'Basic betrayal': CEOs terrified of Trump retaliation won’t speak out against policies

03 April

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 23: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing a series of executive orders (Image: Shutterstock)

Republican strategist Stuart Stevens, who is a senior advisor for the Lincoln Project, is arguing that monied interests and economic giants are complicit in ruining the nation as they blindly follow a president determined to sink markets in both the United States and around the world.

“Why does [Blackstone Group CEO] Stephen A. Schwarzman support this guy? Why does [JP Morgan Chase CEO] Jamie Dimon support him? What has this done to their clients? What has it done for the wealth and the money they are handling for other individuals, which they are entrusted with? I find it absolutely inexplicable," Stevens said.

President Donald Trump's hand on economics was obvious today as the Dow Jones plunged by more than 1,600 points by early Thursday afternoon — a victim of Trump's so-called "Liberation Day" tariffs. Trump unleashing global "chaos," and pushed the “fear index” to its limits. The next day, he was off to his Trump National Doral Golf Club, ahead of an upcoming golf tournament.

Executives were quick to bend the knee to Trump by last December with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg angling for an “active role” in shaping policy in the incoming administration, and Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos slanting and scrubbing the Post's opinion section write-ups in favor of “free markets and personal liberties.” Bezos’ editorial shadow drove Pulitzer Prize-winning opinion columnist Eugene Robinson and other employees to quit the paper in disgust.

Some CEOs were dancing on eggshells earlier this year trying to advise the president against tariffs while avoiding becoming a target of Trump’s retaliatory nature. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick castigated Bezos and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, along with Nasdaq CEO Adena T. Friedman and Target CEO Brian Cornell in a February meeting for daring to question the wisdom of “Liberation Day.” Lutnick allegedly advised CEOS to think more “about how they can support the country" while Trump forges ahead.

But Stevens told MSNBC anchors on Thursday that CEOs enabling Trump’s careless behavior would not be allowed by any responsible board of any company “to put Donald Trump into a position of power.”

“They wouldn’t be allowed to, and yet they say ‘we’re determined to trust this guy and give him the keys to the economy, give him the keys to the world order. We’re going to pull out of NATO. We’re going to support Russia,’” said Stevens. “People are going to study this for years and years and years, and I don’t think they’re going to come up with a good answer at the basic betrayal of these people because they were either afraid, opportunistic or foolish.”

Watch Stevens' comments below, or by clicking this link.

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