Well DUH! What the hell did they expect? The Yale Chief Executive Institute CEO Forum gathers top political leaders with Fortune 500 CEOs. It’s a long-established annual event. One of the rules is that direct quotes are off the record. However, that doesn’t prevent folks from talking about what was discussed and giving impressions on the tone and content of the discourse. The ‘Bottom Line’ (pun intended) is that Trump is bad for business. In fact that sentiment was almost universal in scope.
Fortune, a Steve Forbes owned magazine is a must read in business circles. As you’d expect given it’s Forbes it’s sure as hell no bastion of liberal thinking. That’s why you should make the time to read this article they published about this year’s gathering, which they hosted. In other words, the writer’s sourcing is solid even if individual quotes aren’t attributed to specific people. The article mentions early that Senators and even some Trump staffed faced near unanimous criticism of what Trump’s been up to. Remember, most of these CEOs who run top companies and some iconic brands are mostly Republicans. They aren’t at all happy, or comfortable with how things are and are seemingly going to be:
Business leaders at our forum worry that Trump is undermining an economic system that took decades to build and has long benefited the U.S. more than any other country, under both Republican and Democratic administrations, all for short-term gains. They see what’s happening as a hollowing out of U.S. economic foundations and institutions. In this free-to-speak environment (a loaded topic these days), they said that while they approve of bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. and bolstering economic and national security, they fear for America’s international standing amid the degradation of national security at the FBI, the CIA, and the Pentagon.
From where I sit that’s a polite way of saying a bunch of really accomplished and powerful business leaders told Trump and the elected official present Trump not only doesn’t know what the f**k he’s doing but he’s wrecking a system that took decades to build. That benefited the United States more than any other country. That because Trump is tearing it all down it’s risking not just economic security but our national security as it diminishes our standing in the eyes of the world.
Two -thirds of those surveyed at the gathering said Trump’s tariffs are hurting our economy. (Not to mention much of the rest of the world) They correctly point out consumers want (and in fact often need) low-costs for products that it makes more sense to have manufactured abroad. They say it’s impractical to have everything, including common items like tools, clothing, sneakers etc. all made here. How much should be and incentives to make some of it happen are things Congress and administrations have long grappled with. That’s the way it’s supposed to work. It shouldn’t be up to ONE person including a President to declare what will or will not happen.
Even with a normal President the kind of uncertainty this creates in the long-term is something business leaders hate. And we have to fact the fact Trump has never been a normal President. He’s never been good at business and was impulsive even before he devolved into the hot steaming pile of brown organic matter that was sworn in last January. The problem is that these CEOs are like the majority of GOP Congress Critters – willing to be critical in specific ways with “receipts” on what’s wrong with Trump policy but afraid to publicly stand up to him.
Frankly, for all the linked article’s talk about the possibility of turning things around it’s simply not going to happen. Why? Because these asshats are no better than Congress Critters. Unless a critical mass of the right people, both in Congress and big business PUBLICLY stand up and put out a memo taking Trump to task with specifics on how/why his policies are flat-out stupid and wrong nothing will happen. Trump will say “Fake News” and MAGAs as well as too many Independents will blow all this off.
So I’m angry tonight. I have questions I would have loved to ask these CEOs, these asshats who see themselves as “Masters of the Universe” who helped put Trump back in the White House.
- When he took office the first time most of you and many others took comfort that Trump had some ‘adults in the room’ who would keep him on a more or less steady course. Yes, there were some crazy-ass appointees but in the most important jobs there were people who actually knew sh*t and who Trump sort of respected. Then he started driving them out and we wound up with an administration with more turnover than has ever been seen. Why would you have any trust at all in him by the time he got whipped by Biden. YOU were probably relieved at having some normalcy and stability back. Why would you have given him the time of day after Biden was sworn in?
- You watched, and like all but MAGAs did with horror the events of January 6. Trump was so butt-hurt about getting whipped by Biden he incited a freaking RIOT which trashed the Capitol, threatened the very lives of elected officials and did in fact cost lives and cause life altering injuries to many who defended the Capitol that day. Why the hell weren’t you making it clear to your GOP Senator pals that they needed to convict Trump in his second impeachment so he could never again attain political power?
- In Trump’s second campaign it was clear there would be NO adults in the room in a second administration. Even when Susie Wiles was eventually made Chief of Staff you knew damn well she wouldn’t be able to control the goings on in the Oval Office any better than the people in his first term. But he named people he intended to put into positions in his second administration and many of them had to make your blood run cold. As was his talk about tariffs, which given what I just mentioned made it clear he’d follow through. Why the hell didn’t you band together this time last year and issue a public statement saying how dangerous it all would be, and how bad it would be for business and the economy? And our standing in the world?
- What on earth possessed any of you self-professed Masters of the Universe to think that a GOP controlled Congress (a certainty if Trump did in fact win) would stand up to Trump THIS time? Especially after the way they capitulated after Jan. 6? For such smart people I can’t for the life of me imagine how you talked yourselves into thinking that Congress, and the Senate in particular since they confirm appointees would tell Trump NO on anything! As I said he told us people he’d like to see in certain jobs and sure enough appointed some dangerously unqualified people. Can you honestly say you believed the Senate would block anyone Trump nominated?
That’s just some of what I and others would have asked this group. And I’ve have been a lot less polite in my language than I’ve been here. I’d have told them upfront to expect the kind of old Corps ass chewing I’d have gotten from the Gunny back when I was on active duty because they goddamn well deserve to be put on the spot. Enough so that starting next week they quickly figure out a plan to collectively fix the MESS they allowed to happen. F**k them and their whining about how tough Trump is making things for them. They COULD have prevented it. Yet for all their “alpha” qualities they are soooo proud of they stood meekly by.
The way I see it it’s on THEM to step up and lead the way. No more money to GOP Congress Critters until they start putting real, meaningful limits on Trump would be a good place to start. And PUBLICLY saying they are doing it. Then they need to create a straightforward plan in terms that average Americans can understand that explains all that Trump’s doing wrong and how to fix it.
billionaires deserve every bad thing to happen to them as they shove AI down our throats.
Let’s not forget how many of these same folks made little visits to Mire-ick-Lego and to DC to lavish Drumpf with “tokens of appreciation” and “bent the knee” during the first 6 months of the second run of “Apocalypse Drumpf.”
They didn’t just bend the knee. They went down on his little mushroom headed junk in an ‘I’ll support you in exchange for you not messing with me/my company.’ Now they are all whiny because he broke his promise and ‘came in their mouths!’
Read and heed CEOs.