Corporate America's not-so-bold Election Day endorsement -- patience: Ross Kerber
The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters. This column is part of the weekly Reuters Sustainable Finance newsletter, which you can sign up for here
By Ross Kerber
Nov 5 (Reuters) -Business leaders played it safe when talking about today's U.S. presidential election. Now they will find out if their traditional playbook still works.
The contest pits U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat with consensus party positions, against former President Donald Trump, who has cast aside many traditional Republican priorities and attacked some companies by name.
The contrast and concerns about Trump's respect for the rule of law have led to some executive endorsements for Harrisand calls for business leaders to publicly oppose Trump.
Mostly that hasn't happened. Instead top business groups have leaned on a message they have spelled out before: patience, please.
“It can take time to finalize election results, and we urge all Americans to respect the processes set out in federal and state laws for electoral determinations and an orderly transition," said the Business Roundtable, which represents CEOs, in an Oct. 15 statement.
Similarly, The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the top U.S. business lobby, said on Oct. 22: "We encourage all Americans to be patient and have faith in the checks and balances built into our systems." It also warned against disinformation campaigns "designed to undermine trust in our election system and the final election results."
Such sentiments will matter if, as Democrats worry, Trump tries to prematurely claim election victory, as he did in 2020 before all votes were counted, said Vanessa Williamson, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
Since most company leaders have not weighed in on the election, Williamson said, their neutrality -- and the high respect they command in the U.S. -- could be valuable in coming days and weeks if the election is close and vote-counting drags on or disinformation spreads.
"You would want to see business organizations and leaders not talking about who they would they want see elected, but instead the rule of law, the counting of all the votes, the acceptance of defeat by candidates who lose. Those bedrock aspects of electoral democracy, those things matter," Williamson said.
Williamson is among those concerned that authoritarian practices have economic costs such as in Hungary under its nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
After the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol buildingon Jan. 6, 2021, business groups condemned Trump's conduct and set the stage for his second impeachment on a charge of inciting insurrection. He was later acquitted in the U.S. Senate.
Traditional CEO donations to Trump as the Republican candidate have dried up. His business backers include Tesla TSLA.O CEO Elon Musk, banking heir Timothy Mellon and casino billionaire Miriam Adelson.
Bennett Freeman, associate fellow at London's Chatham House think tank, has urged U.S business trade groups to do more to "directly address the stakes for the US and global economy in this election," as he put in a recent opinion piece.
Freeman told me it may be unrealistic to expect current CEOs to criticize presidential candidates by name, but added they still seem cowed by the prospect of another Trump win.
“If current business leaders speak out for American constitutional democracy and U.S. leadership in the international community it looks like its anti-Trump, when in fact it should be motherhood and apple pie," Freeman said.
The Roundtable and the Chamber declined to comment on Freeman's critique. Nor did the National Association of Manufacturers, which on Jan. 6 2021 issued a sharp statement calling for Trump's possible removal from office "to preserve democracy" after the storming of the capitol.
On Tuesday, the group known as NAM issued a letter, signed by 606 business leaders, pledging to work with the next president and urging national unity.
"The peaceful transition of power is a hallmark of our democracy and is essential to ensuring continued confidence in the rule of law—a commitment that has made America exceptional," NAM said.
Who would argue with that?
Business leads other U.S. institutions on trust https://reut.rs/4hCE3D0
Reporting by Ross Kerber; Editing by David Gregorio
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