As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) scolds big business for criticizing GOP voter suppression bills, Republicans are finding that corporate America is no longer as interested in hiring members of their party.
The topic was explored in a new report by The Washington Posttitled, "Corporate America isn't welcoming former Trump Cabinet officials with open arms, headhunters say."
The newspaper reported on the situation facing McConnell's own wife.
"Before she joined the Trump administration as transportation secretary, Elaine Chao earned millions of dollars over the past decade by serving on the boards of big public companies such asDole Foods, Protective Life and Wells Fargo, according to corporate filings," The Post reported. "But now Chao is encountering a fraught reentry into the private sector. Headhunters who have sought similarly prominent work for Chao have found little interest, according to two headhunters she's consulted personally. The headhunters, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions, said top executives wary of backlash from associating with former Trump officials are boiling down Chao's four-decade Washington résumé to its most recent entry: long-standing ally of Donald Trump, despite her resignation the day after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol."
One of the headhunters said the feedback heard was, "It's too soon."
Chao declined to comment, but "a person close to her" says she's already accepted positions that are yet to be finalized.
The trend seems to also be impacting other former members of Trump's Cabinet.
"While the small numbers make comparisons difficult, corporations don't seem to have an immediate interest in other top Trump administration alums either. Roughly half of the S&P 500 companies have filed their 2021 investor disclosure reports, listing a total of 108 new or prospective board members, according to data from Insightia, which provides information to shareholders. No Trump Cabinet officials who served in the final quarter of his term are among those nominated," the newspaper reported. "By this point in 2009, four major companies had lined up alums of George W. Bush's Cabinet to serve as directors: global power company AES, oil and gas company Hess, chemical maker FMC, and United Technologies, the industrial conglomerate that has since merged with Raytheon."
The Trump administration may be too toxic for corporate America.
"Headhunters and other corporate advisers say the calculus for executives at most large, publicly-traded companies is simple. Trump — the only president to be impeached twice, the second time on a charge he incited the mob that assaulted the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the presidential election results — left office with a majority of Americans strongly disapproving of his job performance. He remains a lightning rod for controversy and faces ongoing legal exposure from civil lawsuits and criminal investigations. Offering a board seat to anyone in his inner orbit risks inviting a revolt from customers, employees or shareholders," the newspaper reported.
