterm elections.
“If history is a guide, Republicans will take the House in 2022. It’s not like we can disengage. But we’ll have to be more selective,” the bank CEO said. “Donald Trump eroded civility on steroids, even if it was already happening. I don’t excuse any of his crazy behavior.”
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After speaking out about an insurrection, CEOs are eager to move on - Politico
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