US Corporations are Punishing Republicans for Trump’s Agitation
US Corporations are Punishing Republicans for Trump’s Agitation
US President Donald Trump is said to have reacted really furiously because the golf club he played in New Jersey was banned from hosting an important tournament in 2022. After the storm on the Capitol, the American Association of Professional Golfers (PGA) pulled the ripcord. But golfers are only a small selection because large parts of America’s companies are now distancing themselves from the current president: They condemn the agitation and undemocratic behavior of Trump and his Republican supporters in Congress – and they have announced the stop of donations.
In an electoral system where the money is so important, that can hurt. The Grand Old Party (GOP) has benefited from the bustling White House entrepreneur like seldom before. According to calculations by the transparency initiative Open Secrets, Trump raised $ 863 million for himself and the party around the 2020 election. Traditionally, the largest sums of money come from large corporations, which tend to be favored by the corporate conservative Republicans.
Under US law, only individuals are allowed to donate. But senior managers bundle company grants in so-called Political Action Committees (PACs). These then finance party-political PACs such as Trump’s organization “America First Action” – or his youngest lobby group called “Save America”, through which funds were recently collected before the Senate election in Georgia. Depending on how these PACs are designed, the greater part of the income goes to individual candidates, and the smaller part to the party.
A wave of donation stops
A whole wave of companies is now stepping on the brakes when it comes to party funding. Many of them specifically disapprove of the 147 Republican representatives in the US Congress who opposed the approval of the Democratic election winner Joe Biden in parliament, while an angry mob of Trump fans prepared to storm the Capitol.
