If there's going to be anything that turns the Republican Party away from Donald Trump and forces it to abandon its effort to reignite a civil war, it's the growing abandonment of their big donors. In all sectors—health care, financial services, hospitality, retail—major corporations are cutting off the Republicans they previously supported, specifically the 147 House and Senate Republicans who voted to overturn the presidential election.
Facebook, Google, BlackRock, Marriott, and Dow were among the largest and first companies to announce they were either suspending donations to those lawmakers for this cycle, or cutting them off completely. Marriott, the largest hotel chain in the world, said it was suspending donations to the 147 because of "the destructive events at the Capitol to undermine a legitimate and fair election." The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association—knowing what the current Democratic Congress might very well have in store for them—is also going to end contributions "to those lawmakers who voted to undermine our democracy." That includes, by the way, House Republican leadership Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise.
American Express sent a memo to its employees Monday, informing them it was stopping donations to Republicans who voted "to subvert the presidential election results and disrupt the peaceful transition of power." Independent journalist and progressive activist Judd Legum, who has been an invaluable resource in following corporate sponsorship of the radical Republicans, confirmed that American Express is cutting all 147 Republicans off permanently. They will never again donate to them. Dow Chemical, whose PAC has donated $1.4 million to Republicans since 2014, has halted donations to the 147 insurrectionists, at least for this cycle.
"These corporations are doing something very new, and something that could potentially alienate an important base for them," Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, a money-in-politics group told the Washington Post. "I've never heard of this happening before." National corporations, like Hallmark Cards, are acting locally. It's based in Kansas City and isn't just cutting off Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas—it's demanding they return the donations they've been given in the last two years. "Hallmark believes the peaceful transition of power is part of the bedrock of our democratic system, and we abhor violence of any kind," JiaoJiao Shen, a Hallmark public relations official said in a statement Monday. "The recent actions of Senators Josh Hawley and Roger Marshall do not reflect our company’s values."
Some companies are less courageous, deciding the safe thing to do is to stop donations to "both sides," like Citibank and JPMorgan Chase & Co. along with Goldman Sachs, Boston Scientific, Microsoft, Hallmark, and Facebook. These are suspensions of all political giving pending reviews. AirBnB and Mastercard are joining American Express and Dow in cutting off the insurrectionists. Along with those companies, Bank of America, Ford Motor Co. and AT&T have said they'll consider this insurrection in making decisions about future donations, while CVS Health Corp., Exxon Mobil, FedEx, and Target said they are reviewing their political giving.
Against this backdrop, CEOS and captains of industry have been speaking out against Republicans—and specifically Trump—for the insurrection, along with multiple trade associations. It's not just the money they're losing, it's relationships with people like Blackstone Group Inc. Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman, Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan Chase, or Tim Cook at Apple. To pile on House Democrats are preparing to freeze out lobbyists for any group that doesn't "at a minimum, stand up and speak out publicly," according to Politico's Anna Palmer. "I won't just refuse the meeting, I'll call their client's government affairs team and tell them they need to find a new lobby shop if they want any face time with me or my bosses," an aide told Palmer. "K Street needs to know that these people aren't just toxic, they're caked with anthrax."
This, by the way, is one of the things that could start to chip away at Senate Majority Leader (for the next 10 or so days) Mitch McConnell's resistance to impeaching and convicting Trump. He's got a lot of members up for reelection in 2022, a midterm election that is not going to be typical following this turmoil. He's going to need corporate America's help. If the Republican Party doesn't start turning itself around, he's not going to get it.