They used to have to pretend. Now they don’t.
Opportunism and fear.
Avarice
Like the lines from “The Big Short”:
“What’s that? What do you smell?”
“Opportunity.”
“No! Money!”
There may be a bit of fear if a business could be impacted badly by definite policy changes coming, so get in the good graces now to maybe soften the blow. But in the end that’s still about money.
I was gonna say fear and greed, but opportunism might encapsulate it better. Either way, pretty much the two strongest driving forces in America.
Power hungry cowards that will snivel at anyone’s feet in hopes that someday they can weasel their way into being the king.
Who exactly is “everyone”? I don’t really see much of it.
There are corporations donating to his inauguration that have not donated in the past, or said after Jan6 they would no longer support him.
Most people do stuff because they mean it.
Politicians and some others do stuff because they think it will get them power/votes/money/influence etc.
Their behavior is completely inconsistent with respect to having a stance or opinion. Their behavior is completely consistent with respect to trying to be in a favorable position. Once Trump’s out, they will turn right around and do or say whatever they think puts them on the winning team, even if it’s the complete opposite of what they’re doing now.
It’s plain as day, yet hard to see because it’s so bafflingly spineless.
Because the orange traitor bitch won. Those in the public sphere with something to lose are now hoping he’ll leave them the fuck alone. Fucking cowards.
Guy has shown himself to grant massive favors for mild compliments and impose massive penalties for mild insults.
It’s rare that you can make a difference of millions of dollars for your company by just saying nice things for an hour, so execs are jumping at the chance.
TBH, I can’t blame them. It’s the same motivation that pushed these companies to embrace gays and trans people. They’re all paying customers. Line must go up sometimes means you advertise to and publicly embrace marginalized communities in search of larger market share. Sometimes it means you kiss the ring of the ensuing fascist ruler.
You “can’t blame them”? It’s entirely possible to have a sustainable, successful organization without throwing all ethics and morality away. Unfortunately, there are probably more examples in small and mid-size businesses.
I definitely can (and do) blame them for courting fascists.
I mean, I can blame them. Just because something is smart doesn’t mean it’s ethical or showing any integrity.
I get “that’s the job” but that’s never been a valid excuse in history.
Cowardice and greed
If you’re referring to the legacy media, Trump is targeting them with lawsuits and threatening to pull their broadcasting license.
If you’re referring to internet media, like The Young Turks, then it has more to do with personalities not wanting to loose their relative privilege (access).
In b4 someone defends TYT: Cenk has basically said he is kissing ass because he thinks he can be strategic and talk them into populist economic positions. Problem is, the right uses him to say how the left has no good ideas.
Let’s be real: how many “normal” people on the right even know who Cenk is?
Journalistic integrity; or a lack thereof
Trump can be bought.
So people with money are buying favours for themselves.
Nothing brings a man to his knees and opens his mouth like a dick with power.
These men have no dicks
Venkman! Is this true?
That was great, totally didn’t even mean to throw a GB reference but I’ll take it haha. Almost spit out my coffee
Last August, the podcast Behind the Bastards did a great two-parter on “How the Liberal Media Helped Fascism Win”. The focus was on pre-WW2, but it has obvious parallels to today. I highly recommend it, but the long and short of it is that legitimizing and platforming horrible but popular people was a good business strategy for news outlets, since they could appear “unbiased” and court interviews with said horrible people.
Fascist governments, historically, have had a close relationship with corporations in their respective nations, to the point where they, in many ways, effectively become another arm of the government (in all of the bad ways and none of the good ways). If a corporation chooses not to align themselves with the regime, they risk being targeted.
Look for any remaining regulatory agencies to be used as cudgels against perceived foes. When the IRS starts going after [insert corporation here] because the CEO didn’t kiss the ring fast enough, etc.
There is also a whole lot of manufacturing consent going on, but that might only be somewhat related.
