Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Said Tuesday that it is “stupid” for corporations to take positions on divisive political issues, but notes that his criticism does not include their political donations.
“My warning, if you will, to America’s corporate government is to stay out of politics,” McConnell told reporters at a news conference in Louisville. “That’s not what you’re designed for. And do not be intimidated by the left to tackle issues that put you right in the middle of one of America’s biggest political debates.”
McConnell’s remarks were the third time he has addressed the corporate setback over Georgia’s newly approved voting law, which emerged in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s false campaign over the state’s election results last fall.
Late last week, the CEOs of Delta and Coca-Cola – based in Atlanta – both condemned the new benchmark. And on Friday, Major League Baseball picked up this year’s All-Star Game from Atlanta in protest of the same law. That game is played in Colorado.
Baseball’s decision sparked the most outrage among Republicans, with Trump calling for a boycott of baseball and several other companies speaking out against Georgia law.
“You know, Republicans drink Coca-Cola, too,” McConnell said Tuesday. “And we fly. And we like baseball. It’s a pretty competitive political environment in America, since I only showed a 50-50 Senate. If I were running a big corporation, I would stay out of politics. “
He added that the latest performances are irritating a hell of a lot of Republican supporters. ‘
The Georgia delivery was just the latest dustbin between America and the Republican Party. Earlier this year, a number of major corporations announced that they would no longer make political donations to anyone who voted against confirming the Electoral College after the deadly January 6 riot.
The wider gap is due to the fact that the IDP is increasingly driven by issues of ‘culture war’, while businesses are under greater pressure from employees, consumers and advocates to exercise voting rights, LGBTQ rights and anti-racist efforts.
McConnell, who has long been a champion of big money in politics, said that businesses ‘have the right to take part in a political process’, but must do so without alienating ‘many people’.
“I’m not talking about political contributions,” he said of his criticism of corporate leaders who oppose Republican legislation. “Most of them contribute to both sides, they have political action committees, it’s good. It’s legal, it’s appropriate, I support it. I’m talking about taking a stand on a highly contagious issue like this. and to punish a community or a state., because you do not like a specific law that has been passed, I think it’s stupid. ‘
