Yesterday, numerous global corporations announced they would no longer donate to Republican candidates who opposed the electoral votes. They did it under the pretext of destroying democratic norms and the riot at the Capitol. In reality, this may as well be viewed as a spouse walking out the door first.
Global corporations have become exceedingly woke in their advertising, donations, and other ways. Amazon, Microsoft, and Airbnb all donated to Black Lives Matter in the wake of nationwide riots. Citibank created a $1 billion fund for racial equity during the same time period. Bank of America matched that donation for programs aimed at inequality and racial injustice. They did that despite nationwide violence that went on for months.
Some of the companies are quite interesting. For example, if conservatives and Republicans had the stamina for crippling boycotts, Ford truck sales could plummet precipitously. Likewise, many of us could choke down a Pepsi product rather than one from Coca-Cola. However, we won’t, and we probably shouldn’t.
Global corporations have also been looking for a reason to abandon Republicans for some time. The Chamber of Commerce broke with Republicans and endorsed Democrats this cycle. This is despite corporate tax cuts and other business-friendly policies being passed by Republicans. These are not really the policies global companies and the Chamber are looking for.
They enjoy all of the benefits of being U.S. based companies, but their operations and customers span the world. Many of them have participated in the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council. The compact of that group states, “society is best served by corporations that have aligned their goals to long term goals of society.” It also pledges to use the UN Sustainable Development Goals (previously called Agenda 21) as a roadmap. As if those are the goals of most members of society. They aren’t.
One of the things this group has proposed is a common set of core metrics and disclosures for businesses. It combines typical financial reporting with non-financial metrics like gender equality, environmental impacts, supply chain, and other activities. Social justice reporting is the only way this can be characterized, and the burdens would crush small to medium-sized businesses.
This is all part of the WEF’s Great Reset and a move to stakeholder capitalism, which will advantage large global corporations through crushing regulation that they can afford to comply with. In late 2020, you may recall that Climate Czar, John Kerry, assured the unelected global forum a Biden administration would move quickly to join this initiative.
These initiatives will increase the concentration of power in many industries, not just big tech. It will also make the dividing line between government and industry almost impossible to define. Kerry even said in his speech that it was time for governments to look to corporations to do some of the things government could not do effectively. In what we have seen this week, you could add legally under the constitution.
It is straightforward to see why global companies would align themselves with the party that rushes to join unelected international bodies and their global initiatives. The Republican Party under President Trump would not have jumped on board, especially since the WEF, like most international organizations, gives China a pass. Our foreign policy was centered on combating economic and national security threats from China. This only accelerated post-pandemic.
A significant majority of Americans, 73%, have a negative view of China. Continued international integration will hurt working and middle-class Americans the most. If Republicans plan on winning elections, these are the voters they will have to both listen to and appeal to. The party will need to develop a slate of policies that increase these families’ prosperity and security to combat the destruction that Democrats and their allies in big business will do with horrible energy and trade policy.
A democratic republic cannot exist without a content population in the middle. This is evident when you look at California, where it has all but disappeared. Progressive policies benefit the wealthy who profit and the poor who are subsidized. That is why Democrats insist on trying to make us believe we are in a race war rather than a class war. If a broad coalition of working and middle-class voters across racial and geographic lines understood progressive policies decreased their prosperity and security, Democrats would never win another election.
This is the coalition President Trump started to build. An increasing share of minority voters realized this cycle that the policies he implemented gave them a greater share of the American Dream than anything Barack Obama had done. As global companies withdraw support, and they will, Republicans who want to win will have to listen to these voters and appeal to communities that have not traditionally courted.
It will take rebranding so-called “Trumpism.” Minus the tweets and fights with the media, this is just a set of foreign and domestic policies that our bureaucrats, experts, and political elites could not stand because they did not serve to consolidate their power. It is also characterized by a deep love for America that acknowledges our failings and celebrates our accomplishments. The GOP has to figure out how to wrap that in an authentic package and make emotional connections, not factual ones. And they need to figure it out fast.
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