These Businesses and Institutions Are Cutting Ties With Trump

They have stripped President Trump of honorary degrees, a key conduit for campaign contributions and, in a stinging blow to the president’s resort business, one of golf’s four major tournaments, set for a Trump club in 2022.

Those are just a few of the punitive actions that a growing number of businesses and other prominent institutions have taken against Mr. Trump since last Wednesday’s deadly rampage at the U.S. Capitol by the president’s supporters.

Much in the same way that Twitter and Facebook banished Mr. Trump from their social media platforms, corporations, universities and campaign contributors have moved quickly to disassociate themselves from the president and his supporters.

Here is a list of entities that have severed ties with Mr. Trump or distanced themselves since the riots at the Capitol, which led to the deaths of five people. Many were identified by the newsletter Popular Information.

The P.G.A. of America

The P.G.A. of America announced on Sunday night that its board of directors had voted to terminate an agreement to play the P.G.A. Championship at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., in 2022.

“It has become clear that conducting the P.G.A. Championship at Trump Bedminster would be detrimental to the P.G.A. of America brand, and would put at risk the P.G.A.’s ability to deliver our many programs, and sustain the longevity of our mission,” Jim Richerson, the P.G.A. of America president, said in a video statement.

The Trump Organization responded Sunday, saying: “We have had a beautiful partnership with the P.G.A. of America and are incredibly disappointed with their decision. This is a breach of a binding contract, and they have no right to terminate the agreement.”

The decision to strip Mr. Trump’s resort of hosting the second of four major tournaments on the tour’s calendar was a heavy loss to a president who has emphasized his portfolio of golf resorts and spent significant time on the course while in office.

Major banks

Four of the country’s largest banks, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, said they would temporarily stop sending donations from their political action committees.

JPMorgan Chase is halting donations to Republicans and Democrats through its PAC for six months. “There will be plenty of time for campaigning later,” said Peter Scher, the bank’s head of corporate responsibility.

Goldman Sachs is freezing donations through its PAC and will conduct “a thorough assessment of how people acted during this period,” a spokesman, Jake Siewert, told DealBook.

Citigroup is postponing all campaign contributions for a quarter. “We want you to be assured that we will not support candidates who do not respect the rule of law,” Candi Wolff, the bank’s head of government affairs, wrote in an internal memo.

Morgan Stanley will suspend PAC contributions to members of Congress who voted against certifying the results of the election, but has not suspended contributions across the board, a spokesman said.

The banks have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and donated to candidates of both parties.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association announced on Friday that it was suspending political contributions to Republicans in Congress who tried to block the electoral vote tallies for President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.

The association is one of the nation’s largest federations of insurance companies, which provide health insurance to about 109 million Americans.

“In light of this week’s violent, shocking assault on the United States Capitol, and the votes of some members of Congress to subvert the results of November’s election by challenging Electoral College results, BCBSA will suspend contributions to those lawmakers who voted to undermine our democracy,” Kim Keck, the group’s president and chief executive officer, said. “While a contrast of ideas, ideological differences and partisanship are all part of our politics, weakening our political system and eroding public confidence in it must never be.”

Marriott International

The hotel giant Marriott International said it was taking similar action.

“We have taken the destructive events at the Capitol to undermine a legitimate and fair election into consideration and will be pausing political giving from our political action committee to those who voted against certification of the election,” a spokesman said.

Lehigh University and Wagner College

Last week, two institutions announced that they had rescinded the honorary degrees they had previously awarded to Mr. Trump.

Lehigh University in Pennsylvania awarded Mr. Trump a degree in 1988, after its president called the real estate developer a “symbol of our age — all the daring and energy that the word tycoon conjures up.” On Friday, two days after the attack on the Capitol, the university said in a statement that its board of trustees had “voted to rescind and revoke the honorary degree.”

Wagner College on Staten Island — the New York City borough where Mr. Trump has remained popular — announced on Friday that its board of trustees had voted to rescind the degree it gave to Mr. Trump in 2004. No explanation was given.

In 2017, both Lehigh and Wagner considered revoking the degrees given to Mr. Trump, but declined to do so, after Mr. Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides” who violently clashed in Charlottesville, Va., over the efforts to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee.

In December 2015, as Mr. Trump campaigned for the presidency, Robert Gordon University in Britain announced it had revoked the honorary degree it awarded to Mr. Trump just five years earlier. During the campaign, a university spokesman said, Mr. Trump had made “a number of statements that are wholly incompatible with the ethos and values of the university.”

Middlebury College reconsiders Giuliani’s honorary degree

Four years after his leadership as New York City mayor during the 2001 terrorist attacks, Middlebury College in Vermont invited Rudolph Giuliani to give a commencement speech and receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

On Sunday, Laurie L. Patton, president of the college, said it had initiated the process to consider revoking that degree because of Mr. Giuliani’s role in “fomenting the violent uprising against our nation’s Capitol building,” which Ms. Patton called “an insurrection against democracy itself.”

Stripe

The online payment platform Stripe will no longer process payments for Mr. Trump’s campaign website, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

The newspaper, citing people familiar with the matter, said the e-commerce company had cited violations of its user policy, which bars users from promoting violence on its platform.

Under the terms of that policy, Stripe users must agree not to accept payments for “high risk” activities, including for any business or organization that “engages in, encourages, promotes or celebrates unlawful violence or physical harm to persons or property.”

Jenny Gross and Lauren Hirsch contributed reporting.

Source: Read Full Article