Leadership: A conspicuous silence from CEOs

“President Trump has spent the past year blowing past the norms that have traditionally governed relations between the Oval Office and titans of industry,” said Matthew Boyle and Nancy Cook in Bloomberg. This month alone, he has “stunned Wall Street by calling for a 10% cap on credit card interest rates,” pressured energy companies to invest in Venezuela’s crippled oil infrastructure, ordered defense companies to stop issuing buy-backs and paying their executives huge salaries, and opened a dubious criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Still, “hardly any CEO is willing to speak publicly about the effect of Trump’s meddling.” Instead, they have kowtowed to his whims, “giving the appearance of acquiescence.” Behind the scenes, their panic and confusion are revealed in the many back channels companies are building to the White House. When a formal meeting with Trump is granted, arriving with a gift never hurts.

The public silence from the business community speaks volumes, said former treasury secretary Robert E. Rubin in The Wall Street Journal. I’ve spoken to many leaders who “harbor deep concerns about Trump’s lawlessness, weaponization of the government, and interference in markets.” And yet they “refrain from public criticism” because “they’re intimidated.” This is “a serious loss for our economy and society.” You can still be a loyal Republican and “believe that dismantling stable capital markets or rupturing America’s relationship with Europe is so dangerous
that it demands public opposition,” said Gautam Mukunda in Bloomberg. Trump’s latest actions are not, like tariffs, something businesses can simply absorb. “The chaos is no longer just hanging over the system; it’s coming for the system.”

CEOs were more vocal during Trump’s first term, said Harry McCracken in Fast Company. “Policies at the border that separated children from their parents,” for example, inspired tech leaders “to speak in anguished terms and call for change.” This time around, “there has been no equivalent moment of moral clarity.” Tech CEOs have apparently concluded that “playing nice” with Trump “is working for them” as he continues to support their push for the development of artificial intelligence. They should realize that such Faustian bargains “never end well,” said Paul Krugman in his Substack newsletter. Appease Trump and he will only “demand that you debase yourself even further.” Business leaders can continue down that path, “destroying their dignities and their reputations, in an attempt to curry favor with a wannabe dictator.” Or they can show some spine.

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Not everyone is staying mum, said Louisa Clarence-Smith in The Times (U.K.). “Powell staged one of the most impressive retorts to Trump” when he was baselessly accused of criminal misconduct, “claiming the threat of charges was in fact a consequence of the Fed not lowering interest rates as quickly as the president would have liked.” His resistance has been lauded as heroic. This week, Trump attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, alongside some of the world’s most powerful business leaders. Will any of them find similar courage to fight back against the president? Let’s hope so.