If this is what Wall Street calls taking a stand against insurrection, we're in trouble

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If this is what Wall Street calls taking a stand against insurrection, we're in trouble
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
  • Wall Street has responded to the terrorist attack on the Capitol by blaming both sides, pausing donations to Republicans and Democrats.
  • It is a craven act of self preservation.
  • We know that the Republican Party is to blame for spreading the lies that sparked the violence and should be punished for that fact. Until we all have the courage to admit it, we are in danger of losing our democracy.
  • This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.
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Pathetic.

In the aftermath of last week's deadly insurrection at the Capitol, Wall Street banks and other businesses in the financial services industry have announced what they consider a "strong" response to the violence against the American people and its institutions.

These responses have been a display of moral cowardice and false equivalence that should make the members of these companies' C-suites ashamed to look in the mirror.

In statement after statement Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, BlackRock, Charles Schwab, and others have said that they will pause political donations to both political parties in the wake of violence from President Trump's supporters pending "reviews" of their policies. Of course, we know that the Democrats had nothing to do with bolstering the lie that set a mob on the Capitol - the lie that President Trump won the 2020 election. Only Republicans participated in this outrageous behavior, no "review" needed.

And only Republicans should be punished for this crime against democracy. In pausing donations to both parties, Wall Street is displaying a stunning lack of comprehension of the gravity of this week's events. Only Morgan Stanley has done the right thing and paused donations exclusively to Republican members of Congress who participated in a stunt attempt to question the validity of Joe Biden's win - the very stunt that drew Trump's hoards to the Capitol in the first place.

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These companies are continuing the harm to our democracy by refusing to state clearly what happened and who is at fault. Their "both sides" fecklessness effectively excuses the lies Republicans are continuing to tell. It gives those who continue to harm our democracy cover by seeming to blame the state of our politics instead of specific actors for what happened. These people will use that false moral equivalency to pretend they themselves are not to blame for this assault on our democracy. What happened at the Capitol was not the fault of all our politics. The true aggressor in America right now is a political party that has sold its soul to a selfish, amoral egomaniac who would be dictator if he could.

How do you sleep at night?

It's hard to think of a group of people who've benefited more from the peace and security of the United States than those who make their money from the strength of the US dollar and the stability of American capital markets.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon - who I daresay has robed himself in hypocrisy with this decision - never ceases to remind us that America has the "widest, deepest most transparent" capital markets in the world. There is never any transparency in autocracy, and by failing to stand against those responsible for injecting autocratic behavior into our politics, Dimon is exposing the shallowness of his patriotism and commitment to the American project.

What these Wall Streeters are doing is hedging their bets, and the fact that they consider this a time to do so is disgusting.

I'm not saying that these corporations or their leaders are as bad as say, Blackstone CEO and major Trump supporter Steve Schwarzman - a Vichy American who repented at the moment when it took exactly no moral courage to repent at all, pretending he had no idea who the demagogue he'd given millions of dollars to truly was.

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(Steve: It doesn't matter how many buildings you splatter your name on, that lack of patriotism and ingratitude for this country will be how you are remembered.)

I'm saying that we are now at a moment in American history in which the fate of our democracy depends on honesty and moral courage, and the leaders of these companies are showing none of it.

Some of these companies are pausing donations for the next six months or so - a time when no major races are being run. They say they are looking into their political donation policies, which any business journalist will tell you is corporate speak for waiting until this all blows over.

Do they really think the likes of Congressman Jim Jordan, Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Josh Hawley, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy - all of whom cheerleaded the lies and violence - will suddenly find some respect for the Constitution or sense of decency by June? Impossible to see where they possibly find it as they never had any to begin with.

The shameless cynicism of it is truly breathtaking.

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This is not going to blow over. What Trump has awakened - and what these businesses are rolling over for - is a grievance that will last for generations. Delusional Americans will continue to believe that the election was stolen from Trump, that they are victims, and that they are thus entitled to steal, corrupt, and even kill to change the course of Americans politics. If you do not stand directly in contrast to this beast you are feeding it.

And Wall Street is feeding the beast.

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