Los Angeles Times: After Capitol assault, corporate America rethinks its role in politics

01.21.2021 / By DON LEE
Los Angeles Times: After Capitol assault, corporate America rethinks its role in politics

“These recent moves by corporate America to distance themselves from President Trump are a good thing, but also a predictable PR move,” said Paul S. Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause, a watchdog group focusing on money in politics. “Their commitment to this will really be shown in coming months and years,” he said, “whether or not they return to funding not only Donald Trump, but also those who enabled Donald Trump to do what he’s done.”

WASHINGTON —  Business leaders were among the first to condemn the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and former President Trump’s role in egging on his extremist followers.

It was an unusually swift and decisive response from a corporate world that is typically loath to get in the middle of politics, and had sometimes waffled in pushing back against Trump’s behavior in the past.

Now some analysts see the prominent role that major corporations and their chief executives took in reacting to Trump and the Capitol riot as a indicator that businesses may be preparing to be more deliberate in their political spending and more active in helping curb the kind of political polarization and misinformation that led to the attack. …

“These recent moves by corporate America to distance themselves from President Trump are a good thing, but also a predictable PR move,” said Paul S. Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause, a watchdog group focusing on money in politics.

“Their commitment to this will really be shown in coming months and years,” he said, “whether or not they return to funding not only Donald Trump, but also those who enabled Donald Trump to do what he’s done.”

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