The New Calculus for Democrats and Donors: Is Trump Unbeatable?

The assassination attempt on Donald Trump has altered the political calculus for Democrats and some donors ahead of the election. Credit…Patrick T. Fallon/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Andrew here. The attempted assassination of Donald Trump has reverberated around the world. The question for business and policy leaders, beyond the immediate implications for the election, is how to halt the increasing political violence in this nation. America’s economy and innovation may be the envy of the world, but our politics and polarized culture are not.

The heated rhetoric is only getting worse. Business leaders and donors are not doing enough to tamp it down; most won’t speak out, afraid of potential blowback, giving outsize influence to a handful of voices on social media. If most voters are genuinely in the middle, corporate executives — whose customer base is the American public — should use their voices and wallets to make sure that view is properly represented.

It’s unfortunate how big a role money plays in U.S. politics, but it’s worse that those who could influence the political machine with their resources have done next to nothing to fix a clearly broken system filled with vitriol that helped lead to the political violence this weekend we all witnessed on Saturday.

A shooting changes the election

Twenty-four hours after surviving an assassination attempt, Donald Trump arrived in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, while President Biden and political and business leaders continue to denounce the incident.

The shooting has galvanized the Trump campaign, turning his nomination at the four-day convention into more of a coronation. And the incident led some sympathetic business leaders, including Elon Musk and Bill Ackman, to publicly throw their support behind Trump.

It may have also scrambled the debate among Democrats over whether Biden should step aside: Some potential replacements are likely rethinking the wisdom of running this year, while donors are weighing support for a dark-horse candidate.