Companies Bend To Trump’s Will, While Some Hold To Ethical Positions
While giant corporations like Google, Meta and Amazon are busy hypocritically genuflecting to trump, a handful of companies, like Farmers Insurance and Airbnb are proving the adage that the exception proves the rule.
At the same time, many major companies have buckled under pressure from trump and Republican backers and eliminated or pared down “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) programs. Again a few have kept their moral pledge for diversity, equity and inclusion in their companies.
Mega corporations like Google and Meta have, once again, shown that ethics in business is about as rare as a Kyawthuite, one of the rarest gemstone minerals on earth.
Roll the calendar back to the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by thousands of belligerent trump supporters. The ashes were still warm when within days, hundreds of companies vowed, with crossed fingers, that democracy was more important than building political influence. The companies pledged as they crossed their hearts and hoped to die that they would stop donating to trump and the 147 members of Congress who voted to overturn the election that day.
They were sending a strong message that democracy is more important than transactional politics.
After the Jan. 6, 2021, attack more than 200 companies said they would no longer contribute to the far-right Sedition Caucus, whose 147 GOP members voted against certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.
They include chairs of powerful committees, including: Rep. Jim Jordan, Ohio, Judiciary; Rep. Jodey Arrington, Texas, Budget; Rep. Virginia Foxx, N.C., Education and Workforce; Rep. Sam Graves, Mo., Transportation; Rep. Mike Bost, Ill., Veterans Affairs; Rep. Tom Cole, Okla., Rules; Rep. Roger Williams, Texas, Small Business; Rep. Glenn Thompson, Pa., Agriculture; Rep. Mike Rogers, Ala., Armed Services; Rep. Mark Green, Tenn., Homeland Security; Rep. Frank Lucas, Okla., Science; and Rep. Jason Smith, Mo., Ways and Means.
Since those heady days of high ethics, many companies that promised to turn away from election deniers have reversed their decision. As a result, an additional $33.5 million has been donated to seditionist lawmakers, according to an August report from the non-partisan, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
Since the bloody insurrection, just 21 companies have kept their promises and stuck their corporate necks out by not supporting the Sedition Caucus. Just 10 companies have kept their word not to donate to members of Congress who voted to overturn the election.
Four years later, 147 members of Congress who voted to undermine the democratic process still claim that trump was robbed of the 2020 election by non-existent voter fraud. The exception was Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., who said in December 2021, 11 months after the insurrection, that he regretted voting to sustain objections to the 2020 presidential election results in two states on Jan. 6. Rice also said that trump was “responsible” for the riot. Rice’s actions might have been described as noble except for the fact that he had little to lose as he retired from congress in 2023.
Some GOP lawmakers were more outspoken on trump’s behalf than others. Jordan and Scott Perry, Pa., both spoke at “Stop the Steal” rallies. In December 2020, 106 members of the House of Representatives signed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn the election results in key battleground states, citing false allegations of election fraud.
On Jan.11, 2021, Amazon took the high road, temporarily, and announced that “Given the unacceptable attempt to undermine a legitimate democratic process, the Amazon PAC has suspended contributions to any Member of Congress who voted to override the results of the US Presidential election. We intend to discuss our concerns directly with those Members we have previously supported and will evaluate their responses as we consider future PAC contributions.”
In September 2022, Amazon noiselessly resumed donating to members who participated in an “unacceptable attempt to undermine a legitimate democratic process.” Amazon said its 2021 policy was “not intended to be permanent.”
Amazon has since donated to many election deniers, given many thousands of dollars to tens of thousands to committees dedicated to putting tor keeping the election deniers in power. and recently contributed $1 million to trump’s second inauguration.
Five days after the Capitol riot, AT&T said that its federal PAC had decided to “suspend contributions to members of Congress who voted to object to the certification of Electoral College votes.” Less than a month later, on Feb. 22, 2021, AT&T suffered from apparent ethical amnesia and donated to the House Conservatives Fund, the Leadership PAC of Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La. Johnson, the current House Speaker, voted against certifying the election. AT&T has since donated more than $1 million to more than 100 members who voted to overturn the election. The mammoth telecommunications company also is a major donor to trump’s second inauguration
Companies like Google, Amazon and Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram), Uber, OpenAI chief Sam Altman and Apple chief Tim Cook are shamelessly genuflecting and capitulating while donating $1 million each to trump’s inauguration.
