“如果你之前支持哈里斯，而选举结束前我们从来没有听到过你的声音，那么你将面临一场艰难的战斗。”Donald Trump has already compiled a list, documenting those CEOs and companies he believes have been unfair to him or have supported his political enemies. Trump's advisors have warned the business world, saying, "If you have previously supported Harris, and we have never heard from you before the end of the election, then you will face a tough battle".
As the US presidential election has entered the voting stage, American business leaders are nervously preparing for the possibility of Trump's return to the White House.
According to the US news website Axios, Trump has compiled a list of CEOs and companies that he believes have treated him unfairly or supported his political enemies. This potential threat has led business leaders to refrain from helping and to show goodwill to Trump to prevent retaliation. A Trump adviser cited by The Washington Post said:
"If you previously supported Harris, and we never heard from you before the end of the election, then you will face a tough battle."
It is worth noting that despite some CEOs may support Trump's tax policies, overall American business leaders have leaned more towards the left in the past twenty years. Among the Fortune 100, only one CEO—Musk—publicly expressed support for Trump.
Previously, some CEOs kept their distance from Trump due to the events in Charlottesville and the January 6th Capitol riot. However, now few are willing to maintain tense relationships with him in a potential second term Trump might have.
Recently, Trump had phone conversations with Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. In addition, he also spoke with executives from Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space company. Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg had a conversation with him following Trump's first 'assassination attempt,' describing Trump's response to the attack as 'tough.'
Wall Street is also preparing for a potential Trump victory, as hedge fund managers are shifting to invest in stocks that are expected to perform better under a Republican government, such as defense, oil, and cryptos.
The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, owned by Bezos, recently canceled their support plans for Vice President Harris. Billionaire biotech entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of the Los Angeles Times, believes that choosing only one candidate in a turbulent election year will cause division.
This time, the risk will be higher because Trump has already "shown his cards" indicating that he will attack business leaders who disagree with him. In 2016, he fiercely criticized executives from media companies, Nordstrom, Amazon, and attacked Amazon's tweets, leading to a sharp drop in its stock price.
Analysis believes that even if the CEOs of major American companies are not fans of Trump, they do not want to become his enemies when he returns to the White House.
