Rise Up, Corporate America!

Hey Corporate America—Let’s talk, person to person.

That’s how you see yourselves, right? “Corporate personhood.” The Citizens United v. FEC decision codified it, and you’ve used that status to spend unprecedented amounts on political influence. But if you are people, and you are citizens—American citizens—then let’s have a straight talk about your responsibilities. Because while you’ve been optimizing for quarterly profits, something fundamental has started to rot beneath your feet.

Donald Trump—the man you largely tolerated, accommodated, or at best ignored—has become an existential threat not just to American democracy but to the very market stability that you rely on.

Let’s not play coy. You know how this works. Markets love stability. Investors crave predictability. Consumers spend when they feel secure. That’s the basic equation of modern capitalism, and it’s served you well. But Trump’s brand of authoritarian chaos? It’s the opposite of that. It’s bad for business. It’s bad for democracy. And it’s bad for America.

Let’s run down just a few recent headlines:

• A former president who led an insurrection and who has 91 felony charges is now the President again, and the head of the entire Republican party. He is openly delivering on his promises of political retribution, mass deportations, and the gutting of federal institutions.

• Trump has called for terminating parts of the Constitution. Not metaphorically. Literally. In a Truth Social post, he said we should "terminate all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution."

• He has threatened to use the DOJ as a weapon against political opponents and appears to be following through on that promise.

• He routinely spreads falsehoods about elections, undermining trust in the bedrock institutions that ensure social and economic order.

• He reignites trade wars on a whim, threatening to reimpose or escalate tariffs on key trading partners like Canada, China, Mexico, and the EU. This on-again, off-again tariff chaos—like his Canadian tariff debacle—injects massive uncertainty into global supply chains and raises prices for American businesses and consumers alike. US tourism from Canada is already sharply down, and looks to get worse.

• He and his allies have floated withdrawing from NATO and disrupting long-standing global alliances, creating massive geopolitical and trade instability—which is driving Europe to re-arm, without American defense equipment.

• He is openly anti-immigrant at levels we haven’t seen in generations, threatening mass deportations of millions of people—many of whom are both your workers and your customers.

That is not the roadmap to a stable economy.

Let’s be blunt: Authoritarianism is incompatible with consumer capitalism. People who are afraid do not spend. People who are uncertain about their legal rights do not invest. People who are forced into surveillance states and restricted media ecosystems don’t surf Instagram for skincare products or upgrade their phones every year. They hoard cash. They leave jobs. They stop traveling. They do not go to Disney World. They do not buy electric vehicles or smart fridges or patio furniture. They panic.

You know this. You have the data. You run the models. And if you don't act, you’re actively betting against your own long-term health.

Let’s not forget what your own past looks like. Corporations that cozied up to fascist regimes—Bayer, Volkswagen, IBM, Siemens—they might have survived, but they carry historical shame, and many of them lost long-term market positions. Others were dismantled entirely. Don’t be those companies. You have a choice.

You are powerful. You have armies of lobbyists, war chests of cash, entire legal divisions capable of influencing public discourse, policy, and regulation. If democracy dies under Trump 2.0, it will not be because you were powerless. It will be because you were silent.

Now, let’s be real. Nobody’s asking you to become nonprofit civil rights organizations. We’re asking you to protect the very conditions that allow your business models to exist. Think of it as fiduciary patriotism.

• Speak out clearly against unconstitutional rhetoric.

• Don’t throw employment opportunity initiatives (DEI) overboard. Look at Target, and then look at Costco for very clear data.

• Withhold funding from political action committees supporting authoritarian candidates.

• Use your platforms to stand up for rule of law, civil rights, and economic inclusion.

• Partner with civil society to defend the integrity of elections and institutions.

• Support policies that stabilize working-class families—not just because it’s the morally just thing to do, but because it's smart economics.

And please, for the love of all that is functional, stop pretending this is just politics-as-usual. The “both sides” framework does not apply when one side wants to burn the system down and rule the ashes. Trumpism is not conservatism. It’s a hostile takeover.

So here we are: the people who make the things, buy the things, invest in the things, and build the future are looking at you and asking—whose side are you on?

If the answer is truly “the American people,” then prove it. Don’t hide behind PR statements and ad campaigns about diversity, sustainability, and empowerment while handing campaign checks to the architects of authoritarianism. Stand up for democratic capitalism—not just the capitalism part.

Rise up, Corporate America. Rise up for the Constitution, for the American experiment, for the marketplace that made you and the freedoms that protect you. This is not a theoretical crisis. This is the fight for the soul—and solvency—of the nation.

Because there is no economy without democracy.