Episode summary
Trump Has Called Bluff on the Era of Good Corporate Citizen | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec · Guests: Amanda Mull
Summary
Corporations have largely gone quiet in the face of Donald Trump’s second term, even as the administration uses government power in ways many business leaders might once have criticized. Amanda Mull argues that this silence is less a break from history than a return to form: companies have usually tried to avoid open politics while lobbying privately for their own interests. The recent era of corporate social signaling around diversity, ESG, and public moral statements was the exception, not the rule.
Mull says executives historically spoke out only when pressure became unavoidable, such as during World War II, the civil rights movement, or apartheid. Even now, the response to Trump-era abuses has been muted; after the killing of a Minnesota man by CBP agents, only a tepid statement from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce emerged, with 60 local companies signing on. She says this caution is even more pronounced because the administration is willing to reward or punish companies directly.
The broader point is that corporations are powerful political actors whether or not they admit it. Mull says Citizens United capped a decades-long shift that made it easier for corporations to spend heavily in politics, which makes their current reluctance to criticize Trump especially notable.
Key takeaways
- Amanda Mull says the post-2020 wave of corporate activism was a historical blip, not the norm, for American business.
- She argues companies usually avoid public politics while still pursuing their interests through lobbying and other private channels.
- Mull says executives are especially cautious now because the Trump administration can use government power to reward or punish businesses.
- She points to Citizens United as part of a 40-year shift that gave corporations a much louder political voice.
- The only notable public response she cites was a tepid Minnesota Chamber of Commerce statement signed by 60 local companies after killings by CBP agents.
Notable quotes
“The Trump administration's actions on a whole host of issues, but especially its brutal treatment of suspected immigrants”
“companies generally uh try to advance their own interests”
“they also did things like establish libraries and museums and do all of these, you know, get into the creation of the public good”
“we had two videotaped killings um that you know everybody in the country probably saw as part of at least and only then did we get like a very tepid statement”
“corporations sort of trying to, you know, wiggle out of this mess by saying we're not political”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenc on Bloomberg Radio. — Well, once President Trump was inaugurated a little over a year ago, it became clear — Only a year. — Yeah, — Just saying.
Okay. — It's been it's been a full year, everybody. — It feels like it doesn't feel like a year. No, like yesterday went by quick, — But it was a lot of stuff. — Yeah. I mean, you remember the image of all those executives standing up there inside? It was so cold. They didn't do this outside.
But it was tech executives — And a lot of other executives, too. — But a lot of tech, — A lot of very visible, very wealthy people.
Felt like the mag seven right there. As Bloomberg Business Week senior reporter Amanda Mole writes, quote, "The Trump administration's actions on a whole host of issues, but especially its brutal treatment of suspected immigrants have the general public looking for prominent people and institutions to use their power or influence like they did just a few years ago. This time though, the country has been met with near total silence and has been left to speculate about why.
We've got Amanda Mole with us. She's senior reporter for Bloomberg Business Week. She joins us here in the Bloomberg Interactive Brokers studio.
I I I want to start with with sort of that passage because if we think about like the history of the corporation as a citizen and we'll get to the Supreme Court case that you write about Citizens United, but if we think back to just a few years ago the pride floats, diversity and training initiatives, the ESG stuff, um investing, hiring, um
That was that was kind of a blip I learned from your story in the history of of the role of a corporation in life.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- corporate citizenship
- trump administration
- shareholder value
- regulatory loosening
- corporate responses to social issues
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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