Rebecca Crosby and Judd Legum, reporting for Popular Information:

A new investigation by Popular Information, using state and federal campaign finance databases, found that 50 prominent corporations have donated $23,273,400 to the campaigns and political committees of these election deniers since January 6, 2021. Some of the largest contributors to election deniers are also some of the country’s leading companies, including AT&T, Comcast, Walmart, and Microsoft.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. On January 4, a large group of business leaders signed onto a statement arguing that the planned objections to vote were destructive. “Congress should certify the electoral vote on Wednesday, January 6,” the business leaders wrote. “Attempts to thwart or delay this process run counter to the essential tenets of our democracy.” The Chamber of Commerce, which represents nearly every major corporation in America, released a similar statement.

As Popular Information comprehensively documented, in the aftermath of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, many of these corporations pledged to cut off support to members of Congress who voted to overturn the election.

Each of the mega-corporations Crosby and Legum list in their amazing piece vowed not to donate to election deniers who refused to certify the 2020 election results on January 6, 2021, but nevertheless, they did — in large numbers. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were sent to Republicans who threatened democracy from each company, and when asked about the corporations’ actions, they said that they donated to the campaigns in the interest of bipartisanship.

What I don’t understand is why left-leaning corporations — like Microsoft, which donated $112,500 to 29 election deniers during the 2022 midterm election — that value diversity, equity, and inclusion donated to hard-right Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who not only voted to reject President Biden’s electoral win in 2020 but also frequently has derided DEI and corporations that employ it, including Microsoft. Microsoft, according to Popular Information’s report, donated $15,000 to Johnson’s campaign, for some unknown reason. (Microsoft doesn’t lead many of its operations in Louisiana, last I checked.)

These corporations are attempting to play a game of bipartisanship — which, generally, is a good thing, especially in the case of large companies that employ many people with diverse political views — while also donating to and advocating for the causes that these political candidates despise. Corporations have opinions — they should have opinions, especially political ones. Why don’t these traditionally diverse corporations spend their money instead championing Democrats or moderate Republicans who actually advance their agenda?

Walmart was also listed, but I understand Walmart donating to anti-abortion, pro-gun, capitalist Republicans because Walmart is still based in Arkansas and sells firearms at its stores; in other words, Walmart’s company culture is comparatively more conservative than to liberal corporate America. The vast majority of corporate America is liberal because it is impossible to operate a multi-national corporation without valuing diversity, inclusion, and moderately leftist economics.

This goes beyond the election deniers: Why are these companies donating to candidates that they don’t agree with, even in the name of bipartisanship? Instead, they could advocate for new candidates that do advance their preferred agenda — tons of moderate Republicans are still running for the House of Representatives. You don’t see the National Rifle Association paying Democrats to table gun legislation because the NRA knows that is an impossible task. Microsoft will never get a Republican to favor DEI in our current political climate (this probably doesn’t apply to Senator Mitt Romney of Utah-like Republicans), so why is it donating to them?

Liberal enterprises continue to waste their money (or use it counterproductively) whereas lobbying groups are incredibly effective at fund-raising, donating, and advancing their agendas. Maybe corporate America and Wall Street should learn from them to make a better world for all of us, because, in the end, what happens in Silicon Valley and New York affects our country more than what happens in Washington. That’s the United States — corporates win, always.