As Republicans criticize large corporations like Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines for their opposition to the recent Georgia voter suppression law, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has called out the Republicans’ criticisms as “extraordinary” and says that they’re attempting to distract the public from their war on voting.
Sanders, speaking to MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Monday, pointed out the hypocrisy of Republicans like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) suddenly and publicly criticizing corporations now that they’re not on his side of the voter suppression issue.
“Imagine that, after a trillion dollars of tax breaks for large corporations, lowering the corporate tax rate, after protecting the pharmaceutical industry for charging us, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs,” said Sanders, “Mitch McConnell and his friends are very upset that some corporations are now saying that it is an outrage that, in Georgia, they are trying to destroy Democracy.”
Sanders went on to say that the Republicans’ media circus over the corporations’ opposition to their bill is “nothing more than a deflection.” The Vermont senator said that Republicans like McConnell are simply trying to distract the public from the fact that the party has launched a coordinated effort across the country to suppress votes, especially those of people of color and poor people.
Organizations like Major League Baseball and many companies like Patagonia have denounced the new elections bill in Georgia, which makes it harder for people to vote and gives politicians more control over whose votes count. This has caused Republican leaders to begin speaking out against corporations and calling for boycotts of companies, even as they bear a large part of the responsibility for corporations’ continued outsized influence over American politics.
McConnell evidently thinks that the corporations are becoming too “woke” — but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t keep donating to the Republican Party. On Tuesday, McConnell said in a press conference, “my warning to corporate America is to stay out of politics,” but quickly added, “I’m not talking about political contributions.”
McConnell went on, saying that corporations donating to political action committees is “appropriate” but that they shouldn’t take a stance on political issues.
However, the two actions are inseparable — when a corporation donates to a politician or political party, they are implicitly supporting the views and goals of that party. Corporations had acknowledged as such when many of them announced they would be halting donations to Republicans who voted to overturn the results of the presidential election, even though several of them have already broken their pledges.
And, while corporations are publicly making statements opposing the Georgia law, some like Coca-Cola and Delta have previously either been supportive of or neutral toward the law. Meanwhile, corporations have funneled tens of millions to Republicans behind the attempts to suppress votes in Georgia and elsewhere across the country, so their public about-face isn’t likely to result in an actual reckoning.
It’s unlikely that Republicans’ boycotts of major brands will last long either — after all, as McConnell said, they need the cash from these companies in order to win elections and fight against progressive policy proposals. Over the years, Republicans have launched boycotts on a wide range of large companies: Walmart, Target, Netflix and Starbucks, among many others, but most of them have been fleeting.
McConnell has been a particular friend to corporations over the years, notably in his full-throated support of Citizens United. “If Mitch McConnell wants corporations to ‘stay out of politics’,” tweeted advocacy group Public Citizen, “he is going to be furious when he finds out about Citizens United.”
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission was a landmark 2010 Supreme Court decision that gave corporations and other groups the power to spend unlimited money on influencing elections. The decision has given wealthy individuals and corporations huge amounts of sway over elections.
Opinions on how much money should be allowed to flow into politics is becoming a point of contention between Republicans and Democrats. Democrats have been pushing to get money out of politics via the election-reforming For the People Act. Republicans like McConnell, meanwhile, have long fought to keep money in politics — in part to pad their own pockets.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy