Traditional allies of Republican leaders are piling on the pressure as more businesses condemn Republican state legislatures for harsh new voting restrictions that are likely to make it harder for the poor to vote, writes John Matisonn.
Republicans turned on former President Donald Trump and his allies this week, just as President Joe Biden moved to cross two firm Republican red lines - higher taxes and gun control.
In Florida, a lawyer for Joel Greenberg, a close friend and political associate of high-profile Trump supporter Republican Matt Gaetz, confirmed that Greenberg has flipped. Greenberg is now providing evidence about Gaetz as part of a deal which will reduce his sentence for sex trafficking charges related to those Gaetz is being investigated for.
In Washington, CNN reported a participant in the 6 January Capitol insurrection has also flipped. He is providing evidence against members of the Trump-supporting Proud Boys, which is likely to increase the severity of their charges for their role in the action.
But this week’s most searing attack on Trump himself came from the former Republican House of Representatives’ Speaker John Boehner, who blamed Trump personally for losing the Senate and the House to Democrats.
In his new memoir, Boehner accuses Trump of, "... inciting that bloody insurrection for nothing more than selfish reasons, perpetuated by the bullshit he’d been shovelling since he lost a fair election the previous November… He claimed voter fraud without any evidence and repeated those claims, taking advantage of the trust placed in him by his supporters and ultimately betraying that trust.
"… The legislative terrorism that I’d witnessed as the speaker had now encouraged actual terrorism."
Traditional allies of Republican leaders piled up pressure as more businesses condemned Republican state legislatures for harsh new voting restrictions that are likely to make it harder for the poor to vote.
An angry McConnell
Little wonder that the customarily controlled Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, over-reacted. He sparked ridicule when he angrily advised business to stay out of politics. McConnell, in charge of very successful Republican fund-raising drives, has repeatedly gone to court to support the “free speech” rights of businesses to donate to political campaigns without restrictions.
Now he had a new message for business. "From election law to environmentalism to radical social agendas to the Second Amendment, parts of the private sector keep dabbling in behaving like a woke parallel government," McConnell said.
Late-night comedians made fun of McConnell’s double standard, and Democratic politicians were quick to follow.
"He has no problem with all of them weighing in in support of the Trump tax cuts," said Senator Chris van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland. "He has no problem with them weighing in with laws to discourage unions. When they weigh in on behalf of voters, that crosses a line."
"I didn’t say that very artfully yesterday," McConnell corrected himself. He insisted that corporate critics were misinformed and acting on distorted portrayals of the new Georgia voting law. "They are certainly entitled to be involved in politics," he said. "So my complaint about the C.E.O.s: Read the damn bill." Biden’s tax plan would raise the company tax rate to 28%. To prevent companies from using loopholes to pay nothing, he proposed setting a minimum of 15% to be paid on profits declared in their annual reports.
Reacting to Republican criticism, Biden said, "You have 51 or 52 corporations of the Fortune 500 that haven’t paid a single penny in taxes for three years. Come on, man. Let’s get real."
Biden criticised competition among developed countries to get to a tax code that attracts investment and maximises growth as a, "... race to the bottom".
Amazon business practices
Also at issue is how governments should tax income that multinational companies earn across borders. Amazon, run by Jeff Bezos, the richest man globally, has supported some increase in taxes. But critics are sceptical of Amazon’s true intentions since it has more lobbyists in Washington than any other company. Bezos also owns the Washington Post.
Amazon’s business practices have become central to this public debate. Large firms increasingly operate in multiple nations: Amazon sells to shoppers in Europe; for example, Morgan Stanley offers financial services in China.
Amazon has been adept at limiting its taxes using offices in Ireland and other tax havens.
Several years ago, Amazon sustained months-long attacks from politicians like Senator Bernie Sanders, who called for a rise to a $15 an hour minimum wage and introduced a bill called the Stop BEZOS Act. The legislation was designed to force large employers to raise wages by taxing them when their workers need to rely on public benefits like food stamps to survive.
WATCH | New York sues Amazon over worker safety
When Amazon raised its minimum wage to $15, Sanders congratulated Bezos. Amazon changed its rhetoric and now calls for a national minimum of $15.
This week Amazon workers in Alabama held a vote on whether to unionise, over Amazon’s strong opposition. Workers alleged they were forced to urinate in bottles because they had too few bathroom breaks. Amazon denied this, but was later obliged to admit it was true.
When Republicans passed Trump’s sweeping tax cuts in 2017, supporters said it would help curb tax havens and encourage domestic investment. But corporations continued to use them.
Biden’s Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, broadened the criticism of low taxes in developing and middle-income countries struggling financially, in part because of insufficient tax revenue. That has made it harder for them to invest in robust rollouts of coronavirus vaccines, which she warned could hurt the global economy as the pandemic continues.
"The result will likely be a deeper and longer-lasting crisis, with mounting problems of indebtedness, more entrenched poverty, and growing inequality,” Yellen said, estimating that as many as 150 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty this year. “This would be a profound economic tragedy for those countries, one we should care about."
Gun control
Biden’s new initiative on gun control also benefits from a weakened adversary in the main gun lobby, the National Rifle Association. The leaders of the latter are being investigated for large-scale corruption, living the high life, including yachting family vacations at the association’s expense.
WATCH | Biden attempts to tackle US gun violence epidemic
He called regular public shootings a tragedy and a national embarrassment and took executive actions within his power to limit certain kinds of weapons. But Congress is needed to make more sweeping reforms, and it is not yet clear if he will have the votes in Congress.
Nearly 40,000 people died as a result of guns in 2019, but about 60% of these were suicides. More than 30% were homicides that are not a result of so-called “active shooter” incidents, such as domestic and gang violence episodes.
- John Matisonn is the author of 'Cyril's Choices: Lessons from 25 years of freedom in South Africa.'
*Want to respond to the columnist? Send your letter or article to opinions@news24.com with your name and town or province. You are welcome to also send a profile picture. We encourage a diversity of voices and views in our readers' submissions and reserve the right not to publish any and all submissions received.
Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.