Google, whose parent company Alphabet is worth more than $2 trillion, also has been at trump’s feet. Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who once said he was “deeply offended” by trump’s first election win, dined with trump at Mar-a-Lago last month.
Keeping A Promise
After the Capitol insurrection, former Farmers Group CEO Jeff Dailey promised that the 100-year-old company would suspend political donations to election denying lawmakers. Since January 6, 2021, the California-based insurance company with $11.65 billion in revenues as of 2019, has kept its promise and has not donated to any members of Congress who voted to overturn the election.
Several major insurance companies including Cigna, Blue Cross-Blue Shield, and Allstate each went back on their word and resumed donating to election denying lawmakers.
Since the Capitol insurrection, Nike has kept its promise and has not donated to any members of Congress who voted to overturn the election. Nike said after the attempted coup, “Nike’s Political Action Committee (PAC) helps our employees support elected officials who understand our business and whose values align with our mission of serving athletes. These nonpartisan values rely upon upholding the principles of democracy. Nike’s PAC will not support any member of Congress who ignores these principles, including those who voted to decertify the Electoral College results.”
After January 6, 2021, Airbnb released a statement promising to withhold donations from those who voted against certifying the election.
“Airbnb strongly condemns last week’s attack on the US Capitol and the efforts to undermine our democratic process,” the company said.
Airbnb released a safety plan for the 2025 inauguration, including canceling Airbnb reservations in Washington, D.C., made by those associated with a hate group and banning individuals involved in the Capitol insurrection from the platform. Since January 6, 2021, Airbnb has kept its promise and has not donated to any members of Congress who voted to overturn the election.
Airbnb was co-founded by Nathan Blecharczyk and Joseph Gebbia Jr., the 386th richest person in the world according to Forbes, with a net worth of $7.4 billion. In 2022, Gebbia joined the board of Tesla Inc., which is led by CEO Elon Musk, a close trump advisor sometimes referred to as “President Musk.”
Gebbia is among the youngest members to join The Giving Pledge, an agreement by a select group of billionaires to give more than half their wealth to philanthropic causes. In February 2023, Gebbia made a $25 million gift to The Ocean Cleanup, the organization’s largest private donation to date. The gift expands climate health and ocean sustainability operations across oceans, rivers, recycling, and research.
Blecharczyk is the 203rd richest person in the world according to Forbes, with a net worth of $9.4 billion. Blecharczyk also joined The Giving Pledge. In 2019, he donated $1 million to his alma mater, Boston Latin Academy.
Other companies that have not given money to election deniers since 2021, include: Expedia Group, Clorox, General Mills, Holland & Hart LLP, Qurate Retail, Whirlpool and Lyft.
Farmers Group also was among the companies that have kept their DEI programs. DEI initiatives grew from 2019 to a peak in 2021. Since 2021, 45 companies have cut or ended their DEI programs, according to a Jan. 6, 2025, report from Build Remote.com.
A statement from Farmers Group said, “Through workplace and corporate citizenship initiatives, Farmers continues to focus on achieving our vision for DEI&B by embracing workforce diversity and the differences that make us stronger, nurturing an accepting and inclusive culture where employees feel a sense of belonging, and supporting programs that work to eliminate financial barriers for low-moderate-income communities that we are proud to serve.”
Notable companies and organizations that have rolled back or ended DEI programs include: McDonald’s, Publicis Groupe, Nissan, University of Michigan, Southwest Airlines, Target, Walmart, Caterpillar, Molson Coors Beverage, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Federal Communications Commission, United Airlines, Boeing, Toyota, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, Western Carolina University, Ford, Lowe’s, University of Kentucky, Brown–Forman Corporation (Jack Daniels), Harley-Davidson, Microsoft, John Deere, CNN, Tractor Supply Co., Chipotle Mexican Grill, Lyft, UPS, Eli Lilly, Starbucks, Bank of America, Home Depot, DoorDash, Wayfair, Zoom, Google, Tesla, IBM, Comcast, Goldman Sachs, American Airlines, Cleveland State University, Disney District, Mars and Apple.