Boycott Businesses on the “Naughty” List

By Willie Brown

With the presidential election behind us, and the Holiday Season before us, many are embracing celebrations like never before.  It was a severe blow to Kamala Harris supporters to watch Donald Trump win, so it was perfect timing to have something positive to give our attention to.  Not to burst your bubble, but we all know what’s coming next month.  Trump will be sworn in as President, and potentially do even more damage than before.  It’s an ugly reality and it seems we are powerless to do anything about it.  Or are we?… 

A recent post on Dailykos.com is challenging anti-Trump supporters to “Channel Your Anger:  Boycott Everything MAGA!!!”  I could not agree more. While boycotting companies that support Trump’s policies may not change the election’s outcome, it is a powerful way to remind corporations that the ultimate power still lies in the hands of the people.

You, too, may be in support of an economic boycott, but feel now is not the time. We’re in the middle of the Holiday Season.  Money is tight, you have children to shop for, and those sales are too good to pass up.  I get it.

It won’t be easy.  In fact, at times it will be inconvenient, even costly.  But, like those who boycotted public transit in Alabama for more than a year, the outcome was more than worth it.  Black passengers were tired of giving their hard-earned dollars to a company who treated them like second class citizens—a company with the audacity to tell them they weren’t good enough to sit next to white people. 

Sometimes, removing your money is the only thing that gets attention.  Here we are almost 70 years later, with corporations still disrespecting us, with little or no repercussion for their actions.  On the flip side, 70 years later, money still talks.  It is the language of capitalism, and it works every time.  But we must stay committed and consistent.

If you support the boycott, but are unable to cut off spending at certain retailers, give yourself a start date after the holidays.  Don’t sleep on this.  Be intentional. To help you get started, check out the article on the PoliticalAccountability site listing 50 companies that donated over $23 million to election deniers since January 6, 2021 (https://www.politicalaccountability.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Popular-Information-These-50-companies-have-donated-over-23-million-to-election-deniers-since-January-6-2021.pdf).

Beyond that, the DailyKos post by 88clearblycky urges readers to:

1. Identify all FOX News sponsors and their subsidiaries.  Write them and keep the pressure on until they pull out their ads.
2. Take a look at major league sports and boycott those Pro MAGA supporters there as well. For example, “If you’re a Jets fan, maybe you can stop supporting the NY Jets until they get rid of anti-vaccine Aaron Rodgers.”
3. Cancel subscriptions to publications that are pro-Trump, or those who were on the fence about supporting Democrats.  The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times refused to endorse Harris, according to sources.
4. Take a look at companies you already do business with, and see where they stand. Are they pro-MAGA?  Anti Black, Brown, LGBTQ or immigrant?
5. Find out which entertainers, celebrities and podcasters support and endorsed Trump, MAGA, anti-vaccine and guns. “Let’s not give a penny to these idiots.”

I hope you’ll take this opportunity seriously because, like the bus boycott, it’s going to take big numbers to move the needle and let big business know that “we ain’t playing.”

And while we’re at it, educate those who blindly voted for Trump, thinking putting him back in office would actually put more money in their pockets.  It won’t.  As I wrote in my message last week, his plans to impose tariffs of up to 25% on all imported goods will only cause prices to go up domestically because the tax will be passed on to consumers.   

If Trumps 2025 Blueprint becomes reality, we could expect the following:

• Police having full license to stop and frisk anyone they want during traffic stops
• Mass deportations of anyone undocumented AND the possibility of de-naturalization (getting deported even if you were given citizenship status but you were not actually born in the U.S.)
• Dismantling the Department of Education
• Dismantling the Environmental Protection Agency
• A national abortion ban
• Cutting funding for Social Security
• A plan to change the Constitution and eliminate term limits, giving Trump and his cronies lifelong dictatorship
• A country ran by a 34-count felon, Russian and North Korean sympathizer, who picks cabinet members based solely on their perceived loyalty, and nothing else.

Ask your misguided friends if saving a dollar on a dozen eggs will be worth the chaos, devastation, misogyny, racial discrimination, violence and bloodshed of a second Trump administration.  This is about way more than money.  

Companies run by billionaires did not vote only for tax breaks.  When they said yes to Trump, they said yes to all of the above.  Fortunately, the only thing these companies are more loyal to than Trump is their own bottom line.  That’s where we come in.  We can influence their bottom line, and by extension, their loyalties.  

We are not powerless.  So let’s roll up our collective sleeves and commit to the boycott.