American business leaders are not famous for making immediate and emotional statements about tumultuous political events, but the January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol by violent pro-Trump supporters inspired some CEOs to speak quickly.
A few hours after the MAGA mob violated the government building, the powerful Business Roundtable, an organization of CEOs who in 2019 began to defend the social purpose of companies, issued a statement on Twitter that was expanded by several of its members or their companies , along with several other prominent voices in business.
Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, added your thoughts to the business roundtable declaration, tweeting: “Well said. This is a day to defend our Constitution and its values. ”(Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella retweeted Smith without comment.)
Pat Gelsinger, CEO of VM Ware, also quoted the business group on Twitter, adding: “America is at its best when we are united, working as a nation. There is nothing good about the violent and illegal protests in DC. I am praying today for a peaceful transition of leadership.
Andrew Liveris, former president and CEO of Dow Chemicals, agreed with a more personal message: “Watching this on Australian TV evokes memories of my experiences in emerging economies with coups, fights in parliament and street violence. The USA is our beacon of freedom and democratic principles. It is tragic to see what is happening now. “
And Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, said: “I fully agree. “
Jamie Dimon, president and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, who chaired the Business Roundtable in 2019 (not chaired by Doug McMillon of Walmart) gave his own statement on how, as a country, “We are better than that”.
Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian called the violent crowd on the US Capitol “domestic terrorists”.
Marc Benioff, founder and CEO of Salesforce, offered a kind of prayer for “He who brings peace”.
For the National Manufacturers Association, the vice president of the United States, Mike Pence, should take charge. Their demand: Consider removing Trump from office now.
Chris Sacca, the venture capitalist and entrepreneur known for his time on reality show Shark Tank, sent a message to two leading colleagues in Silicon Valley, Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, whom he summoned for allowing the spread of misinformation and hatred on their massive platforms:
At the time of this writing, there was no word from Zuckerberg or Dorsey. However, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter removed a video of Trump talking about the day’s events, with Facebook saying it believes that the one-minute clip “contributes rather than decreases the risk of continuing violence”.
Twitter also suspended Trump’s account for 12 hours, deleted three of his tweets and warned him that he could be blocked from the site permanently if he continued to violate the site’s policies, inciting violence and sharing conspiracy theories.