The GOP's Nasty Breakup With Big Business
Republicans need a new boogeyman to motivate their voters for the midterms, and companies taking sides on social issues could be just the ticket.
Mitch McConnell needs a new boogeyman for the party.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell's statement on Monday threatening corporations who get involved in political issues like Georgia's recently-passed election law rings a bit hollow. After all, it's hard to see a party that's been committed to tax cuts and deregulation for decades doing anything that harms corporate interests in a meaningful way. But the response of some GOP elected officials to the recent actions of Delta Air Lines Inc. and Major League Baseball shows how corporate activism is animating the conservative base. With Republicans searching for an issue to run on in the 2022 elections in key states like Georgia, they may have found their boogeyman.
It's not worth spending much time hashing out why the party that made a large corporate tax cut its signature piece of legislation under President Donald Trump, and which is blasting Democrats' plan to raise the tax rate again, isn't currently in a position to demonize corporations. The numbers in the Republican congressional caucus to pursue any actions aren't there right now, nor will they be there after the 2022 elections. It takes time for Congress to turn over, particularly when the issue has been the economic centerpiece of a party for decades.